Seòmar agus comataidhean

The number of Full-time Equivalent (FTE) Secondary Teachers with Music, Drama or Art as their main subject taught, broken down by local authority, is shown in Table A. FTE teacher numbers with Science as the main subject taught are shown in Table B. Science includes the following subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Science (general).

Teacher FTE numbers for individual subjects in Secondary schools are published in Table 8.9 in the annual Teacher Census Supplementary statistics available from https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/ .

Table A: Secondary school teachers (FTE) with Art & Design, Music or Drama as main subject taught by local authority [Note 1][Note 2]

The rainfall we have seen across Scotland in October has been extreme, affecting many communities and businesses. The Scottish Government has been in close contact with the agricultural sector through our Area Offices and networks to determine the extent to which producers have been affected and what the implications of that are, including for food crops in the North East region.

Following the severe rainfall of 6 th to 8 th October I met with NFUS, East of Scotland Growers and Kettle Produce on 13th October to hear about the impacts on fruit and vegetable producers at that stage, which were principally in the Perthshire area, with losses reported to crops such as carrots, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, swede and sprouts. I then visited Keithick Farms near Coupar Angus to see and discuss the impacts of the flooding with a number of affected farm businesses.

From 19th to 21st October there were further impacts on crops from Storm Babet, which as well as worsening the situation in some of the areas affected earlier in the month, has also led to some further flooding of crops in Angus and Aberdeenshire, including potatoes.

It will take time for the extent of the impacts of the October flooding on food crops to become fully apparent, as the condition of crops still in the ground becomes clearer on fuller assessment and harvesting. The Scottish Government remains in close contact with farming organisations and producers to understand those impacts and discuss what actions can be taken to mitigate them. In the meantime we would encourage retailers to ensure that they are sympathetic to any producers who may have been negatively impacted by the flooding.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21544 on 4 October 2023. 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 Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) has responsibility for the development of the Community Asset Register (CAR) and confirmed in October 2023 that a CAR ‘Action Plan’ has been developed to monitor progress of the actions required towards its improvement. SFRS also reiterated its intention to continue to develop the digital platform currently being used for the CAR with the necessary improvements being tabled for discussion as a priority for inclusion in its ICT workplan for 2024-2025.

A Scottish Avian Influenza in wild bird Task Force was established in 2022, which brought together colleagues from Scottish Government, NatureScot, the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology, Public Health Scotland, and Local Authorities to coordinate a joint response to the outbreak in wild birds. On 11 August Ministers launched the Scottish Wild Bird Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Response Plan that sets out how the Scottish Government and its partners will respond to any further outbreaks of HPAI in wild birds in Scotland. The NatureScot Avian Influenza sub-committee recently highlighted the limited options that are available to authorities in dealing with HPAI in wild birds.

The Scottish Government has published guidance on gov.scot for pet dogs and working dogs. Scottish Government has also worked with the game industry to develop standing guidance on avian influenza and game birds, whilst Scotland’s HPAI Task Force has provided guidance to land managers.

Since the publication of the Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland (RCAP), the Scottish Government has established the Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee (SRAC) to oversee its implementation.

Since publication of the Plan, the SRAC identified three initial areas of focus: child to adult transition, pulmonary rehab and respiratory data.

The Child to Adult Transitions subgroup has produced a set of recommendations to ensure children with asthma and other respiratory conditions have the best possible care and treatment as they move into adult service.

We are continuing to focus on improving access to pulmonary rehabilitation. The British Thoracic Society recently published a refreshed quality statement on pulmonary rehab . We are working closely with services across Scotland to identify improvements in delivery and to ensure more people have access.

Public Health Scotland have been commissioned to begin scoping work to develop a respiratory audit programme. This will allow us to monitor the delivery of the RCAP and ensure people are receiving the best possible care, treatment and support for respiratory conditions.

In addition, the Respiratory Specialist Delivery Group (SDG) at the Centre for Sustainability Delivery (CfSD) is progressing significant improvements across a vast range of services, teams, and NHS Boards. This work aligns with the commitments in the RCAP, and we are working closely with the CfSD to ensure that these links continue.

The monthly passenger carrying statistics on each route in the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract with Serco NorthLink from January 2023 up to the latest available figures can be found on Serco NorthLink Ferries’ website here: NorthLink Statistics | NorthLink Ferries .

The Endometriosis Referral Care Pathway for Scotland was published by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery in January 2023 and distributed to NHS Scotland Boards.

The Diet and Healthy Weight Monitoring report was not published in 2022 and, as set out at the time, we have engaged with users to decide on the future of this publication. An announcement will be made shortly informed by the outcome of user engagement. Most of the data previously included in the Diet and Healthy Weight Monitoring report is now presented in the Scottish Health Survey with the remaining few indicators available in other publications. Results from the 2022 Scottish Health Survey will be published on 5 December 2023. Data for the indicators on sales of soft drinks with added sugar, confectionery, biscuits, cakes and pastries are available on the Food Standards Scotland website and type 2 diabetes prevalence is available in the Scottish Diabetes Survey report.

HMP Highland will expand provision of custodial services available within local community and reduce reliance on accommodation in other locations. Its completion will allow the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to better serve the local community, meet the needs of people in their care and support staff.

Enabling work commenced on site in 2021-2022 and further advance works have been carried out during 2022-23 and are continuing into 2023-24. Work has completed on site with the archaeologists finding significant evidence of roundhouses. Site clearing and substantial ground work is complete for the ground source heating system. An advance work contract was awarded to secure the perimeter concrete panels, which are now being installed, as well as the modular cells.

The March 2023 update to the Infrastructure Investment Plan sets out that HMP Highland is estimated to cost £139.5m and construction completion estimated in spring 2025. These time-scales and costs will be updated when the main construction contract is awarded late 2023/early 2024.