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The Scottish Government does not capture patients on waiting lists for hearing aid replacements specifically and it is the responsibility of Health Boards to manage these lists appropriately.

Scottish Government officials meet monthly with Health Boards to review performance and delivery across all Planned Care specialities, including ENT, and Health Board Action Plans in relation to the Independent Review, which has been published online, are reported and monitored by the NHS Planning and Delivery Board.

Work continues with the NHS, Third Sector and private providers to identify and cost an appropriate model of community care for any future service reform and ensure that the voices of those with lived experience inform this work

The Scottish Government remains committed to the 2021 manifesto commitment to deliver a new community hearing service. We recognise the difficulties facing the audiology sector, as highlighted by the 2023 report on the Independent Review of Audiology. Given 80% of audiology care is serviced through the NHS, it is right that we consider Review recommendations in any future work and this, together with the wider financial context, has necessitated the rephasing of our manifesto commitment.

Alongside evidence from existing models across the UK, our decision making will be informed by working with the NHS, third sector, private providers and those with lived experience.

This government has overseen a long period of sustained improvement in S4 Leaver positive initial destinations from 78.4% in 2010 to 91.9% in 2024. We are however not complacent and recognise the proportion of S4 leavers in positive initial destinations has decreased by 0.8 percentage points between 2023 and 2024. We are actively working with local authorities on how to further improve the percentage of school leavers in positive destinations.

Ministers, local authorities and schools share statutory responsibilities for education, as well as the wider wellbeing of children, young people, and families which are intertwined and longstanding. National and local government need to work together, with a collective responsibility to improve educational outcomes such as these.

I refer the member to the answers provided in response to S6W-36894 and S6W-36895 on 13 May 2025. 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 Government is committed to doing all it can to bring forward investment at Grangemouth and across Scotland. We have given clear signals to investors and prospective developers at Grangemouth that we want to work with them to make the projects outlined in Project Willow a reality including establishing the £25 million Grangemouth Just Transition Fund. Additionally, we have established an investment taskforce, led by Scottish Enterprise and the UK Office for Investment, which is working at pace to identify and attract inward investors at Grangemouth.

As the Care Inspectorate is an independent non-departmental body, it operates at arm’s length from Government. The Care Inspectorate therefore issues its own guidance independently from the Scottish Government to maintain its role as an impartial and objective regulator.

The Scottish Government does not collect this information. The local councils are independent corporate bodies, separate from the Scottish Government, and it is up to each council how it manages its risks. Under the Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland (2021), the Scottish Government strongly encourages all public bodies to seek appropriate and regular independent assurance of their critical technical controls.

The Scottish Government spend with Total Politics Group in each of the last 5 financial years is detailed in the following tables. For FY2024-25 the spend has been broken down by Directorate.

The Network and Information Systems (NIS) regulatory requirements for the NHS require that each Health Board provides evidence on their improvements to resilience and capabilities through the Scottish Health Competent Authority regulatory audits, which are against the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework.

The Scottish Government published the Cyber Resilience Public Sector Action Plan for all organisations in Scotland’s public sector, including Health and Local Authorities. This plan, alongside a number of other actions, sets out the minimum standards for cyber security that public sector organisations are expected to meet. Controls within the Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework require that disaster recovery and resilience policies and procedures be in place.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-public-sector-cyber-resilience-framework-v2-0/pages/1/

From May 2021 to date, £9,419,808 has been spent on the provision, maintenance and servicing of free bikes. This figure includes the cost of accessories such as locks, lights and helmets, and includes the total cost of the project associated with free bike provision. This includes bikes distributed under the Free Bikes for School Children pilot programme between August 2021 and March 2023, the Free Bikes Partnership in financial year 2023-24, and under the Regional Transport Partnership-led People and Place programme in financial year 2024-25.

Due to reporting schedules, the final evaluation of the People and Place programme for financial year 2024-25 has not been completed at the time of writing. The free bikes data for 2024-25 may therefore be subject to change.