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SEPA has informed Scottish Government officials they have no plans to conduct any monitoring or investigations at Arecleoch and Glen App wind farms.

As noted in my answer to question S6W-14975 on 2 March, Scottish Power Renewables have advised the Scottish Government that all spills on the sites have been of a minor nature and therefore have not required a notification to be sent to SEPA.

Local planning authorities are responsible for monitoring compliance with any conditions and other environmental commitments, or mitigations as identified as part of the Environment Impact Assessment. All cases are considered under their own granted consent.

The rules and regulations that govern the resilience of the GB electricity grid are a matter reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government has no responsibility in relation to the operational management of wind farm sites.

At the meeting on 15 February 2023, Scottish Government officials were given reassurances by Scottish Power Renewables that they are taking forward work on alternatives to the use of diesel generators.

Scottish Government officials continue to seek regular updates from Scottish Power Renewables on this work as it progresses.

Scottish Government published analysis in October 2022 estimating around 73% of people eligible for Young Carer Grant received the payment in 2021-22. These figures are available at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/take-up-rates-scottish-benefits-october-2022/

In addition, information relating to Young Carer Grant applications is routinely published by Social Security Scotland as part of Official Statistics releases. The statistics currently include a breakdown of received applications, as well as authorised applications, by local authority and financial year. These statistics are available at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/about/statistics/social-security-scotland-statistics-publications .

As part of work to continuously improve Official Statistics outputs, the forthcoming Young Carer Grant statistics release will include a local authority breakdown expanded to report denied and withdrawn applications. These Official Statistics will be published on 21 March 2023.

Further meetings with Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie, NHS Highland, elected members of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross and the wider public community have built on the recommendations in the original (2018) report. Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie issued his written view of assessment of progress, with further recommendations and qualifications to the respective local Chairs of Implementation of the SLSWR OOH Review Report and NHS Highland Board, following in-person visits to Skye in December 2018 and May 2019 and a virtual assessment of progress in October 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

We are developing a new 10 year cancer strategy that will launch in Spring 2023 and takes a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. We are considering the specific needs of blood cancer patients.

At present, there are some endometriosis medicines that are unavailable. Alternatives remain available and clinicians are advised to prescribe these alternatives until supplies stabilise.

Scottish Government has had no communication with the MHRA regarding medication supply issues. The supply of medicines is a reserved matter for the UK Government. Scottish Government officials are regularly updated on any supply disruptions which may arise and will provide advice to the NHS in Scotland on options to address any shortages that may arise.

Within Transport Scotland, we only have FTE records available from 2016, due to data retention policies. From 2016 to December 2022, Ferries existed as a team within the Aviation, Maritime, Freight and Canals (AMFC) Directorate. I have provided the FTE separately for both the Ferries team and the AMFC directorate as a whole. From December 2022, a new Ferries Directorate was formed, this FTE figure is shown below. All figures are as at March of each year.

We plan to publish a new cancer strategy in Spring 2023.

While NHS Boards hold the direct responsibility for staffing, we are providing direct investment to assist boards, including those in the South Scotland region, in growing and retaining their workforce. This has included funding to support the recruitment of up to 750 nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals from overseas before April 2023.

In addition, our National Workforce Strategy sets out the actions we will take in partnership with Boards to plan, attract, train, employ and nurture the health and social care workforce.