The regulations for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines are reserved to the UK Government and are the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). For a medicine to be routinely prescribed in the UK, it firstly needs to receive a marketing authorisation. This process ensures the safety, quality and efficacy of medicines placed on the market in the UK. It is the responsibility of individual pharmaceutical companies to apply to the MHRA for a marketing authorisation.

As outlined in the response to S6W-32069 on 6 January 2025, the Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards to provide maternity services that are delivered as close to home as practicable, balanced with ensuring the safety of mother and baby. Within the policies we set, it is for NHS Boards to determine the model of service delivery best suited to meet the needs of their local areas and population.

All decisions about care throughout pregnancy, including around place of birth, should be made by women in discussion with their clinical team. These decisions will take account of their individual needs and circumstances. To support this, in February 2025 we published the new Pathway for Maternity Care. This sets out the core care that women and their babies should receive under a whole-person, individualised care approach which takes account of their specific circumstances. We also published the new Birthplace Decision leaflet to provide women with the up-to-date information they need to make informed decisions about where they would like to give birth.

Women will be given advice when they contact maternity triage services in labour to help them make decisions about when to travel to hospital, and on pain relief options available to them.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government recognises the heightened risk of social isolation in rural areas. To support the delivery of our Social Isolation and Loneliness Delivery Plan, we are providing £3.8m over three years to 53 community projects across Scotland through the Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund that is providing opportunities for people to connect. At end of year one projects reached 11,293 individuals with a focus on priority groups most at risk of social isolation and loneliness. We continue to support the National Rural Mental Health Forum to build the confidence of rural organisations to deliver mental health support to their members and networks. We also provide funding to Befriending Networks, who support befriending services across Scotland, and currently have 118 Scottish members; of which approximately 1 in 4 members are independent community organisations operating in rural areas.

Tovorafenib does not currently have a marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It is the responsibility of individual pharmaceutical companies to apply to the MHRA for a marketing authorisation. If a marketing authorisation is granted, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) would welcome a submission for tovorafenib, however the decision on whether to submit a medicine for appraisal to the SMC, and the timing of that submission, is entirely for the pharmaceutical company that holds the marketing authorisation for the medicine to make.

There has been no investment specifically related to Stranraer waterfront in the current Parliamentary term through Regeneration programmes.

Regeneration has supported a number of projects in Stranraer, including funding for Stranraer Development Trust, within the current parliamentary term.

Following the development of the Stranraer community’s Local Place Plan, the regeneration funding announced in the Scottish Budget will support the delivery of regeneration of the town centre with funding of up to £710k.

The Scottish Government has already published the estimated financial contribution made to public spending by the voluntary Ministerial pay freeze since it was established on 1 April 2009. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2025, Ministers made an estimated £2.2 million available for public spending from their own pay packets. This is public funding that would not have been available had Ministers not voluntarily decided to return a proportion of their pay. In 2024-25, Ministerial pay was 30.4% below where it would otherwise have been. From 1 April 2025, the MSP element of the pay of all Ministers except the First Minister was equalised with that of all other MSPs, while the freeze on the Ministerial element of their pay continues for a seventeenth consecutive year. In 2025-26, Ministers will make an estimated £166,000 available for public spending from their own pay packets and, as such, public funds this year will again be higher than they would have been without the pay freeze. This is the point that the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport was making.

Responsibility for publishing data and intelligence on the social service sector in Scotland was delegated to the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) in 2001 by Scottish Ministers under the Regulation of Care Scotland Act 2001.

Reports on sector vacancy rates, including breakdowns by local authority and ‘hard to fill posts’, between 2018 and 2023 can be found on SSSC’s website here:

Vacancies reports | Scottish Social Services Workforce Data

Please note SSSC is working to provide more current data to workforce planners and now publishes data on social worker-filled posts and vacancies every six months which can be found here:

Social worker filled posts and vacancies six-monthly survey at June 2024 | Scottish Social Services Workforce Data

The Scottish Government commissioned Pupil projections and implications for teacher resourcing needs: education workforce modelling and research, which was published on 7 May 2024. This independent research has informed our engagement with partners on the commitment to reduce class-contact time for teachers.

Local Government are also undertaking local scoping and modelling work to inform delivery of this commitment. This work is scheduled to be completed by summer 2025.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of supported accommodation places that are available.

Supported accommodation is provided by a range of providers, including local authorities, the third sector, and the independent sector. The number of places available will be known locally by partnerships or health boards.

Long COVID and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are examples of post-acute infection syndromes. Work is ongoing to determine how the additional £4.5 million announced in the 2025-26 budget to deliver new specialist support will be allocated to NHS boards. It is expected that NHS boards will develop support based on their understanding of local population need and synergies with existing local service provision.