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Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government and Ministers do not intervene in operational matters.

The following provides details of marketing activity that has run over the preceding five years, to address chronic diseases. Chronic disease is defined in the Scottish Health Survey as any physical illness or mental illness expected to last a year or more. Messaging has not been tailored to target rural communities specifically, however where possible media platforms and channels have been selected and partnerships have been utilised to reach rural communities.

Crohn’s and Colitis

A Crohn’s and Colitis public information campaign ran in March 2023 via stakeholder and community engagement. The campaign aimed to increase awareness of the symptoms of Crohn’s and Colitis, and signpost to trustworthy information to empower and enable the public to seek advice from a healthcare professional.

Community engagement included the distribution of posters to 1,256 community pharmacies, 908 general practices, 256 leisure/community centres and 32 library hubs (for onward distribution to community libraries) throughout Scotland. This included rural areas, the Highlands and Islands.

Campaign resources including a toolkit were sent to over 300 stakeholders, which included Local Authorities and NHS Health Boards.

Women’s Heart Health

To help improve awareness and signs of heart disease and communicate ways of lowering risk, a public information campaign was developed to coincide with national heart month in February 2023 and was activated through community and stakeholder engagement.

Resources highlighted a key stat:istic “heart disease is killing 10 women a day in Scotland” and signposted to NHS Inform for more information on symptoms and actions to take to lower risks.

The campaign was aimed specifically at women and was delivered via community engagement and included the distribution of posters to 1,256 community pharmacies, 908 general practices, 256 leisure/community centres and 32 library hubs (for onward distribution to community libraries) throughout Scotland, this included rural areas, the Highlands and Islands.

A campaign toolkit was also sent digitally to a comprehensive stakeholder list which included Local Authorities and NHS Health Boards.

Cancer

Between April 2020 to date, a number of campaigns have run to support earlier detection of cancer, including Lung cancer, Cervical screening and Detect Cancer Early campaigns. Local press and radio packages were purchased as part of a Scotland wide media plan, to reach rural communities. Press titles included the Ellon Times, Buchan Observer, Berwickshire Advertiser, Ayrshire Post, The Hawick Paper, Banffshire Herald, John 'Groat Journal and radio stations included Radio Borders, Moray Firth Radio, Northsound, Westsound and Tay Radio.

A new burst of the Detect Cancer Early campaign will run in March and includes community radio in a number of rural locations that network radio does not reach, including Argyll FM, Caithness FM, Radio Skye, Radio Wester Ross, Radio Nevis (Fort William) and Shetlands (SIBC). Also included is a content partnership with local publications such as Ellon Times, Buchan Observer, East Fife Mail, Berwickshire Advertiser and Ayrshire Post and Field activity in locations that are more accessible for those living more rurally such as Elgin, Fort William and Stranraer.

Dementia Stigma

The Rethink Dementia campaign launched on 4 September 2024 and ran for 6 weeks in paid-for media. A number of Local Press Titles were purchased as part of the campaign, including:

Community Scotland Zone Newspaper

South Annandale Series

South Ayr Advertiser

South Berwickshire News

South Border Telegraph

South Cumnock Chronicle and Muirkirk Advertiser

South Dumfries Courier

South Eskdale & Lidderdale Advertiser

South Galloway Gazette

South Lanark and Carluke Gazette

South Peeblesshire News

South Southern Reporter

South Stranraer & Wigtown Free Press

South The Hawick Paper

North Angus County Press

North Banffshire Advertiser

North Banffshire Herald

North Banffshire Journal

North The Buchie & Inverurie Herald/ Ellon Times/ Fraserburgh Herald

North Caithness Courier

North Campbeltown Courier & Argyllshire Advertiser

North Deeside & Donside Piper and Herald

North Forres Gazette

North Helensburgh Advertiser

North Highland News Group

North Huntly Express

North Inverness Courier (Fri & Tues)

North Isle of Bute News

North John O'Groat Journal

North Mearns Leader/ Kincardineshire Observer

North Northern Scot

North Northern Times

North Oban Times and West Highland Times

North Ross-shire Journal

North Shetland Times

North Stornoway Gazette

North Strathspey and Badenoch Herald

North The Orcadian - Orkney

North West Highland Free Press

The Rethink Dementia campaign also utilised pharmacies, libraries, GP practices, community centres and sports centres, providing these settings with campaign assets across Scotland including rural communities.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy.

