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The Scottish Government regularly engages with local health boards through the Public Health Scotland-led National Drug Deaths Incident Management Team process, which strives to support and coordinate multi-agency activities to reduce drug related deaths including through consideration of ongoing trends and risks. Through this process, we have engaged with local areas following reports of an increase in clusters of drug harms in people using heroin during the course of 2025, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Ayrshire and Arran, and Lanarkshire.

Local response to trends and risks is coordinated through Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships, appropriately applying local intelligence and coordinating the collaborative deployment of resources of local partners and services, including those of local authorities. The Scottish Government engages regularly with representatives of the ADPs – with the last meeting with those from the named localities and others on 11 June 2025.

Whilst the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for national social care policy in Scotland, it is for Local Authorities and Integrated Joint Boards to ensure that social care support services are in place to provide people with the appropriate support in the right place and at the right time.

The Scottish Government budget for 2025-26 sets out almost £2.2 billion investment in social care and integration, of which approximately £950 million enables adult social care workers in the third and private sectors to be paid at least the Real Living Wage. This currently stands at £12.60 per hour, a rate that came into effect from April 2025. This is above the £12.21 National Living Wage rate for workers aged 21 and over, set by the UK Government. The Real Living Wage rate is independently set by the Living Wage Foundation and is currently the only UK wage rate based on the actual cost of living to allow workers to meet their everyday needs.

Since 2021, the Scottish Government has provided funding to the MyJobScotland recruitment portal, enabling all social care providers to advertise vacancies at no cost. We have also funded NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to work with the SSSC to develop a new National Induction Framework, launched in May this year which supports high quality standardised induction training for social care staff.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing alcohol-related harm, and notes the recommendations in, Spin the Bottle: How the UK alcohol industry twists the facts on harm and responsibility.

The Scottish Government continues to progress work to reduce alcohol harm that aligns with the recommendations in the report including the increase and continuation of Minimum Unit Pricing and progressing work on protecting children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing.

Regarding engagement with the alcohol industry, it is crucial that we prevent and reduce alcohol-related harms, but that aim has to be balanced with careful consideration of the impact restrictions may have on businesses, consumers and local economies. The Scottish Government does not engage with the alcohol industry on the development of public health policy or public health science, but will continue to engage on potential effects and impact of public health interventions on business.

The use of vapes containing harmful substances among young people is concerning. The Scottish Government is taking forward substance use education work in our schools through Curriculum for Excellence, where children and young people learn about a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents. Learning sets out the impact these substances can have on their life and health and helps support better informed decision making. Education alone will not turn the tide of substance use but it is an important strand within a broad range of measures designed to tackle this issue.

Each establishment, working with partners, should take a holistic approach to promoting health and wellbeing. This should take account of the stage of growth, development and maturity of each pupil, and the social and community context.

We welcome the work of Ayrshire’s Vaping Taskforce comprising of Trading Standards, Police Scotland, Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and GPs. This Taskforce is actively working to raise awareness on vaping and the potential for them to contain illegal substances. We will monitor the impact of the Taskforce and the introduction of devices which can test vape liquids for illegal substances.

Our Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), published in November 2023, identified vaping as an emerging behaviour of concern. While BISSR did not highlight links with violence in schools, it did identify that the rise in prevalence of use of vapes among secondary pupils was resulting in reduced attendance within classes as young people gathered to vape in toilets throughout the school day. As part of the Scottish Government’s response to BISSR, our Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Action Plan 2024-27 we have committed to developing guidance on vaping in schools, which we will begin later this year.

The Alcohol Framework published in 2018 sets out the Scottish Government’s approach to engaging with the alcohol industry in relation to public health policy.

The Scottish Government does not work with the alcohol industry on the development of health policy but engages on the potential impacts, effects and implementation of alcohol harm prevention policy, where appropriate.

The Scottish Parliament’s Lobbying Register (Home - Lobbying Register) contains details of regulated lobbying of Scottish Government Ministers undertaken since March 2018.

The Scottish Government provides early access to substance use treatment and support for all those who need it through the National Mission. This has been backed by an investment of £250 million over the life of the Parliament.

Responsibility for school funding, education provision and pupil support rests with local authorities. Under the Curriculum for Excellence framework, schools and practitioners are empowered to design the curriculum in a way that best meets the needs of learners.

School Nurses are equipped to support school aged children and young people with concerns regarding substance use. Scottish Government continues to promote the role of the school nurse and their strong focus on prevention, early intervention and support for the most vulnerable school-aged children and young people. Between 2019 and 2024 the Scottish Government invested over £34 million to support the recruitment and retention of over 216 additional school nurses. Funding has now been added to annual Health Board budgets to support retention of the school nurse workforce.

The Scottish Government has invested £1.5 million over the last 2 years in Planet Youth. Also known as the Icelandic Model, Planet Youth is a universal approach to prevention which empowers communities to support their young people to reduce the risk of substance use and harms. The Scottish Government has committed a further £750,000 to Planet Youth over 20025-26.

Through the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund, the Scottish Government has also provided nearly £4 million funding between the years 2023-24 and 2025-26 to expand the Routes programme. This model provides support for young people who are affected by substance use in their families.

As set out in the answer to question S6W-37764 on 22 May 2025, The Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery (PNM) student financial support review is currently ongoing. This review will take time, as it is important that we clearly understand how we can support our PNM students to complete their studies. The options for consideration will be presented to me before the end of the year. An equalities impact assessment will be published once the review has concluded.

Data on the average age of a doctor leaving the oncologist or radiologist NHS Scotland workforce is not held centrally.

Official Statistics published by NHS Education for Scotland, and available on the Data and reports | Turas Data Intelligence website, show that 32 doctors, across all ages, left the combined clinical oncologist, clinical radiologist and medical oncologist NHS Scotland workforce in the year to 31 March 2025. There were 43 joiners, and a turnover rate of 5.2%, which is the lowest turnover rate since at least 2010.

These Official Statistics also show that the median age of the combined clinical oncologist, clinical radiologist and medical oncologist NHS Scotland workforce was 46 years old as at 31 March 2025 – the same as 10 years prior. The proportion of this workforce aged 55 and over has increased from 17.7% at 31 March 2015 to 21.5% at 31 March 2025.

The Scottish Government has not had any recent discussions regarding potentially extending the regulatory protections pertaining to red deer to encompass native wild goat populations.

As set out in our response dated 25 May 2025 to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee’s consideration of Petition PE2151 – Grant Protected Status To Primitive Goat Species In The Scottish Borders, whilst feral goats can bring benefits, they are an invasive non-native species that can cause damage to the natural environment and forestry interests.

We currently have no plans to increase regulatory protection for primitive goats, or feral goats as they are more commonly known.

The Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme is a legacy Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) EU Scheme. It was introduced in 1997 and until the UK’s Exit from the EU it was funded by the European Commission.

Since October 2020, the Scottish Government has funded producer organisations in the scheme with a Head Office in Scotland. Match-funding is based on a producer organisation’s actual expenditure of pre-approved, eligible items.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) currently deliver the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme on behalf of Scottish Ministers. A breakdown of money reimbursed to the RPA, based on the Fruit and Vegetables Aid Scheme year (January to December) from 2020 to 2024 is below.

2020: £1,253,200

2021: £2,544,356

2022: £2,483,127

2023: £2,325,718

2024: £1,707,894

Please note that the European Commission part funded 2020 expenditure. Please also note that final 2024 claims are still being processed and therefore the 2024 figure above does not reflect a final figure for 2024 expenditure.