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Nine additional Urology Practitioners have been recruited to NHS Scotland since the publication of the Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan.

Seventeen Nurse Endoscopists have been signed off for independent practice since 2021 and we anticipate that a further three new Practitioners will sign off in Spring 2023. This would represent an achievement of 80% against the commitment of 36 Nurse Endoscopists by 2025.

The Women's Health Plan : A Plan for 2021-2024, published in August 2021, outlines our ambition to improve access for women to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis.

The Plan sets out actions which aim to ensure that the average diagnosis time for endometriosis is reduced, that women are able to access the right support and effective treatment for endometriosis, and that women can access a specialist endometriosis centre if required.

There has been substantial progress since the publication of the Women’s Health Plan. The Women's Health Plan Report on Progress , published in January 2023, sets this out in more detail.

The last couple of years have seen input prices increase for pig farmers in Scotland. Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has seen feed and fuel costs for pig farmers increase significantly. Through the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group we are working with other administrations to monitor the farmgate price.

It is positive that in recent months we have seen an uplift in pig prices but we recognise that many pig farms will still be making a loss per pig. We will continue to monitor the situation and engage with representatives of the sector.

We consulted, alongside the UK Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland DAERA, on the contractual practices in the UK pig sector to understand whether contract reform could provide greater certainty to both pig producers and processors.

In 2021 and 2022 via the Pig Producers Hardship Support Scheme the Scottish Government provided funding to producers who had been affected by the temporary closure of the Quality Pig Processors plant at Brechin and the loss of the plant’s export licence to China. There were three tranches of the scheme deliver over £1.8 million in support.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact on housing delivery of the ongoing challenges with price inflation, materials and labour in the construction sector and is working closely with the construction industry and housing partners to mitigate this where possible.

We are pleased that housebuilding completions in the latest year to end September 2022 are at their highest annual rate since 2008, up 10% on the previous year, to 22,905 homes. We are also pleased that the number of affordable homes delivered in Scotland in the latest year to end December 2022 is above the pre-pandemic year 2019, and that Scotland continues to lead the way in the delivery of affordable housing across the UK with 118,124 affordable homes delivered from April 2007 to December 2022, and 83,291 of these for social rent.

All 32 local authorities in Scotland are currently working on producing their first Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) and Delivery Plan, in line with their statutory duty to publish their first iteration by the end of 2023 and then update them every five years. LHEES will set out the long-term plan for decarbonising heat in buildings and improving energy efficiency across an entire local authority area. LHEES will be the principal mechanism for locally led heat planning and will support local planning, coordination and delivery of the heat transition across Scotland.

To support the development of LHEES the Scottish Government published guidance in October 2022 setting out what is required when developing a Strategy and Delivery Plan. In addition, a methodology, made up of practitioner guidance, models, tools and templates, provides a practical approach that local authorities can use to develop their LHEES. However, this methodology is not mandatory allowing local authorities flexibility to respond to local variations.

Multi-year funding for local authorities to resource the development of their LHEES has been agreed in partnership with COSLA and began in 2022/23. This funding could cover, for example, recruitment of an LHEES coordinator or the procurement of technical services from consultants.

The Scottish Government is continuing to support local authorities to improve their knowledge and skills to develop their LHEES and are working with Zero Waste Scotland to provide on-going capacity building support including workshops, online video tutorials and one to one support. To help identify where local authorities would benefit from further support and understand progress the Scottish Government is in regular contact with local authorities including through quarterly monitoring and in-person visits. The Scottish Government also facilitates regular forums focused on key issues local authorities face in developing their LHEES, for example engagement with utilities and data.

The Scottish Government is working to embed LHEES and area-based approaches across its heat decarbonisation programme. We are working with wider stakeholders to align current and future delivery and funding programmes with LHEES to support a strategic approach to the decarbonisation of heat reflecting local contexts and tailoring support to specific needs of communities.

The cost of identified maintenance and repair work at Inverclyde Royal Hospital and University Hospital Crosshouse is approximately £102 million and £31 million respectively.

As a result of the difficult decisions which had to be taken through the Emergency Budget review, recruitment of the 1,000 additional roles to support community mental health resilience, ensuring every GP Practice has access to a mental health and wellbeing service has not yet commenced. We have already prioritised significant investment to build mental health capacity in primary care through Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and the Primary Care Improvement Fund.

We remain committed to improving mental health service provision in primary care settings. We are therefore working closely with stakeholders, including the Mental Health in Primary Care National Oversight Group, to develop plans to best use the resource available across the system in 2023-24, and in future years to improve support, assessment and treatment in primary care settings.

The General Practice workforce survey 2022 collected information based on sessional commitment by GPs not hours worked. While GP sessions have sometimes been defined for the purposes of various payments, there is no contractual definition of GP sessions.

GP contract regulations require practices to ensure provision of services Monday – Friday 0800-1830. It is up to the practice to agree how that is covered by GPs and the number and length of sessions.

From responding practices to the General Practice workforce survey 2022, totalling 2,480 GPs, it was estimated that 22% of GPs had commitments of up to 4 sessions per week. 55% between 5 and 7 sessions per week and 23% of 8 or more. Dashboard - General practice workforce survey 2022 - General practice workforce survey - Publications - Public Health Scotland ”

The Scottish Government is committed to funding the expansion of free school meals to all pupils in primary and special schools, as well as introducing free year round breakfast and lunch provision to support eligible children and young people outside of the school term.

Currently, all primary school pupils in primaries one to five, all children in special schools, and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to S6 can benefit from free school lunches in Scotland – the most generous provision anywhere in the UK, saving parents £400 per eligible child per year.

We have also provided £21.75m of funding for free school meal alternatives to eligible families during the school holidays. This is administered by local authorities as a cash payment directly to families.

There is a currently a mixed delivery of breakfast provision across Scotland with a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We have begun work with local authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map that provision. That process is ongoing and will feed into future plans as they develop.

In addition, we have committed to building a system of school age childcare, providing care before and after school and in the holidays, which will be funded for those on lowest incomes. As we design a system of school age childcare, we will integrate food and childcare provision wherever possible recognising the benefit to children and families of coordinating food, childcare and activities.

This update has already been made. One sentence on the ARE Directorate home page was found to be out of date. After discovering that was the case, it was removed immediately. We have added the page to our regular review schedule.