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The requested information on how many staff have joined NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in each year since 2020 can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Turnover tab).

The NHSScotland iMatter Staff Experience Survey provides an annual assessment of staff experience. All NHSScotland staff and local authority staff from participating Health and Social Care Partnerships, are invited to respond.

All Boards receive local reports, which provide them with a measure of employee satisfaction, and they are expected to take appropriate actions based on their results. Assurance that results are being acted upon is sought via our annual Staff Governance Monitoring exercise.

I met with Ms Helen Rowntree, CEO of Blood Cancer UK, on 12 September 2024 to discuss their recently published Action Plan. The Scottish Government is pleased to note that the charity’s five recommendations align closely with the ambitions laid out in its own Cancer Strategy for Scotland, published in June 2023.

The cancer strategy takes a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways in cancer, from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. The Scottish Government looks forward to continuing its work with the third sector to deliver on the ambitious strategy.

Scottish Government officials have regular engagement with officials from the Department for Business and Trade. As you are aware, Subsidy Control is a reserved matter and it is our understanding that UK Government have no current plans to amend the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

Scottish Ministers are bound by this UK legislation and also have a legal obligation to comply with World Trade Organisations rules. The Subsidy Control Act 2022 and World Trade Organisation rules are in place to promote fair competition, and prevent any distortion in competition or negative effects on trade and investment within the UK, or between the UK and another country.

The following table shows the total value of grants awarded by Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals to applicants in the Highlands and Islands region from 1 May 2021 to 31 August 2024, which are broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring our work is informed by the experiences of people and communities that are affected by racism, hatred and prejudice.

The Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Strategy, and its associated Delivery Plan launched in November 2023, sets out our strategic priorities for tackling hate crime in Scotland. It was informed by communities with lived experience of hate crime, including Irish communities. We are committed to supporting a range of ongoing and participatory engagement, and will continue to work in partnership with Irish community organisations in Scotland to understand issues of importance to them, as we deliver our Strategy.

Scotland’s National Performance Framework is our wellbeing framework that sets out a vision of societal progress through National Outcomes. The Framework has equality breakdowns available as standard for each of the 48 National Indicators relating to people.

Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025 demonstrates a clear, continuing commitment to improve the collection and analysis of racial data, to inform understanding of needs and differential experiences of marginalised groups. The strategy was developed in collaboration with a range of external partners. By the end of 2024, an Interim Review of the Equality Evidence Strategy will be completed and published. Aligning with one of the Equality Evidence Strategy Actions, analysis of Scotland Census 2022 data will be completed in 2025 to further add to understanding of differential experiences.

a) Ministerial travel costs are routinely published online three months in arrears and in line with the Scottish Ministerial Code: 2018 edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) This can be found at: Ministerial engagements, travel and gifts - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

b) The following table outlines how much has been spent on travel by civil servants working in the Constitution Directorate of the Scottish Government in each year since 2021:

The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) provides annual advice on the population of Northern Shelf cod which currently includes the West of Scotland (6a) and the Clyde areas.

During the 2024 closure we enhanced our data collection in the Clyde and intend to share those findings and reflections on monitoring of the closure with stakeholders when available. We intend to continue the data collection programme in 2025. This along with the ICES advice will contribute to the evidence base and help inform a consultation on future management measures.

Court operational matters, including the system and arrangements for jury service, fall within the remit of the independent Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

Jury service is an important civic duty, and I am grateful to all those who undertake it.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to review the list of “persons excusable as of right” for jury duty as set out in Schedule 1 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Scotland Act 1980.

It is the view of the Scottish Government that the pool of potential jurors should be as wide as possible, to ensure that an accused person is being judged by their peers from all walks of life. This also prevents the burden of jury service falling on a narrower section of society than can reasonably be helped.

However, it is recognised that there will always be people who have difficulty in serving as jurors. Therefore, in addition to those eligible to be excused as of right as set out in statute, individuals may also apply for excusal.

Clerks of Courts will be as sympathetic as they can to requests for excusal, and will consider, amongst other things; commitments at work, the cancellation of which would cause abnormal inconvenience - while at the same time balancing the need to have sufficient numbers of prospective jurors from which to ballot a jury.

The Scottish Government is working towards a launch date for the Changing Places Toilets fund and we will provide an update in due course.