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Information about Ministerial engagements is proactively released on the Scottish Government website . The spreadsheets include a wide range of information including details of the organisation/individuals Ministers met along with the subject discussed.

Scottish Government officials work closely with the Scottish Women's Rights Centre (SWRC) to help progress Equally Safe (Scotland’s strategy to eradicate and prevent violence against women and girls), and through the grant monitoring process for the Victim Centred Approach Fund, for which SWRC are a beneficiary.

The Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade met the Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce on 18 April. The First Minister and the I had a call with the main business organisations on 20 April and the Chief Executive took part in that call. The Director General for Economy, Gregor Irwin also met the Chief Executive on 21 April. Details of all Ministerial engagements and expenses are proactively published by the Scottish Government, including the costs of travel and accommodation. The information can be accessed in the followng link: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/.

The SFC’s Fiscal Sustainability Report is an important contribution to the debate on fiscal sustainability and highlights potential impacts of demographic change on the Scottish public finances over the next fifty years. These challenges are not unique to Scotland, and are prevalent in many high-income countries. However, Scotland lacks a full range of levers to deal with these in the way that other countries can, particularly over migration.

Within the powers at its disposal, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the public finances are on a sustainable trajectory. This will mean growing our economy and by extension our tax base, and embedding delivery and value for money at the heart of our public services. Central to this will be overseeing public service reform, focused on delivering more efficient, person-centred public services. The Fiscal Framework review will also be vital and must ensure the Scottish Government and Parliament has the necessary powers to manage the risks we face within our devolved responsibilities, and to support economic recovery. The Scottish Government’s approach to managing the public finances over the medium-term is set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, due to be published in May 2023.

In 2023 we will also launch a new Talent Attraction and Migration Service for Scotland, and publish an Addressing Depopulation Action Plan. And we will continue to press the UK Government to make the vital immigration reforms required to meet Scotland’s needs.

While the Scottish Government will continue to manage the public finances diligently with the powers we have, it is our view that the current constitutional settlement is insufficient to properly tackle the long-term challenges that Scotland faces. Ultimately, Scotland must be independent with full control over the economy and powers over migration to secure the stability of our public finances.

In response to the recommendations from ‘Impact of Scotland’s Developing Young Workforce Strategy on Employer Engagement’ we are working with partners, including the employer led DYW network, to develop a delivery plan. The plan will build on the progress that we are making in supporting a record number of school leavers into an initial positive destination.

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.

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.

I can confirm that this programme was developed and nine Urology Nurse (non-medical) Advanced Practitioners with cystoscopy skills completed the programme in February 2023 and nine are due for completion February 2024.

Since November 2021 twenty Nurse (non-medical) Practitioners have completed the course for non-medical endoscopy with a further two due to complete the course in April 2023. There are currently also a further 18 in active training. All non-medical Practitioners who commenced the programme have completed or remain in active training.

The National Endoscopy Training Programme, launched in 2022, has supported 99 trainee endoscopists for basic courses to date. The programme has also supported 102 independent endoscopists with upskilling, and a further 24 senior trainee endoscopists with training and procedure numbers to support independent endoscopy certification.

There are also currently 222 trainee doctors within NHS Scotland across three training specialities who can perform, or are in training to perform, endoscopy; 32 in Urology, 47 in Gastroenterology and 147 in General Surgery.

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 ”