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The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to develop core STEM skills and knowledge. Through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle, we have established a systematic approach to curriculum improvement which will help to ensure that STEM subjects are attractive and accessible to all children and young people.

As Scotland’s independent environmental regulator, any decisions on publishing data is for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

SEPA intends to make annual data on spills from wastewater treatment works operated by Private Finance Investment companies proactively available and aims to publish the data on its website in Autumn 2025.

The Scottish Government will seek to review and revise the current guidance in the coming months. However, this review will need to be cognisant of the likely requirements of the alignment position with the recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, which proposes further measures in relation to the operation of wastewater networks.

The Scottish Government does intend to update its policies to reflect the 2025 recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. This Government is pressing ahead with the policy development to ensure that proposals can be brought forward to Parliament at the earliest opportunity, subject to the outcome of the 2026 elections.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water has already installed 1,000 event duration monitors to meet the commitment set out within its Improving Urban Waters Routemap. Scottish Water plans to go beyond this commitment and install a further 700 this year, aiming to cover around 50% of overflows. Scottish Water has installed 135 of these further monitors in 2025.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to provide financial support in connection with applications for exhumation.

However, we are committed to simplifying the process as much as possible. Officials are developing regulations under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 which will remove applications for exhumation from the courts, making the process more straightforward and less expensive for applicants.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

All overflow events at Helensburgh wastewater treatment works arose through a Settled Storm Sewage Overflow after being screened and receiving primary treatment. This process is licensed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and all overflows are monitored and reported.

Public Health Scotland continues to provide data regarding planned procedure activity prior to March 2020 in the monthly Cancelled Planned Operations release which can be accessed at Cancelled planned operations - Month Ending 30 April 2025 - Cancelled planned operations - Publications - Public Health Scotland. The ‘Cancellations data’ file provides the information needed for comparisons of time periods May 2015 to April 2025 by month and therefore able to illustrate the difference in current levels of operation activity and operation activity pre-COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of PHS’ obligations under the UKSA Code of Practice for Statistics (found at About the Code – Code of Practice for Statistics), PHS continually review outputs to ensure they adhere to all the pillars contained within the Code of Practice. This states that “statistics and data [should be] useful, easy to access, remain relevant, and support understanding of important issues.” Upon review, the Cancelled Planned Operations summary has been adapted to align with these principles.

More specifically, in line with the principles of “Relevance to Users” and “Innovation and Improvement” the Cancelled Planned Operations commentary now reflects and highlights current trend patterns within 3 years from the latest release. The aim of the revised time trend highlighted within the summary is to meet the user need of improving access to latest trends and highlights important current information. The risk of including too much of a historic time trend in the summary chart is that it becomes more difficult to interpret these current trends. Nevertheless, the continuation of the provision of the longer time trend within the accompanying data tables, including activity prior to March 2020, allows the user to access the data if they wish to do so.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing and the recruitment of graduates is the responsibility of health boards as autonomous institutions.

Whilst graduates can apply to join the NHS and care providers in their local area upon graduation, vacancies can fluctuate geographically each year. Alongside this, staff turnover can also vary, making recruitment of newly qualified nurses more challenging in individual health board areas. Such variations can be difficult to predict on occasion.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any evidence which suggests that significant numbers of graduate nurses are unable to secure permanent positions at this point.

I refer the member to the question and response to S6W-37656 on 10 June 2025.

As acknowledged, individuals have an opportunity to rate their cancer experiences through the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey (SCPES). The 2024 survey results highlight that 95% of people are positive about their overall experience.

Whilst this indicates that we are progressing towards our aim and ambition of putting people with cancer at the heart of all decisions and actions involving them, Scottish Government understands that there are still areas in which we can improve further, including for people with gynaecological cancer.

Our Framework for Effective Cancer Management has recently been refreshed to include Patient Voice and User Experience as a key element of the framework ensuring that patient feedback to improve cancer pathways is continuously reviewed.

We continue to invest in initiatives that support earlier and faster diagnosis and drive person-centred and holistic care to improve patient experience. NHS Boards are responsible for the delivery of their services, and we engage on an ongoing basis with them to identify and develop new actions or approaches that will improve the experiences of those diagnosed with cancer.

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