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We recognise the scale and impact of non-communicable disease across Scotland and are taking a range of actions to address their impact on our health and wellbeing.

Living with overweight or obesity is linked with an increased risk of developing a range of serious health conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver and lung disease. We are taking wide-ranging action to support healthier choices, as set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan. This includes a challenging aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet related health inequalities.

As stated in our recent Programme for Government, we will introduce a Bill to restrict the promotion of less healthy food and drink as part of the 2022/23 legislative session. We will also urge the UK Government to stick with its commitments to ban junk food advertisements on TV programmes before the 9pm watershed and for similar restrictions online.

We continue to support NHS boards to improve weight management services in line with our Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, Early Detection and Intervention Framework and Public Health Scotland’s national standards. We are in year 5 of delivery of the Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Framework, which has seen the adoption of effective and evidence based treatments, across Scotland.

Alongside the Framework, our Diabetes Improvement Plan sets out our priorities to deliver safe, effective and person-centred healthcare, treatment and support to those living with diabetes. Priority 1 of the Plan is focussed the Prevention and Early Detection of Diabetes and its Complications, supporting the implementation of the Framework.

The Scottish Government published a summary of progress towards implementation of the 2018 GMS Contract and its associated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in June 2022:

Primary care improvement plans: summary of implementation progress - March 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As the publication sets out, there are now 3,220 whole time equivalent (WTE) healthcare professionals, such as pharmacists, mental health workers and physiotherapists, recruited into multi-disciplinary teams supporting general practice teams. Of this total, nearly 700 are working in areas with remote and rural communities.

It should, however, be noted that it is not expected that all GP practices in Scotland will take up these NHS Board provided services. As service delivery models are designed specifically according to local population needs, there are variations in approach across the country.

The next progress update will be published in summer 2023.

We are also actively incentivising remote and rural General Practice in several ways. The Golden Hello scheme offers a one-off bursary of £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post in a remote and rural area.

Furthermore, ScotGEM is a four-year graduate-entry medical degree which began in 2018, with a focus on rural medicine and healthcare improvement, supporting graduates to choose careers in general practice. Students on the ScotGEM course are offered a 'return of service' bursary, a grant worth up to £16,000 in total, in exchange for working in NHS Scotland for up to four years. 70 places will be offered on the course from 2022-23 onwards, following an increase of 15 places in line with the recent PfG commitment.

The Scottish Government is also working closely with partners including the Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative (SRMC) to find solutions for remote and rural GP recruitment. The four rural boards in the north of Scotland have piloted an innovative recruitment campaign called Rediscover The Joy (RTJ). RTJ aims to recruit experienced GPs to provide support for remote and rural practices and, to date, this has been an initiative run in NHS Shetland, Orkney, Highland and Western Isles.

(a) The number of people accepted onto pre-registration midwifery training courses since the 2016-17 academic year is shown in the following table:

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a UK Government scheme. Last year Scottish Ministers proposed a more flexible approach to how the new ECO4 scheme would operate in Scotland. Unfortunately the UK Government did not agree to this and has repeatedly failed to engage with us on these matters.

We continue to work with local councils, energy suppliers and stakeholders to ensure as many households as possible benefit from the scheme in Scotland. Further information about delivery of ECO4 financed measures in Scotland will be published on the UK Government website: Household Energy Efficiency Statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Scottish Government would welcome a meaningful discussion with UK Government Ministers about how ECO4 can better tackle fuel poverty in Renfrewshire and more generally across Scotland. We will be writing again to UK Ministers seeking a dialogue about these issues, following the most recent changes in UK Government policy and Ministerial responsibilities.

Since 2007 the Scottish Government has retained, and subsequently deployed, any and all net underspends which have been available following the conclusion of the Final Outturn process at the end of each financial year. The mechanism for doing so is via the Scotland Reserve and previously the Budget Exchange Mechanism.

The amount of underspends arising from each year since 1999 was detailed in the answer to question S6W-09370 on 13 July 2022.

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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11355 on 1 November 2022. 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

A list of all projects recommended for support through the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund can be found on the Scottish Governments Website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/regeneration-capital-grant-fund-rcgf-recommended-projects-2014-2022/ .

The Town Centre Capital Fund was allocated to local authorities in 2019-20.

In the letter of direction I issued to delivery partners on 23 June 2022 on implementing the MAT Standards, I asked for timed, specific plans for implementing the standards to be submitted and published. I also requested a lead officer be nominated to take responsibility for driving the necessary changes and reporting on progress for each area across the country.

I can confirm that a lead officer has been nominated by delivery partners for each of their Health and Social Care Partnership areas.

We are now scrutinising the submitted Implementation Plans to ensure they will deliver the standards and, we will be asking each area to publish their plans, which will detail the position of lead officers for each area.

Somerville: Scottish Ministers are committed to developing a Scottish school milk scheme to replace current subsidy arrangements. We are working with stakeholders and local authority partners to develop a fully funded universal school milk scheme for primary and special schools, and a pilot in secondary schools within the current parliamentary term and stakeholder engagement will form part of that work.

COPFS aims to conduct its investigation and advise the next of kin of the outcome within 12 weeks of the initial report of the death in at least 80% of cases.

Reporting years 2020-21 and 2021-22 saw increases in deaths reported to COPFS of 44% and 40% respectively, reflecting a combination of factors including, but not restricted to, excess deaths attributable directly to COVID-19, local GPs having less contact with patients in the community and being unable to certify deaths, and changes in the process of dealing with and reporting deaths in the community.

The number of cases requiring further investigation, because no cause of death was immediately apparent, has therefore increased, with 7085 post-mortem examinations instructed in 2021-22, an increase of 742 on the previous year. The following table shows the numbers and percentage of deaths requiring further investigation for the last two reporting years and the first two quarters of the current year.

Progress against the published performance target is monitored regularly and has improved significantly this reporting year.