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We have been engaging with NHS Grampian on these issues. The Scottish Government facilitated a visit involving Royal College of Emergency Medicine to NHS Grampian on 12 June this year to meet with staff and offer support. The visiting team subsequently made a number of recommendations that will support improvements. We will work closely with the board to support implementation.

We continue to work with NHS Grampian on delivery of their improvement plan, which contains a range of initiatives to support reduced waiting times. The Board have demonstrated progress against their improvement aims including increasing staffing levels to better manage the A&E footprint, increasing hospital at home capacity and reducing ambulance conveyance by strengthening alternative services which focus on A&E prevention.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21342 on 27 September 2023. 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 upholding high standards of environmental protection. The statutory guidance on Scotland’s Guiding Principles on the Environment will help ensure that these high standards are maintained through the policy development process. Once the duty to give due regard to the environmental principles comes into force later in the year, Ministers will be legally required to consider these principles in the development of new policies, including through the Strategic Environmental Assessment process. This requirement will encompass policies within the new agricultural policy framework. We have committed in our Programme for Government to ‘continue the Agricultural Reform Programme to produce more of our food sustainably, cut carbon emissions, and farm with nature, by increasing the uptake of carbon audits, soil testing, and biodiversity audits and funding to improve animal health’.

Contingent liabilities are considered and approved in line with the guidance contained within the Scottish Public Finance Manual and in the Written Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Finance and Public Administration Committee. The Budget treatment applied is consistent with HMT’s Consolidated Budgeting Guidance:

• Amounts for contingent liabilities are not included in the budget, nor recognised as actual liabilities on the Scottish Government’s balance sheet, but are instead disclosed in notes to their accounts.

The Scottish Government's contingent liabilities are considered and approved in line with the guidance contained within the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Written Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Finance and Public Administration Committee.

There is no separate requirement for the prior permission of HM Treasury for novel or particularly large contingent liabilities for activities either within the Fiscal Framework or elsewhere.

The project to introduce a pilot National Dashcam Safety Portal in Scotland is in the initial business case stage, with Police Scotland currently looking at the internal processing, handling and storage of digital images and how that best fits with current and projected processes. The initial implementation date for the project pilot was indicated as January 2023, however, Police Scotland has now stated that they are reviewing the project’s timings as part of their wider planning for 2023-24 and beyond.

My officials remain in discussion with Police Scotland on this matter and will meet with them again later in August as we look to progress this important road safety initiative.

Officials received a scoping paper from Police Scotland that outlines their programme for delivery, particularly on what they are looking to deliver and a detailed timescale. My officials met with Police Scotland on 13 July and during the meeting they discussed the development of the business case. The business case will look at the service design, delivery, organisation policy and life time management of the National Dashcam Safety Portal.

My officials remain in discussion with Police Scotland on this matter and will meet with them again later in August as we look to progress this important road safety initiative.

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, which Boards use to best meet the healthcare needs of their resident population.

Funding is not ring-fenced for neurology services. It is not therefore possible to provide this proportion of health board funding.

Regulatory policy officials are in regular contact with the GDC and The Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care is scheduled to meet with the regulator's Chair and Chief Executive in early September.

Officials work closely with their counterparts in the Department for Health and Social Care and I myself have recently written to UK Government Ministers, with an offer to work together to explore how we can improve the take-up of overseas applicants across the four countries of the UK.

In terms of action taken this far in addressing the backlog of applicants, this Parliament agreed on Wednesday 25 January 2023 that the Dentists, Dental Care Professionals, Nurses, Nursing Associates and Midwives (International Registrations) Order 2022 be approved, with it subsequently coming into force on 8 March 2023.

This UK Statutory Instrument gives the General Dental Council (GDC) powers to amend international routes into registration without the approval of the Privy Council, subject to consulting on proposed changes. The GDC launched such a consultation on 4 July 2023 with proposals to enable registration processes to continue to be effective for internationally qualified dental professionals in the medium term, and plans to consult again in due course on longer term arrangements.

In its immediate response to the current demand for the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE), the GDC announced on 16 May 2023 that it has worked with its providers to triple the number of places available for Part 1 of the ORE from 200 to 600, and has committed to maintaining that additional capacity into 2024.

We will continue to work closely with the GDC, UK Government and other stakeholders, to assist wherever possible in smoothing the path of international dental graduates into UK practice.

Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) grants are currently available in certain areas within 12 NHS Boards, as follows:

• NHS Borders;
• NHS Dumfries and Galloway;
• Dalmellington and Patna within NHS Ayrshire and Arran;
• Auchtermuchty, Leslie, Newburgh and Tayport within NHS Fife;
• Stirlingshire within NHS Forth Valley;
• Banff, Fraserburgh, Huntly and Moray within NHS Grampian;
• Inverclyde within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde;
• NHS Highland;
• NHS Orkney;
• NHS Shetland;
• Arbroath, Dundee, Forfar, Monifieth and Kinross within NHS Tayside; and
• NHS Western Isles.