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Public Health Scotland's (PHS) Stage of treatment (Sot) Publication provides statistics on the length of time patients wait to be seen as a new outpatient or admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case The latest publication release contains data to quarter ending 31 December 2024

Longer trend information can be found in the following tables:

New outpatient appointments (‘1.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31761/newop_mar25.xlsx

Inpatient or day case admission (‘2.6 Table’): https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/31760/ipdc_mar25.xlsx

The requested statistics are collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS).Published statistics on the length of time patients wait for a first outpatient appointment at Allied Health Professional (AHP) led Musculoskeletal (MSK) services are available at: https://publichealthscotland.scot

While ring-fenced funding is provided to support increased investment in services such as our schools, inter-island connectivity and criminal justice social work, this represents only 2.7% or £0.4 billion of the overall Local Government Settlement in 2025-26.

Comparisons prior to the historic Concordat agreement in November 2007 do not represent a like for like comparison as Local Government funding changed significantly in 2008-09 when the majority of the former ring-fenced grants provided in the previous year were baselined into to the settlement.

Whilst not directly comparable, the best available data, as published in the Local Government Finance Circular 19/1998 indicates that specific grants worth £543 million were allocated to councils in 1999-00. This was equivalent to 8.29% of ‘Total Aggregate External Finance’.

The Plan for Steel hasn’t been published yet so the Scottish Government has not made an assessment of reported plans for the UK Government to support Scotland’s steel sector. An assessment of confirmed UK Government plans and support will be made following the publication of The Plan for Steel. The Scottish Government will be contributing to the steel strategy consultation; and we will continue to represent the sector, including via my membership on the UK Steel Council.

In addition to the Scottish Government’s previously announced Grangemouth Just Transition Fund, which will support the transition of the industrial cluster in its entirety to help secure a long-term and sustainable future, the Scottish Government has announced £25 million targeted investment for the vitally important Scottish industrial site.

As set out in answer S6W-29116 on 6 September 2024, the cost incurred to date in relation to the planned National Treatment Centre in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Grampian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside is as follows.

Violent and abusive behaviours towards pupils or staff is unacceptable. Schools should be safe and consistent learning environments for all.

Concerns about behaviour at specific schools are a matter for the relevant local authority. We expect local authorities to consider how best to implement our national guidance to address particular areas of local challenge or concern.

OPITO was the sole recipient of Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund support for developing the Offshore Energy Skills Passport over the period 2022 to 2024. Our records show that five sub-contractors were engaged by OPITO in supporting the Passport project over this time.

It is the responsibility of all Social Security Scotland colleagues to identify and prevent fraudulent applications being awarded.

Social Security Scotland has a zero tolerance to fraud and use a combination of system controls, processes and colleague awareness to prevent it. Mandatory fraud prevention and identification training is provided to all colleagues when they join the organisation.

In support of this Social Security Scotland has a dedicated Counter Fraud branch to further support the organisation in mitigating fraud risk.

Social Security Scotland carefully considers the information on counter fraud activity that can be placed into the public domain to ensure that any information released does not undermine the ability of Social Security Scotland to prevent and detect crime and protect the public purse.

Scottish Ministers recognise the crucial role the port sector plays in supporting the Scottish economy. Ports ownership in Scotland is a diverse mix of mainly private, local authority and trust operated. We recognise that a diverse and successful ports sector contributes significantly to the national, regional and local economies in which they operate.

Regardless of the ownership model, ports in Scotland are deemed commercial entities. Therefore, the Scottish Government has no say in the day-to-day running of their business, nor can it dictate business decisions made by a company on how to best to utilise its resources. This remains the responsibility of the statutory harbour authority.

The Scottish Government’s approach to dealing with RAAC is to follow the guidance set out by Institute of Structural Engineers.

The Scottish Government funded a survey of all NHS facilities suspected of RAAC and it is known where RAAC is present. These phase 1 surveys did not identify any immediate concerns that have not already been acted on.

We are funding a second more detailed phase of surveys of all sites with RAAC to ensure that the right approach is being taken to dealing with it. As a result of this type of detailed survey, necessary remedial works at Knoll Hospital have been identified and are being actioned – in line with the systematic approach to RAAC discovery and investigation across the NHS.

NHS Borders notified the Scottish Government on 27 January 2025 that there was an evolving situation regarding RAAC at Knoll Community Hospital. When a health facility is assessed as requiring maintenance work this does not automatically mean the facility is not safe, and the specialist Structural Engineers who conducted this survey on behalf of NHS Borders, and who are the survey partner for the NHS RAAC programme, have not reported that Knoll Hospital is unsafe.

Phase 2 surveys will be carried out across all NHS properties known to contain RAAC. Where any previously unidentified issues are found during phase 2 surveys, Health Boards are expected to assess, communicate and action with appropriate pace to ensure safety.

For all instances of RAAC identified as requiring an annual reinspection from the Phase 1, Discovery Survey programme, a programme of annual reinspection is currently underway and due to complete in March 2025.