Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39878 on 3 September 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.

A total of 46 students graduated from the ScotGEM course in 2023. At the time of response, six have already taken up a GPST 1 post in Scotland.

The remaining students destinations can be broken down as follows:

• Six graduates are yet to complete their Foundation Year 2 (FY2), for varying reasons.
• Five graduates have elected to take a post other than a GPST 1.
• Six graduates chose not to complete their FY2 training in Scotland.
• 23 graduates who have not yet taken up a post, at the time of response.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are currently working to understand the destinations of the 23 graduates who have not taken up a GPST 1 post and where they are currently working, if in the NHS. This information will support the initial evaluation of the ScotGEM programme being undertaken by the Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39878 on 3 September 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.

In keeping with our network security policy, we can neither confirm nor deny the use of VPNs by revealing any cost or lack thereof. This is consistent with our response to a recent FOI (202500480214) asking a similar question and aligns to the approach taken by government bodies across the UK. Providing details on the type of networking tools used could provide hostile actors with information on the setup, and potential weak points, of sensitive government systems.

The Scottish Government provided £2.4m to support the development of Nevis House, as part of our aim to increase residential rehab capacity – particularly for areas outside the Central Belt.

Nevis House will provide six beds, equating to up to 22 placements a year. It aims to support referrals from more remote parts of the Highlands alongside the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.

Nevis House expands on existing work carried out at Beechwood House, offering residential rehabilitation, community outreach and social care to people affected by substance use in rural areas.

The information requested is available online, please find the details requested as follows:

At the time of response six ScotGEM 2023 graduates have already taken up GPST 1 posts in Scotland, these are broken down by health board in the following table.

The Town Centre Capital Fund was only active in 2019-20 and 2020-21, providing funding allocations to all local authorities to support delivery of town centre regeneration

There has been significant investment over recent years in our capital investment programmes, including the Place Based Investment Programme, the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and the Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme, which have helped to accelerate our ambitions for regeneration activity in town centres.

Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) funding is allocated directly to Scotland’s 32 local authorities, who are responsible for targeting investment locally in line with the agreed objectives of the fund. As such, the Scottish Government does not receive applications from local organisations for this funding. A total of £5.465 million was made available to 17 local authorities in 2024-2025 via the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) as detailed in the following table:

Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. Operating Companies are required to carry out temporary repairs by 6am the following morning and permanent repairs within 28 days. For DBFO concessionaires, road surface Category 1 requirements generally require temporary repairs within 24 hours and permanent repairs also within 28 days. Category 2 defects are those with a lesser severity, which do not warrant a safety-led immediate response. These are considered for maintenance along with information from the annual condition assessments to determine future maintenance schemes within the three-year maintenance programme.

The tables below list the number of Category 1 and Category 2 potholes that were either recorded or repaired in each of the full years between 2021-22 and 2024-25. The data is not available broken down by Local Authority.