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I am pleased to announce that today we have published our Phase 1 report on the Future Medical Workforce Project. You can access the report here.

The report follows an extensive exploratory process to understand the challenges and opportunities for Scotland’s medical workforce over the next 15 to 20 years.

Over the past six months, we have engaged widely with the profession, we have listened to over 2,000 doctors through a national survey and 40 focus groups.

The report reflects these candid views and explores how technology, service redesign, and cultural change can help create a better future for the profession, enabling high-quality care in a rapidly changing health system. It also makes the case for meaningful change.

Phase 2 of the project will begin in January 2026 and will focus on designing solutions in partnership with the profession. This will include workstreams on training reform, workforce planning, and service redesign.

A letter will be sent to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee to provide an update on the report and to invite them, along with key stakeholders, to a cross-party discussion in the new year to review the findings and consider how best to take forward Phase 2 of the project.

During, and outwith, the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, representatives of the Scottish Government Animal Disease Control Branch have daily interactions with Defra, the Welsh Government, and often with DAERA (NI) officials, regarding all manner of policy matters relating to the outbreak, including representation at joint industry expert groups and policy forums, including the Animal Disease Policy Group (ADPG).

In addition to this, the Scottish Government, along with Defra, the Welsh Government and DAERA host a twice-weekly meeting with the GB Avian Diseases Core Group (with representatives from industries impacted by the outbreak).

Furthermore, along with other administrations, Scottish Government officials attend local authority outbreak disease forums focussed on disease outbreak activities and the enforcement by local authorities of disease control measures.

The global semiconductor market has long been vulnerable to market fluctuations. At a time of unprecedented global demand for AI processing, we believe there is much the UK Government can do to strengthen national sovereignty of our supply chains, particularly on energy costs and capital investment in semiconductor fabs.

The Scottish Government recognises the strategic importance of the semiconductor sector and its diverse supply chain in Scotland. We are working collaboratively with industry and academia through our Cluster Development Programme to support the sector as an intrinsic part of our Critical Technologies Supercluster.

The supercluster acts as a magnet for future investment, a platform to boost Scotland’s profile on the world stage and supports our critical technologies industries to become more resilient to global pressures such as demand for AI technology.

The 2025-26 Budget has allocated nearly £2.2 billion for social care and integration, representing an increase of over £1.2 billion since 2021-22. This goes almost £350 million beyond the Scottish Government’s original commitment to increase social care funding by 25% (£840 million) over the lifetime of the Parliament.

We have a clear plan to reduce delayed discharge and are investing more than £220 million to tackle waiting list backlogs, improve capacity and remove blockages that are keeping some patients in hospital longer than they need to be. This includes an initial allocation of over £20m to support Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS’s whole system plan to improve patient flow.

Alongside the record investment committed, we are also working with local system leaders to support their health and social care improvement reforms – rebalancing care towards community, rehabilitation and prevention based services like Hospital at Home that help improve patient outcomes and prevent further hospital care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42300 on 11 December 2025.

Programme costs and budgets as well as construction and delivery timelines are currently being reviewed alongside vessel and infrastructure options and will be included in the Outline Business Case.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

We do not currently have a plan to make bleed kits available nationally across Scotland but we encourage the public to focus on calling the emergency services for assistance in the case of an emergency and encourage members of the public, including young people themselves, to learn the basic first aid skills which could be vital in saving a life.

Whilst our approach to tackling knife crime is to prevent young people from picking up a knife in the first instance, it is important that bystanders are given the best advice on how to provide direct pressure to a bleeding wound using readily available items such as dry towels or clothing. Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) call handlers are well trained to provide first aid advice to bystanders before an ambulance arrives.

SAS is following the position of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, which is supported by a number of UK organisations such as the London Ambulance Service and the NHS England London Violence Reduction Programme, in promoting bystander first aid but not the general role out of commercially available bleed kits. The SAS major trauma team regularly reviews how best to treat patients experiencing significant bleeding, which includes reviewing and taking part in guidance and research.

