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As set out in the most recent Public Health Scotland (PHS) Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting times quarterly publication, CAMHS is classified as multi-disciplinary teams that provide treatment and interventions for children and young people experiencing mental health problems.

Where they are awaiting an assessment for a neurodevelopmental condition such as ASD or ADHD, they may not be considered for CAMHS because they do not meet the National Referral Criteria described in the CAMHS national service specification standards. Broadly these state that if a child is presenting with mental health problems that are causing significant impact on their day-to-day lives and other approaches are not appropriate. However in some individual cases, it may be the case that patients with neurodevelopmental conditions are still reported under CAMHS as long as they fit the specification criteria.

Since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased from 52,247 to 54,033 and the pupil teacher ratio has improved from 13.6 to 13.2.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff, and the Scottish Government continues to provide local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.

Our Teaching Bursary Scheme is offering a £20,000 payment to career changers who are looking to undertake teacher training in hard to fill STEM subjects – physics, maths, technical education, computing science, chemistry and home economics.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, together with work to improving the promotion of teaching as a valued career.

Since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased from 52,247 to 54,033 and the pupil teacher ratio has improved from 13.6 to 13.2.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff, and the Scottish Government continues to provide local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, together with work to improving the promotion of teaching as a valued career.

Since taking on my expanded portfolio as Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy, I have formally met with a number of trade unions. I attended a meeting with GMB on 27 February in relation to Ferguson Marine, Port Glasgow. I also met with STUC and a number of affiliate unions (UNISON, Unite, RMT, GMB and Prospect) on 29 February to discuss matters related to energy and Just Transition, and on 28 March I met with STUC, Unite and GMB to discuss union involvement in Grangemouth Future Industry Board Leadership Forum (GFIB).

Additionally, trade unions are often represented on many other forums I engage with such as Scottish Energy Advisory Board and GFIB. My Ministerial colleagues also meet regularly with trade unions and STUC, reflecting their important role as key social and economic partners.

The Scottish Government acknowledges this report which serves as a clear message that trans young people in Scotland are experiencing difficult and tangible challenges in their day to day lives.

Trans people continue to suffer poorer outcomes relative to the wider population, and this needs to change.

The Scottish Government are providing funding of over £1.1 million to LGBTQI+ organisations in 2024-25 to enable them to take forward a range of activities to advance equality and tackle discrimination.

We are taking forward our commitment to introduce legislation to end conversion practices in Scotland and responses to the public consultation, which closed on the 2 April, will be analysed and considered to inform the Bill the Scottish Government will introduce into Parliament. We have also funded a dedicated conversion practices helpline and are continuing to develop non-legislative measures to support victims and survivors of conversion practices.

We have published a Non-Binary Equality Action Plan to improve equality and wellbeing for non-binary people, established and funded organisations dedicated to stopping LGBTI-related bullying and discrimination, and published a new Hate Crime Strategy for Scotland, which sets out a vision for a Scotland that lives free from hatred and prejudice and where our communities are empowered, inclusive and safe.

It is essential that we continue to listen to people with lived experience and continue to strive for equality and inclusion to improve the lives of LGBTQI+ people in Scotland.

There are standard procedures in place in hospitals across Scotland for treating patients who present with an overdose, regardless of the substance involved.

Information on the destination of referrals made for patients in relation to long COVID is not held centrally. This is a matter for territorial NHS Boards.

Our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund supports the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies and has been offered to support the Scottish Cluster Carbon Capture Project accelerate its effort to help Scotland’s just transition to net zero. We remain committed to supporting this development.

Due to UK Government still not confirming the award of the Acorn Project and also which emitter sites will form the Scottish Cluster, it has not yet been possible to deploy this funding support. Only when we, the Acorn Project and the Scottish Cluster are provided with a final decision will it be possible to assess how we can utilise this funding to best support the deployment of CCUS.

The NHS Scotland National Access Policy provides that whilst the vast majority of patients are seen within their local area, services may also be delivered through another Health Board or suitable alternative provider.

We have commissioned NHS National Services Scotland to establish a National Strategic Network for long COVID. This brings together representatives from Health Boards across NHS Scotland to provide a forum for the exchange of learning and best practice in delivering support and services for people with long COVID.

The safety and security of people’s data, and the running of NHS services is of the upmost importance. The NHS in Scotland and across the UK successfully defends itself against attacks on its IT infrastructure on a daily basis, demonstrating resilience to the threats faced.