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Scottish Government officials met with Police Scotland and Environmental Health Officers on 12 January 2023 regarding concerns related to the potential involvement of organised crime groups in the beauty/cosmetics sector.

The implications of the use of counterfeit and unlicensed beauty products is one of a number of issues under consideration as we consider further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

The Scottish Government and its partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce are committed to working together to disrupt any serious organised crime and the harm it causes to individuals and communities.

The requested information on how many graduate nurses have been employed by NHS Scotland in 2024, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) speciality is not centrally held.

Information on the number of nursing staff joining the NHS broken down by band, NHS board and specialty can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce (phase one) | Turas Data Intelligence (turnover tab)

Social Security Scotland has not been subject to any denial of service (DoS) attacks during the period between 30 June 2023 and 24 July 2024. During that same period, our security mechanisms protected our environment against 345,027 cyber events, the majority of which being external actors scanning our internet facing benefit systems to identify potential weaknesses.

Decisions on prescribing medicines are a matter of clinical judgement for the prescribing clinician in consultation with their patient. These should be based on individual clinical need, informed by relevant advice such as that issued by the General Medical Council (GMC) and guidance for the medicine.

The Scottish Government’s Menopause Clinical Reference Group, Chaired by Dr Heather Currie, has discussed the prescribing of testosterone for women in menopause. This group is exploring supplementary guidance for healthcare professionals on prescribing testosterone for loss of libido in menopause, in line with the British Menopause Society and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.

The Scottish Landfill Communities Fund has provided an important source of funding for community and environmental projects across Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises that the forecast decline in Scottish Landfill Tax revenues, which reflect the policy intent to reduce the volume of waste sent to landfill, will reduce the contributions that landfill operators make to the Fund. We are therefore, in partnership with Revenue Scotland and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, carefully considering future arrangements for the Fund.

More broadly, the Scottish Government is committed to supporting local environmental projects through, for example, the growth of our national network of regional Community Climate Action Hubs. These hubs, which are supported by up to £5.5 million of funding in 2024-25, enable local communities to develop place-based approaches to reduce emissions and become more climate resilient.

The Scottish Government grant to the University of Glasgow for this purpose funds one PhD studentship and a number of small projects. The projects are currently at different stages, outputs from some of the projects are expected before the end of the year and all are expected to be completed by Spring 2025.

The successful candidate for the PhD studentship took up their post in January 2024 and the projects and PhD studentship are both wholly managed by the University of Glasgow.

As is standard with high quality research, it is anticipated that the findings will be published in relevant peer reviewed journals.

The requested information on how many of the 2024 cohort of graduate (a) paediatric and (b) neonatal nurses have secured jobs in NHS Scotland, and how many have not been able to secure a post is not centrally held.

Information on the number of nursing staff joining the NHS broken down by band, NHS board and specialty can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce (phase one) | Turas Data Intelligence (turnover tab)

The number of undergraduate medical school places available since 2015, broken down by domicile, has been provided in the following table. As requested, these reflect the places available, rather than the eventual entrants.

Information on the number of vacancies for (a) paediatric nurses in NHS Scotland, broken down by NHS board can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: Dashboards | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot) (Vacancy tab)

Information on the number of vacancies and vacancy rates for (b) neonatal nurses in not centrally collected.

Information on paediatric nursing vacancy rates across NHS Scotland in each of the last five years can be found in the following table:

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) is represented on, and contributes to the discussions at the Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group, which meets regularly to discuss and advise the Scottish Government on options for the potential regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in Scotland.

However, as a regulator, HIS only regulates independent clinics where services are provided by a medical practitioner, dental practitioner, registered nurse, registered midwife, dental care professional, pharmacist or pharmacy technician.