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The Permanent Representative of Ireland to the EU and I held a positive meeting in June last year, in which we spoke about energy policy and the latest developments regarding the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The subject of Scottish independence was not an agenda item in discussions, however Scottish ministers will always be polite enough during meetings to answer any questions put to them about the Scottish Government's stated policies, including a legal, constitutionally sound referendum, as set out in our Programme for Government.

The Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU and I held a positive meeting in June last year in which we spoke about the Czech Republic's priorities for the Presidency of the European Council, including energy policy.

The subject of Scottish independence was not an agenda item in discussions, however Scottish ministers will always be polite enough during meetings to answer any questions put to them about the Scottish Government's stated policies, including a legal, constitutionally sound referendum, as set out in our Programme for Government.

Public Health Scotland Publish information on the number of GPs and patients by Health Board and this is available at:

General Practice - GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2012 - 2022 - General Practice - GP workforce and practice list sizes - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Table 2 sets out the number of GPs in each board area and Table 4 shows the registered number of patients in each health board, over the past 10 years.

The Scottish Budget is largely fixed and the Scottish Government cannot overspend against the Budget limit. Budgets are carefully managed by Scottish Ministers through well-established planning, year-round management and reporting processes. The robust financial management processes in place ensure that spending against the Scottish Budget is continually assessed with all available funding directed to priorities to maximise the effective use of resources. This includes annual autumn and spring revisions of the Budget which are agreed with the Scottish Parliament. All fiscal underspends are carried forward within the Scotland Reserve with no loss of spending power. It is important that the Parliamentary focus is on the discretionary budget figures (that support public spending) rather than technical (non-cash) underspends that can inflate the headline figure but do not impact on spending power.

The Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) College Infrastructure Strategy: The Approach to Delivering Scotland’s College Infrastructure, published in November 2022, supports the college sector’s ambitions for net zero with the planned production of an Infrastructure Investment Plan for the college sector being a key goal.

The strategy recognises that investment in college infrastructure is needed and presents a significant opportunity for colleges to play their part in tackling the climate emergency. SFC will support colleges to progress their Net Zero ambitions that are integral to any future infrastructure investment.

We are producing a Student Mental Health Plan, linked to our Suicide Prevention Strategy and the forthcoming Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy to provide a framework for institutional action.

We currently support NUS Think Positive which sign-posts help for students, where institutions can share good practice and where, through Student Mental Health Agreements, students’ associations and institutions collaborate on institutional mental health practices.

Since 2019/20, we have invested over £13.5 million to provide almost 90 additional counsellors and will provide funding for the entirety of AY 2022-23. Any decision with regard to funding beyond the end of the current Academic Year has yet to be taken.

Temporary accommodation offers an important safety net for anyone who finds themselves homeless, however, this should only ever be short term and we want to see people in settled homes that meet their needs as soon as possible. We want disabled people in Scotland to have choice, dignity and freedom to access suitable, settled homes so they can participate as full and equal citizens.

Our Housing to 2040 strategy sets out our vision for housing in Scotland to 2040. Key actions include reviewing Housing for Varying Needs, increasing the supply of accessible and adapted homes and improving choice for disabled people to allow them to live independently within their community.

The Scottish Government has committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 70% will be for social rent. Funding is available through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to deliver more wheelchair accessible homes where local authorities have included these in their Strategic Housing Investment Plans.

The review of Housing for Varying Needs, our design guide for accessibility standards for new social rented homes, is underway and will directly inform the development of a Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, set to be implemented from 2025-26. This will enhance the accessibility and adaptability of new homes, ensuring that disabled people have an increased range of housing options and reducing the requirement to make changes to homes as needs change. We plan to launch the formal consultation on both the Housing for Varying Needs review and the introduction of the Scottish Accessible Homes Standard in the spring of 2023.

The Scottish Government consulted on proposals for a new draft National Litter and Flytipping Strategy in early 2022.

Following publication of a consultation analysis report in July 2022, the Scottish Government has been working in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Keep Scotland Beautiful and other stakeholders to finalise the strategy and initial action plan.

We will be publishing the National Litter & Flytipping Strategy in the coming months. This will set how we plan to work with partners to develop more effective litter and flytipping prevention and enforcement measures.

The third Scottish Annual Pollinator Conference on 15 June 2023 is an online only event organised and staffed by our conservation agency, NatureScot. The 2023 theme is monitoring, with the intention of highlighting pollinator monitoring schemes, and, in line with our final draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, published in December 2022, demonstrating the necessity of monitoring for a better understanding of the status of our pollinating insects and wider biodiversity. Scottish Government policy officials will attend the conference.

Following public consultation on our proposals in 2022, the Scottish Government has been working with key partners – including Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Keep Scotland Beautiful – to finalise the new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and we aim to publish this in the coming months.