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In developing the Bill, the Scottish Government engaged extensively with key stakeholders, including legal stakeholders such as the Scottish judiciary as well as carrying out a full public consultation exercise. This engagement has culminated in careful consideration of a wide range of views by Scottish Ministers.

This has led to the Bill as introduced into the Scottish Parliament which will implement a modern regulatory framework that will best promote competition, innovation, and the public and consumer interest in an efficient, effective, and efficient legal sector, while also improving the transparency and accountability of legal services regulation and the legal complaints system.

The Scottish Government very much recognise the importance of an independent legal profession and is committed to maintaining that independence.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill retains and builds on the current oversight role of the Lord President of the Court of Session in respect of the legal regulatory framework in Scotland as well as providing necessary checks and balances. The Bill incorporates safeguards that deliver a balance between the independence of the legal profession with their duty to work in the public interest.

The Scottish Government is committed to continue engagement with stakeholders representing both the consumer and the legal perspective as the Bill proceeds through Parliament.

A person can attend any minor injuries unit in NHS Fife subject to opening times, with or without an appointment.

The Scottish Government continues to work with boards to reduce pressure on hospitals through the Unscheduled Care Collaborative programme, which supports health boards to implement a range of measures to reduce waiting times and improve patient experience. Through this approach, the Redesign of Urgent Care aims to improve patient safety by scheduling urgent appointments to EDs and MIUs and avoiding unnecessary waits, however we are clear that anyone can still attend any ED or MIU without an appointment.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many GP practices are able to send prescriptions to a community pharmacy by (a) fax only, (b) email only and (c) either fax or email: NHS Boards are responsible for these arrangements.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Waiting Times published by Public Health Scotland does not contain information on the reasons referrals were not accepted. Data on reasons referrals were not accepted will be held by individual NHS Health Boards.

At the start of the pandemic Scottish Government set up opinion polling research to help understand knowledge, attitudes and claimed behaviour in relation to coronavirus, and motivations and barriers to adopting desired behaviours.

This ran weekly from end of March 2020 to June 2021 when it moved to fortnightly and then approximately monthly from April 2022. The public opinion research company YouGov carried out fieldwork on their online omnibus, with a sample each wave of c.1,000 adults 18+ representative of the online population of Scotland.

Questions were included at various times on the perceived importance of a number of protective behaviours (including face coverings) and how well people felt they were doing these to allow us to monitor these measures over time.

COVID-specific polling ended at the end of March 2023.

The budget figures provided in answer S6W-18435 did not include corporate running costs (CRCs). CRCs are a share of the costs, such as accommodation, IT, legal services, and HR, that cannot be readily attributed to individual portfolios. Annex G of the Scottish Government Budget 2019-20 provides a full explanation of CRCs as this was the first year they were introduced.

Scotland remains committed to ensuring the right homes are delivered in the right places and to working with local authorities in the planning and delivery of new homes. The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a New Homes Bonus Scheme.

Scotland has led the UK in the delivery of affordable housing having delivered more than 122,000 affordable homes since 2007, of which more than 86,000 are for social rent. The 10,458 affordable homes delivered to end March 2023 is the highest figure since the start of the statistical series in 2000.

Since 2007, Scotland has seen over 40% more affordable homes delivered per head of population than in England, and over 70% more than in Wales. We have also delivered over three times as many social rented homes per head of population than England over this period.

The number of all-sector new build homes completed in Scotland was up by 9% in the latest year to end March 2023, the highest annual figure to end March since 2008.

Marine Scotland does not record whether a report of illegal fishing is substantiated. Any reports are fully investigated and where there is sufficient evidence to pursue a prosecution the Enforcement team can issue a Fixed Penalty Notice up to £10k or make a report to the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service. Around 2500 intelligence reports are received each year from a variety of sources. These are used in a risk-based system to influence tasking of Marine, Aerial and Coastal assets. Enforcement statistics are published on the Scottish Government website Marine and fisheries compliance: list of fixed penalty notices - 26 May 2020 to 30 June 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Territorial NHS Boards have facilities for patients in long term care and provide laundering for those patients where they do not have relatives who can carry it out for them. Patients in an acute care setting are generally advised that they cannot have personal items laundered, but there is some variation between Boards in this regard. Please refer to Health Boards for their individual policies.