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The Housing (Scotland) Bill includes a package of reforms to the private rented sector which are in the interests of both tenants and responsible landlords. Should Parliament pass the legislation, it is intended that a full review will be undertaken of the support required by local authorities to ensure robust enforcement in the PRS. This will include an assessment of the enforcement provisions and the resource required to adequately support this.

The average time taken to determine applications for major housing applications for Q1 and Q2 of 2023-24 for each local authority can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-applications-statistics-2023-24-quarterly-april-2023-september-2023/documents/.

The planning application statistics for Q3 and Q4 and the annual statistics 2023-24 are due to be published on 1 October 2024. The statistics will be available on the Scottish Government website at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of student midwives recruited who have not been offered posts in NHS Scotland.

Scottish Government officials have been engaging with Health Boards about their current position in relation to job offers and supply, with Boards remaining committed to maximising the opportunities for newly qualified midwives to find employment.

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to doing all it can to reduce harm and deaths caused by drugs through our National Mission.

Whilst drug misuse deaths in Scotland have generally been increasing over the last two decades, the latest figures released for 2023 are the second lowest figure seen in 6 years.

Every life lost to drugs is a tragedy. And I would like to send my heartfelt condolences to all those affected.

Although the decrease in deaths back in 2022 was welcomed at the time, we did also made it clear at that time that it should not, in any way, be seen as a signal to be complacent.

On 4th September 2024 we published the third annual report National Mission on Drugs: annual report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)of the National Mission which summarises activity, progress and achievement in the 23-24 financial year.

Key achievements in 2023-24 include

• Our progress in receiving legal clearance and establishing the UK’s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility. We are now expecting the Glasgow facility to open in the Autumn.
• We are now in the process of establishing drug testing facilities in 3 sites across Scotland. License applications for three drug checking sites, based in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee are currently being assessed by Home Office colleagues and we would hope, once these licenses have been granted, that the sites would be operational by the end of the year.
• Monitoring data from Public Health Scotland also indicates that we are on track to meet our commitment of 1,000 people receiving public funding for Residential Rehab, with data, published showing that in the financial year 2023-24 a total of 938 placements were approved.
• In 2023-24, for MAT standards National benchmarking report on the implementation of the medication assisted treatment (MAT) standards: Scotland 2023/24 revised 30 July 2024 - National benchmarking report on implementation of the medication assisted treatment (MAT) standards - Publications - Public Health Scotland 1–5, 90% have been assessed as fully implemented, and MAT standards 6-10 showed strong early stage progress.

Despite this progress we have seen increased harms with the increased prevalence of new synthetic substances, such as the synthetic opioids nitazenes. The increased toxicity and potency of such substances are of real concern. As such, we are working closely with Public Health Scotland to step up our response to this threat and continue to support the development of their Rapid Action Drug Alert and Response (RADAR) system.

The Scottish Government will continue to follow the evidence of what works and intensify the delivery of the National Mission over the next 2 years, working closely with our key partners to do that, as well as look at its sustainability beyond the end of this parliamentary term.

Estimates of the gender pay gap for full-time employees in the accommodation and food services sector in Scotland are published in Table 2.5 of the Scottish Government’s summary of earnings statistics from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: Annual survey of hours and earnings: 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The gender pay gap estimates included in Table 2.5 measure the difference between median hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of men's median hourly earnings (excluding overtime).

Since the publication of the 'Transforming Nursing Roles: Advanced Nursing Practice - Phase II' paper in 2021, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has taken the lead for this work.

The minimum qualification of a PG Dip Advanced Practice is required by NHS Scotland employers for all new Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) and the specific clinical competencies identified for advanced nursing practice in acute, primary care/community, mental health, paediatric acute and neonatal settings are used as the standard for practice. In addition, a final 'sign-off' against these competencies, evidenced by a portfolio is required by most employers.

The introduction of 3.75 hours of non-clinical time per week has been implemented widely and enables ANPs to maintain and progress their knowledge and skills through a variety of continuing professional development activities.

The NES frameworks for clinical supervision were launched in 2023 and 2024 and support the clinical supervision needs of ANPs https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/3580/clinical-supervision.

In addition, the NES Advanced Practice Toolkit was revised in 2023 and provides a repository of relevant resources and weblinks for advanced practice for all professions. https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/63343.

We currently do not have plans to provide direct training for community councillors in relation to energy infrastructure projects. The Scottish Government provide funding to Planning Aid Scotland who offer tailored training for Community Councils to meet their individual needs.

The number of full time equivalent civil servants in 2025-26 across the core Scottish Government and the various Executive Agencies will be informed by the 2025-26 budget in December.

Workforce numbers will be considered in the context of the recently announced recruitment freeze and the Pre-Budget Fiscal Update to Parliament on 4 September.

Significant activity is already underway following the £30 million investment to target backlogs, announced in the spring. This will see around 12,000 new outpatient appointments, around 12,000 inpatient procedures and over 40,000 diagnostic procedures delivered.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing waiting times year-on-year across the NHS as set out in the Policy Prospectus. We will continue to work with all NHS boards to maximise current resources and productivity.

Future funding for commitments will be considered as part of the 2025-26 budget process that will allocate resources to the Government’s priorities of the day.

It is for Police Scotland to report on, and determine, training procedures for their officers. In August they published an update on hate crime guidance and training. Police Scotland have previously provided assurances that officers are trained, have sufficient capacity to undertake the legislation and have the systems in place to do so.