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We are engaging with the Integration Joint Boards and COSLA to understand the cost impact caused by the UK Government’s hike in employer National Insurance contributions.

The Scottish Government have published an estimated increase of £240 million for local authorities in Scotland in the financial year 2025–2026, following the UK Government’s hike in employer National Insurance Contributions. This estimate was provided by COSLA, and includes teachers.

All pre-registration midwifery courses validated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as meeting the required proficiencies for registration as a midwife include theoretical and practice education in recognising, assessing, planning and responding to pre-existing and emerging complications from alcohol misuse/withdrawal.

The NMC Standards of proficiency for midwives (NMC 2023) are available online at https://www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/standards/2024/standards-of-proficiency-for-midwives.pdf

Post-registration CPD is a matter for individual NHS Boards. The information requested is not held centrally.

Scottish Government analysis shows that changes to employer National Insurance Contributions will disproportionately impact on businesses in industries such as hospitality where almost 4,000 jobs have been lost since March, hitting lower paid and part-time staff. Additional analysis suggests that the increase will result in an average additional cost of £850 per employee, with total costs per affected business estimated at approximately £24,500.

We use the annual statistics published by Public Health Scotland for Infant Feeding to evidence our progress towards our stretch aim to reduce drop off in breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks by 10% by 2025. The last published statistics are for 2023-24 and show that drop-off at 6-8 weeks was at 27.3%. The commitment is for a relative drop-off in any breastfeeding, beginning with the baseline position in 2017-18 of 34.5%. We will formally update on our progress after the 2024-25 infant feeding statistics are published in November this year.

We have set out how we intend on delivering against the six strategic goals, over the next five years, in the road map within the Breastfeeding and infant feeding: strategic framework 2025-2030 and we will continue to work with Health Boards and partners to do so. Much of this work is already underway, including our commitment to Unicef UK Babyfriendly Achieving Sustainability across maternity, neonatal and community settings. A delivery plan for 2025-26 was also set out and we will report on progress of that and share our 2026-27 delivery plan by Summer 2026.

In Scotland, there are a range of data centres serving public and private sector requirements. There has been no overall assessment of the carbon footprint of these facilities in Scotland.

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has estimated that the UK Government’s hike in employer National Insurance will cost Scottish voluntary organisations £75 million per year.

All NHS Boards employ maternity service staff who are trained to deal with alcohol-related issues.

The Scottish Government Trade & Investment (T&I) Envoy for Space was appointed in September 2024 to play a key role in promoting Scotland’s space sector internationally. Activity undertaken by the envoy is agreed with the Scottish Government, and has helped build strategic relationships, attract inward investment, identify commercial opportunities and represent Scotland in key global space forums. The approach of appointing a sector-dedicated envoy was recently endorsed by the Director General of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs who stated to the House of Lords UK Engagement with Space Committee that “The UK’s position is also boosted by Scotland, which nominated a trade envoy for space by the Minister for Business and is really promoting the Scottish space industry and encouraging partnerships.”

The Space Envoy operates within the Scottish Government’s wider T&I Envoy network made up of appointees who work on a volunteer basis to provide Ministers with strategic business insights and connections. While there is no formal measure of the value of new business secured as a direct result of T&I Envoys’ actions, the network brings together sectoral expertise to support exports, inward investment and strategic economic growth. Envoys provide valuable business intelligence, introductions and advocacy, and have been instrumental in delivering Scotland’s Inward Investment Plan and export plan, A Trading Nation.

With regards to which stakeholders were invited to the Wildfire Summit held on 14 October 2025, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41157 on 6 November 2025. 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

The Scottish Government did not keep a register of those that attended the Wildfire Summit.