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Scotland’s agricultural land and farming sector have a critical role to play in Scotland’s food security, producing food for consumption in Scotland, and increasing our economic resilience through exports of food and drink worth £7.6 billion in 2023.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) Policy 5 (Soils) sets out that development proposals on prime agricultural land, or land of lesser quality that is culturally or locally important for primary use, as identified by the local development plan, will only be supported in limited circumstances. This includes for the generation of energy from renewable sources where there is secure provision for restoration and the layout and design of the proposal minimises the amount of protected land required.

All development proposals are subject to site specific assessments.

We are open to considering if any factors are new and will make recommendations for future management on that basis. The consultation in summer 2025 will gauge public opinion on the closure in light of the best available evidence on environmental and socioeconomic factors to help us understand relative impacts to date, as well as those forecasted should the closure be maintained in the future.

We will also be publishing a report on the 2024 closure in due course which will contribute to the available consultation package.

Putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures remains a top government priority. We want to achieve this as soon as possible, however developing the evidence based and effective fisheries management measures for over 180 sites is a complex and challenging process.

We launched the 8-week consultation on proposed fisheries management measures within Scottish 20 offshore marine protected areas (MPAs) on 19 August 2024.

Social, economic and environmental impact assessments are currently being undertaken for inshore MPAs and we will consult within the current Programme for Government timeframe.

As reflected in Scotland’s Cancer Strategy for Scotland, published June 2023, we are committed to “expanding and evaluating Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) to ensure population-based coverage”.

To date, we have five fully operational RCDSs across NHS Scotland, with our Programme for Government committing to establish a sixth service in 2024/25.

The University of Strathclyde’s independent evaluation provided an incredibly positive assessment of the Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Service innovation, as they are finding cancer faster.

The Scottish Government and the whole of the public sector faces a financial position that is extremely challenging. The utmost importance is placed on balancing the Scottish Government’s budget each financial year, and it is always necessary to ensure resources are used economically, efficiently, and effectively, and increased additional scrutiny is being applied to expenditure.

Despite financial pressures, colleagues in the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) continue to work with territorial health boards and regional networks across Scotland to embed the learning from the University of Strathclyde’s evaluation report and support them to develop full business cases.

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.