The process is ongoing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government and Ministers do not intervene in operational matters.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy.

The process is ongoing and I will update Parliament when a significant development has been made.

It is the legal responsibility of the assigned Health Board or GP practice to act as the data controller for an individual's medical record. The data controller will monitor the data and rectify any discrepancies, in line with existing Data Protection legislation and processes.

Each NHS Scotland Health board has a privacy notice to inform the public of why and how they use information they are in control of and this can be accessed via their individual website.

Guidance is publicly available on NHS inform at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/health-rights/confidentiality-and-data-protection/health-records/#viewing-your-health-records.

The Scottish Government works closely with categorised responders, who are responsible under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 for assessing the risk of an emergency occurring, maintaining plans to ensure they can continue to perform their functions in case of an emergency, and considering whether an assessment makes it necessary or expedient to add or modify plans. Scottish Government are not however responsible for, or the owners of, any of these plans.

To support categorised responders with their duties, the Scottish Government contributes to the UK’s National Security Risk Assessment and produces the Scottish Risk Assessment to supplement this with Scotland specific analysis. These national level risk assessments consider the most serious emergencies that the UK and Scotland may face in the near future, and contain specific risk assessments for both severe storms and wildfires.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government and Ministers do not intervene in operational matters. Additionally, statistics regarding arrests in any location at a matter for Police Scotland.

We are continuing to work across the Scottish Government and with delivery partners, including Public Health Scotland and See Me, to ensure that employers across all sectors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and resources they need to promote and support the conditions that enable good mental health at work.

Together, we are delivering a joint package of support for employers across Scotland to support mentally healthy workplaces, which includes:

• The ‘Supporting a Mentally Healthy Workplace’ employer platform, which was launched in August 2022 and signposts employers to a wide range of free mental health and wellbeing resources and information.
• The ‘Supporting a Mentally Healthy Workplace: National Learning Network for Employers’, which was established in March 2023 to complement the employer platform and to bring together employers of all sizes and across all sectors to share learning and experiences of supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
• Public Health Scotland’s Mentally Flourishing Workplaces Framework. Developed in collaboration with a range of employers, this aims to help employers identify what they can do to improve mental health support for their employees, and work together to be a mentally flourishing organisation.
• The See Me in Work Programme, led by See Me, Scotland’s anti-mental health stigma campaign. which provides online support for employers to enable them to create stigma-free and mentally healthy working environments.

Additionally, since 2019 Scottish Government’s Mental Health Directorate has provided funding to the Lifelines Scotland wellbeing programme, to support blue light responders – Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Ambulance Service – who have had difficult experiences in the course of their work which have affected their mental health and wellbeing.

Scottish Government implements a number of measures to support rural NHS Boards’ digital infrastructure. These include:

• The Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)
• A Strategic Digital Fund -For a number of years the Scottish Government has provided additional non-recurring funding to support local strategic digital developments, with a particular emphasis on ensuring continued funding for Highlands and Islands Boards to protect rural services
• Access to the Scottish Government/COSLA Digital Maturity Assessment platform - a standardised management tool for digital transformation. This platform enables NHS Boards to document progress, analyse results, identify priorities, and align with local and national digital and data strategies.
• Recent analysis of data from the Scottish Government/COSLA Digital Maturity Assessment shows both progress in electronic records management and areas for development at organisational and system wide level.
• The Scottish Government and COSLA have also developed a range of resources to increase the digital capabilities of the leadership and workforce thereby improving the ability to identify digital transformation opportunities and implementation.
• A Records Management Code of Practice was published in August 2024.