In Stage 3 of the Victims Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill in closing remarks to the member’s amendment that the post of Victims Commissioner, when it is established, should carry out research into child sexual abuse, I raised awareness of the work led by Professor Alexis Jay.

I noted that Professor Jay had been the chair of an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales and had put on record to the media that she did not support further inquiries into child sexual abuse and exploitation and that “people should just get on with it”. I was quoting from remarks given by Prof Jay to BBC Radio on 7 January which were: "people should get on with" implementing her reforms and "We've had enough of inquiries, consultations and discussions - especially for the victims and survivors who've had the courage to come forward.”

Professor Alexis Jay wrote to me on 26 September 2025 regarding the debate wanting it clarified that her remarks were from January and not related to the specific amendment to the Bill. On 3 October 2025, Scottish Government officials contacted Professor Alexis Jay on this matter and it was agreed that it would be minuted at the Strategic Group’s meeting in October, that the quote was correct, and was from January and not made in relation to the amendment or the Victims Bill. That was then done.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42117 on 11 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Following a parliamentary debate on 26 February, a Motion (S6M-16571) was passed calling on Scottish Enterprise to review its human rights due diligence checks.

I updated Parliament (S6W-38968) on Scottish Enterprise’s review on 25 June. I confirmed that Scottish Enterprise had identified opportunities for improvements, which it committed to rolling out incrementally, over 2025-26.

I committed to providing a further update to Parliament, once Scottish Enterprise had developed its revised and detailed operational guidance, and asked that Scottish Government officials be kept abreast of that work.

On 28 November, Scottish Government officials received a formal update from Scottish Enterprise confirming that its updated human rights due diligence policy and procedure had been substantially finalised. Operationalisation of the revised human rights due diligence checks will now begin, on a phased basis. During the period of early implementation, these checks will be subject to further refinement. Scottish Enterprise outlined further detail of its improvements, which includes provisions to ensure human rights due diligence checks effectively address and adapt to emerging risks associated with customer relationships through:

• An increase in the frequency of human rights due diligence checks, to every 12 months to maintain ongoing vigilance and responsiveness.
• Removal of previous exemptions and broadening of the scope of human rights due diligence checks.
• Enhanced online screening, supplemented by follow-up engagement with customers as necessary.
• Introduction of targeted customer checks, including the requirement for a customer statement specifically addressing items and activities governed by the UK Strategic Export Controls regime.

Scottish Enterprise has indicated that work is continuing on the development of a new digital platform for customer onboarding, which is to be rolled out in 2026. This will provide a more comprehensive customer journey and workflow for managing and recording customer interactions and due diligence checks, including human rights due diligence checks.

Scottish Enterprise’s letter also confirmed that its internal Senior Review Group, established following its review, is now fully constituted and meeting weekly. The Group will provide strategic input and support operational decision-making.

I thank Scottish Enterprise for its work on developing these enhanced procedures, and towards implementing them fully in 2026.

For work on Community Needs Assessments (CNA) for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services routes, people and other internal resources are allocated as part of Transport Scotland's planned work programme. Budget allocations for this work are as follows:

Consultancy services to support the CNAs for Cowal and Rosneath ferry services cost £24,990.

The CNAs for Coll, Colonsay, Iona, Kerrera, Lismore, Mull and Tiree are currently underway. For the consultancy services to support these, a Contract Award Notice was published on 1st December 2025 (View Notice - Public Contracts Scotland) and the total value of the contract is £148,602.

Work on the CNAs for the Sound of Barra and the Sound of Harris routes is being done in-house.

Consultancy services to support the CNAs for the Outer Hebrides (mainland routes), Small Isles routes, Skye and Raasay are currently being procured, and the contract price will be included in a contract award notice.

Resources and budgets for future CNA work for all other Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service routes will be determined allocated on a case-by-case basis.