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The NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 was published in August 2021 with a commitment to provide annual reports on progress through the delivery outcomes set out in the plan. These reports are published online and can be found at:

NHS Recovery Plan: annual progress update 2022 – https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-recovery-plan-annual-progress-update/

NHS recovery plan: progress report 2023 – https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-recovery-plan-progress-report-2023/

NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026: annual progress update report 2024 – https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-recovery-plan-2021-2026-annual-progress-update-report-2024/

In line with previous years, an further annual progress report for 2025 will be published by the end of this year.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold statistics specifically on sustained employment for people who register with an employment agency.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes statistics related to Scottish Government funded employability support, No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland, including data on sustained employment by participants.

The most recent statistics for Scottish Government funded employability support are available at: Scotland's Devolved Employment Services statistics - gov.scot.

Some Health Boards are already delivering additional activity 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, to help people get diagnostic tests they need. Since 2021, we have provided three permanent CT scanners to support core diagnostic imaging capacity within Boards, including a mobile CT pod which is deployed flexibly to Boards that require additional capacity. In addition, four further mobile CTs and thirteen mobile MRI scanners are being used across multiple NHS Boards to provide additional capacity.

Additional funding provided through the £200 million investment contained in the Budget to reduce waiting times and improve flow through hospital, will support further reductions to the radiology backlog so that 95% of referrals are seen within six weeks by March 2026.

There is currently no digital outpatient system in development at a national level, although the online app for health & social care, which is being developed as part of our Digital Front Door Programme, will provide digital access to outpatient appointments. More details can be found in the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-scotland-operational-improvement-plan/pages/5/.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes 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 in the Stage of Treatment (SoT) publication. The latest publication release contains data up to quarter ending 31 December 2024.

Table 1 presents the latest available statistics on the total number of attendances and admissions for patients who had waited over a year (52 weeks) as a new outpatient or an inpatient or day case. The following data are presented at NHS Scotland level for all specialties, broken down by calendar year and split by new outpatient and inpatient or day case.

Table 1 – Total number of attendances as a new outpatient and admissions as an inpatient or day case for patients who had waited over a year (52 weeks), NHS Scotland, all specialty level, by calendar year from 2020 to present.

In line with our commitment to creating safe and nurturing school environments, the Scottish Government prioritises approaches that address behaviour through understanding and positive intervention.

Our approach to relationships and behaviour in schools is focussed on prevention and de-escalation of concerns. School staff should be supported through clear understanding of their establishment’s relationships and behaviour policy, arrangements for de-escalation and support that can be provided to them where situations do escalate.

The Scottish Government has not received any requests from local authorities for funding for teacher self-defence training in each of the last five years.

Our announcement of £900,000 for local authorities to aid training of support staff was made in direct response to the findings of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, which indicated that it is school support staff who have the most challenging experiences in dealing with negative behaviours, and that support staff themselves would welcome more training to support them in their roles.

Allocation and use of the funding was agreed at the meeting of COSLA Leaders on 26 January 2024. Each local authority received a minimum of £10,000 of funding, with the remaining funding distributed on the basis of pupil numbers. A letter was issued to local authorities on 7 February 2024 advising them of their funding allocation, and that this funding was intended to be used as a contribution towards procuring and providing training for the support staff workforce. The funding could be used flexibly by local authorities to meet the needs of their workforce, but it was intended that the funding would support the provision of training for school support staff in aid of improved relationships and behaviour, including: provision of training from external sources, costs associated with provision of training including securing training provision, venue and staff costs, including backfill of posts to allow staff to attend, and other appropriate costs. In line with the current funding arrangement with local authorities, it was a matter for local authorities to decide how best to use their allocated funding to help the support staff in their area.

In August 2024, I published the national relationships and behaviour in schools action plan as part of our response to the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research report published in November 2023. The plan is jointly owned with COSLA, given the statutory responsibility for the delivery of education rests with our councils.

The first progress report on the action plan, setting out the range of activity that has been taken forward between November 2023 and March 2025, was published on 28 March 2024. During the first phase of the plan, progress has been made against all 20 actions set out within it, including relationships and behaviour in schools. Outputs include new guidance on addressing gender-based violence in schools, updated guidance on mobile phones, and updated anti-bullying guidance.

Theme 7 of the action plan relates to tracking impact and progress, with an action to continue to update and maintain the evidence base on relationships and behaviour in schools. As noted within the Progress Report, the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools has begun its considerations on the scope of the sixth wave of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research, which will be commissioned during phase 2, with fieldwork expected in early 2026. We also continue to reflect on other sources of evidence, including information brought to us by our professional teaching unions.

As noted within the Operational Improvement Plan, the Government will report against it publicly and to Parliament within 2025-26. Statistics relating to a number of its commitments will also continue to be published meantime.

Latin can be taught in both primary and secondary state schools as part of the Scottish Government’s 1+2 approach to language learning. It is also offered as a National Qualification from National 3 to Advanced Higher level.

Education Scotland work closely with partners to develop resources to support the teaching of Latin and other classical subjects in schools.

Statistics on more able pupil as a reason for support are published in the pupil census supplementary statistics. This is available on the Scottish government website here https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/.

Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide for, and to review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs, including more able pupils.