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An agreement in principle to support the Nexo Championship was discussed between VisitScotland and DP World Tour at this year’s Genesis Scottish Open, which took place 10-13 July. The final decision to support the event was taken following contract review and negotiations that same month.

The tournament was a late addition to the DP World Tour schedule, announced midway through the season on 6 May 2025. It followed the cancellation in December of a DP World Tour event which had been originally scheduled for the week of 7-10 August 2025.

VisitScotland provided funding of £180,000 (£150k + VAT) to the DP World Tour for branding and advertising, which in turn provided Scotland with a global platform to showcase its credentials as one of the world’s premier golf tourism and events destinations.

This funding included the delivery of on-course branding and advertising promotion across live broadcast to a global audience. VisitScotland’s investment enabled a channel to market, and a platform to promote Scotland and the North-East as a year-round golf tourism and events destination, with the intention to inspire future visits.

Golf and golf events are important to Scotland and play a key part of our national identity, supporting communities, driving economic growth, contributing to environmental sustainability across the country and promoting Scotland through global profile.

The Scottish Government has not engaged directly with any UK departments regarding the possibility of the Open Championship being held at Trump Turnberry and it has no future meetings planned.

Although the Scottish Government has a funding relationship with the R&A to support their events in Scotland, all venue decisions are solely at the discretion of the R&A and the Scottish Government is informed of venue selection after the decision has been made. The Scottish Government is not involved in the decision-making process.

VisitScotland provided £180k (£150k + VAT) to the DP World Tour for the Nexo Championship event, for the brand profile opportunity.

While this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, it has confirmed to the Scottish Government that the 2024 overflow data publication, published in March 2025, will not be updated.

Scottish Water has confirmed that it intends to publish annual overflow event data for the period January to December 2025 in March 2026. This publication will include annual overflow event data for the Event Duration Monitor (EDM) locations which are included within Scottish Water’s Near Real Time Overflow Map.

For the 2025-26 financial year, the Scottish Government have invested a further £125 million to enable adult social care workers in the third and private sectors to be paid at least the Real Living Wage rate, £12.60 per hour, which takes the estimated total investment to deliver this policy up to £950 million annually. This rate is already 39p higher than the National Living Wage rate of £12.21 per hour, which applies to many social care workers in England and Northern Ireland.

Uplifting pay in Scotland to £2 per hour above the National Living Wage rate would mean raising the Scottish minimum hourly rate of £12.60 by £1.61 per hour to £14.21. It is estimated that this would cost an additional £335 million annually.

The Scottish Government is proud to have led the way in supporting enhanced minimum hourly rates of pay for the adult social care workforce among the four UK nations. However, we are always happy to listen to serious proposals about how increases in pay for the social care workforce could be achieved in an affordable way.

The Scottish Government will continue to look at what we can do to increase rates of pay for social care workers, and our work to introduce sectoral bargaining arrangements for the sector is progressing. However, there has never been greater pressures on public finances, and we must balance the books while demand for government support and intervention is increasing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40280 on 16 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. I will give careful consideration to NHS Highland’s response.

The decision taken in 2016 by NHS Highland to move to a midwife-led unit at Caithness General Hospital was made on the basis of safety. This decision was taken in line with NHS Boards’ responsibility to design and deliver services which deliver safe, high-quality care to meet the needs of their local populations and geographies. Safe maternity care delivered as close to home as practicable is vital and the safety of pregnant women and babies must be central to this.

The model of care in Caithness is the same as that which operates across all rural areas in the NHS Highland region. NHS Highland understands the need to continually review its service models to ensure they are safe, effective and fit for the future.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-40280 and S6W-40281 on 16 September 2025. I will give careful consideration to NHS Highland’s response. 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.

Due to concerns over patient confidentiality a single length of delay figure cannot be provided.

A delayed discharge occurs when a hospital patient who is clinically ready for discharge from inpatient hospital care continues to occupy a hospital bed beyond the date they are ready for discharge. Official Statistics on delayed discharges in NHS Scotland are available here: About this release - Delayed discharges in NHSScotland monthly - Figures for July 2025 - Delayed discharges in NHSScotland monthly - Publications - Public Health Scotland. This publication includes the number of people delayed at each monthly census point by length of delay at census point. A person’s length of delay at census is calculated as the time from their latest ready for discharge date to the monthly census point.

Within the policies we set, NHS Boards have responsibility for the design and delivery of services to meet the needs of their local populations and deliver safe, high-quality care. NHS Boards may commission local reviews of services to support them in the design and delivery of safe, sustainable services which best meet the needs of their local populations and geographies.

If Scottish Ministers have concerns about local services they would discuss these with the Board as they are responsible for local service delivery, following which Ministers may decide to commission an independent review. There are no set criteria for such decisions as it will depend on the circumstances of the issues under consideration and the most appropriate response.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) undertakes independent inspections of obstetric maternity units in Scotland through its Maternity Inspection programme. The inspection programme launched in January 2025 and details of the inspection methodology are made publicly available on the HIS website, along with inspection reports and NHS Board improvement plans. Crucially, HIS maintains independence in its scrutiny activity, including in its inspection programme. HIS takes decisions around inspection activity using a risk-based, proportionate and data- and intelligence-led approach.

Links:

https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.scot/inspections-reviews-and-regulation/safe-delivery-of-care-in-maternity-units-inspection-programme/

https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.scot/inspections-reviews-and-regulation/inspections-of-nhs-hospitals-and-services/hospital-and-services-inspection-reports/