Management decisions on the detail of Scottish Government staff resourcing and divisional structures, to ensure the right capacity and capability to deliver Ministerial priorities, are primarily a matter for the Civil Service.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy.

This process is continuing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

The Scottish Government does not hold data which would answer this question.

However, data up to 2022-23 on Social Care eligibility and waiting times is publicly available at Local Authority level via the following weblink:

Social care: eligibility criteria and waiting times Scotland 2022-2023 - gov.scot

Data showing the time waited between completion of a community care assessment and delivery of a new personal care service in the final quarter of each financial year can be found in the ‘Waiting times new personal care clients’ worksheet of the Excel workbook accompanying the publication.

However there are a number of caveats with these data:

• The data return template sent to LAs is aggregate, and only grouped time periods are collected. Therefore it is not possible to calculate an average waiting time – only a distribution of time periods is possible.
• Many local authorities have reported difficulty in providing the information asked for in this data collection and therefore not all data is available for every year.
• Due to the gaps in the Local Authority level data, we cannot effectively aggregate to Health Board. Completeness levels for each LA can be found within the ‘Data completeness’ tab of the Excel workbook accompanying the publication.

Due to the issues faced in collecting this data from LAs and due to the lack of completeness, this data collection has been paused while we explore alternative methods of obtaining higher quality information on eligibility criteria and the length of time people wait for services. Therefore the most recent data available is for
2022-23.

The Scottish Government understands the pressures faced and have invested a record £21.7 billion in health and social care in 2025-26, which includes almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration

However, it is important to note that while the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, decisions on how best to deliver services to local communities are ultimately for integration authorities and locally elected representatives to make.

While service delivery is ultimately a local responsibility, it is worth noting that the Scottish Government is taking action to reduce waiting times on a national level. On 31 March 2025 we published the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan which sets out a clear plan to reduce waiting times and delayed discharges.

The Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework, which is scheduled to be published in June 2025, will also focus on the key reform areas that will drive our model of service to be more preventative, to find risk factors sooner and raise the level of early intervention and proactive care.

The Scottish Government recognise that workforce and pay costs driven by a period of prolonged high inflation are now contributing to significant budget pressures across health and social care, the wider Scottish Government budget and the whole of the public sector. This Government has been clear that the extent of these challenges will not be addressed in a single year and we will continue to make the tough choices necessary to support sustainable public finances, whilst also seeking to minimise the impact on frontline services as far as possible.

Tackling health inequalities is a key part of the preventative care role for school nurses, general practice nurses and health visitors and is aligned to public health priorities to improve health and wellbeing outcomes, particularly for women and children. District nurses have a role in disease management in populations affected by health inequalities, delivered in community settings, and support people to stay healthy at home.

The Agenda for Change pay deal focuses on rewarding staff such as nurses, midwives, paramedics, porters and others for the dedication and effort they provide to NHS Scotland. Delivering a renewed and stronger NHS is a key commitment for the Scottish Government and at the heart of that are our hard-working healthcare staff who we want to ensure feel valued and rewarded.

The Scottish government publish official workforce statistics on a quarterly basis. The latest available data, is for December 2024 Scottish Government workforce information - gov.scot.

The following table provides details of the working location of directly employed Scottish Government staff, split by Local authority, Full time/Part time working pattern and Permanent/Temporary status.

(a) The following 14 contracts were awarded to ‘The Lines Between’ by the Scottish Government in Fiscal Year 2024-25:

• Research on Fishers Behaviour towards Compliance & Enforcement.
• Adult Disability Payment Review.
• Options Study for Developing a Mental Health Patient Experience Survey for Scotland.
• Consultation Analysis: UEFA Euro 2028 – Commercial Rights Protection.
• Analysis of Responses to Crofting Consultation 2024.
• Analysis for Annual Procurement Reports.
• Analysis of responses to a consultation on proposed changes to energy and environmental standards of the Scottish Building Regulations.
• 'Moving On' Consultation Analysis Evaluation.
• Single-use cups charge consultation analysis.
• Review of Charity Regulation – Consultation Analysis.
• Universal Definition of 'Care Experience' Consultation Evaluation Analysis.
• Analysis of Consultation Responses to the Scottish Government Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy.
• Future of Foster Care Consultation Analysis.
• Carer Benefits Evaluation: Case Transfer and Carer Support Payment.

Further information on the contracts can be found on Public Contracts Scotland https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/

(b) 'The Lines Between' have not yet received any funded commissions for FY 2025-26. However, they were successful in bidding for the Social Research and Analysis Framework contract and were added on 1 May 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold full data with regards to waiting times and there are no national targets. However, a maximum wait time of 6 weeks is recommended in critical cases.

Data up to 2022-23 on Social Care eligibility and waiting times is publicly available at Local Authority level via the following weblink:

Social care: eligibility criteria and waiting times Scotland 2022-2023 - gov.scot

Data showing the time waited between referral first contact and completion of a community care assessment service in the final quarter of each financial year can be found in the ‘waiting times new clients’ tab of the Excel workbook which accompanies the publication.

Under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships have a duty to assess the social care support needs of people and decide, in light of that assessment, to arrange suitable services, if required.

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland, it is for local Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to ensure that social care support services are in place to provide their population with the appropriate support in the right place and at the right time.

We understand the pressures faced and have invested a record £21.7 billion in health and social care in 2025-26, which includes almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration.