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Apprenticeships are a vital resource for employers to invest in their workforce and for people to develop their skills. Investing in skills across people’s lifetimes is critical to our future productivity and success, underlining our commitment to a skilled workforce set out within the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Our priority is for high quality apprenticeships that provide sustainable jobs and careers, supporting our transition to net zero.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have issued contract awards to support up to 25,500 new Modern Apprenticeship starts in 2023/24. This builds upon the 25,000 Modern Apprenticeship starts which Ministers asked SDS to deliver in 2022/23. SDS previously issued contracts in March for over 39,000 Modern Apprentices in training for 2023/24, supporting businesses and individuals across Scotland.

Council Tax is a local tax, and each council is financially and administratively accountable to their electorate.

However, we recognise the desirability of the best practice in council tax collection being adopted by all local authorities. I therefore raised the issue of Council Tax Debt and Recovery, including highlighting the recommendations of the Improvement Service and Stepchange Scotland’s May 2022 report on Collaborative Council Tax Collection, with the COSLA President, Vice President and Resources Spokesperson at a meeting of the ‘Joint Working Group on Sourcing of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’, on 22 March 2023.

Protecting victims and the public from harm is the Scottish Government’s absolute priority.

Prison will remain a necessary option, particularly for those who pose a risk of serious harm, in removing the individual from the community and reducing the likelihood of further offending for the duration of their sentence. As reflected in our National Strategy for Community Justice, there is also clear evidence that community-based sentences can be more effective in reducing reoffending and assisting with rehabilitation than short term custodial sentences, while protecting the public and robustly managing risk.

Overall, taking an individualised approach is therefore critical. Sentencing decisions in each individual case are, of course, a matter for the independent courts to make within the legislative framework set by Parliament, taking all the relevant facts and circumstances of each case into account.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with representatives of the Scotch whisky industry to discuss Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). The Scotch Whisky Association is a member of the DRS System Wide Assurance Group which meets often to monitor the progress of the scheme’s implementation.

Most recently, on 20 April this year, the First Minister and the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy, and Biodiversity, met with industry leaders, including representatives from the Scotch Whisky Association and other producers and retailers to discuss DRS and how all parties can work together to ensure a successful launch on 1 March 2024.

Evidence on behavioural responses is an essential consideration for tax policy decisions.

The Scottish Government is acutely aware of the risks and benefits arising from behavioural responses to changes in devolved taxation policy, and actively works with stakeholders, such as HMRC, and subject matter experts, to monitor and continually improve the evidence base to help inform policy development. We will consider opportunities to update Parliament in the future, when appropriate.

In line with our Framework for Tax, and to further transparency and public debate, HMRC and the Scottish Government published studies on the Scottish Government’s 2018-19 Income Tax reforms which showed limited evidence of Scottish taxpayers lowering their taxable income in response to increasing tax rates.

Alongside regular monitoring of the tax base, the Scottish Government also works with tax administration authorities to proactively consider and address any possible emerging compliance issues.

The Scottish Government does not seek to replicate the work of the Cass Review. However, as we have previously stated, the interim findings of that Review continue to be closely considered by both Scottish Government and NHS Scotland, alongside broader national and international evidence. As part of this, officials and senior clinicians from the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland have also met with Dr Cass and members of the Cass Review team to discuss respective approaches.

Our Strategic Action Framework for NHS gender identity service improvement includes a commitment to support the establishment of nationally commissioned Young Person’s Gender Identity Service. Discussions and scoping with NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to consider current and future national provision, are ongoing.

The Median waiting time for patients residing in NHS Highland, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland, and NHS Western Isles that have attended a new outpatient appointment or received treatment as an inpatient or day case in other NHS Boards, in each of the last 10 years can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information under Bib. No. 64141.

Please note that PHS are unable to provide data at procedure level, and so data are provided at specialty level only. NHS Board of residence is derived from a patient’s postcode at the point when they were added to the waiting list. Please also note that PHS are unable to provide data prior to October 2012, so annual data are provided from January 2013 onwards.

For each NHS Board/specialty combination, the number of new outpatient attendances and inpatient/day case admissions has been provided along with the median and 90th percentile length of wait. The median is provided rather than the mean because an average can be skewed incorrectly by a small number of very long waits that are recorded in error in the national data. The 90th percentile statistic indicates that 9 out of 10 patients waited less than or equal to the number of days shown and provides a more accurate representation of the length of wait experienced by patients.

Not being a party to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the Scottish Land Commission did not provide comment or input into its wording. The MOU published in March incorrectly listed the Scottish Land Commission as having a decision making role on the project board, rather than correctly identifying its role as advisory. Both NatureScot and the Scottish Land Commission have since clarified the role of the SLC with the partnership.

As this partnership is at an early stage, NatureScot is currently not able to provide an estimate of the staff resource costs associated with this work. The Scottish Land Commission’s advisory role will be provided in line with its existing good practice programme.

Scottish Government are already supporting a range of interventions to help the wellbeing of our rural communities.

Between 2021-2023 £36 million was made available to grassroots community groups through the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing fund to help tackle the impact of social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities.

Land Based rural workers have been supported by the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI) who provide emotional, practical and financial assistance to people living and working in Scottish agriculture. In the 2022-23 financial year SG committed £50,000 to supporting RSABI taking the total Scottish Government support to £515,000 over the last five years.

NatureScot are currently developing an ethical framework that will guide investments from the partnership. The matters referred to will be addressed by this framework, which will be agreed by the project board and made publicly available.