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The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Whether VAT applies to a visitor levy is a decision for the UK Government.

The Scottish Government is clear that any local authority thinking of introducing a Visitor Levy needs to consider the potential VAT implications that it would have for relevant businesses in their area.

The delivery of round-the-clock urgent care at Portree Hospital is the responsibility of NHS Highland. However, the Scottish Government is assured that 24/7 urgent care was restored at Portree Hospital on 16 August 2024.

The number of Care Experienced Bursaries that have been awarded in each year since the establishment of the support in the 2017-2018 academic year is as follows:

Health boards such as NHS Highland are autonomous institutions responsible for their own recruitment, employment and deployment of staff.

The Scottish Government supports Boards in these matters through the setting of policies and frameworks at a national level, with initiatives across rural and islands health boards including:

• Scottish Government funding for ScotGEM, a unique four-year programme tailored to meet the current and future needs of NHS Scotland with a focus on rural medicine, healthcare improvement and developing interest in General Practice. ScotGEM students are eligible to apply for and receive a ‘Return of Service’ bursary of £4,000 per annum which commits them to working for NHS Scotland for the corresponding number of years following graduation. The Scottish Government also pays the tuition fees for eligible students, offering an attractive package for potential applicants.
• A range of grants and allowances including the recruitment and retention allowance, which allows new trainee dentists practicing in eligible areas, to qualify for a ‘Golden Hello’ payment of up to £37,500 in the first three years of practice.
• Delivery of a Rural GP Fellowship by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). The fellowship provides qualified GPs with direct experience of working in rural and island areas for a year, including two fellowship posts in Skye.
• Going forward, in collaboration with NES’ Centre for Workforce Supply and National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, the Scottish Government will be developing a sustained model of direct support that will provide the long-term whole-system approach which is necessary to provide rural and island employers the help they need to recruit successfully. To improve attraction, this includes supporting employers to design roles that fit their organisations’ needs, ensure that job adverts speak to the right audience and helping employers in welcoming new recruits and providing effective pastoral support.

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry was established in 2020, to investigate planning, design, construction and maintenance of both the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital/ Royal Hospital for Children (QEUH/RHC) and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People/Department of Clinical Neurosciences (RHCYP/DCN). To that end, the Inquiry recently concluded 12 weeks of hearings into the QEUH/RHC’s built environment and the potential causal links to hospital acquired infections.

The evidence which was presented and heard at the recent hearing has been published by the Inquiry and is available on the Inquiry’s website (https://www.hospitalsinquiry.scot/).

In Counsel to the Inquiry’s closing statement, concerns were raised regarding the recommended guidelines for ventilation at the QEUH/RHC.

Lord Brodie has made it clear that the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry is on-going and therefore no conclusions should be taken from submissions to the Inquiry at this stage. Further oral hearings into the QEUH/RHC are scheduled for later this year.

Like all hospital sites, there is a comprehensive system of clinical oversight and patient safety monitoring at the QEUH/RHC. There has been no information reported through our robust governance arrangements which questions the safety of the hospital.

In addition, there have been no healthcare associated infection incidents reported to Scottish Government in the last 12 months relating to concerns on ventilation control.

To provide additional assurance, I have written to Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to undertake a formal review of the action plan arising from their Infection Prevention and Control inspection in 2022; to check the progress made against the recommendations and requirements.

The adoption of the recommendations contained in the Independent External Review of Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross Out Of Hours Services is the responsibility of NHS Highland. The recommendations were fully accepted by NHS Highland following the publication of the report in 2018.

The following table provides information on the number of patients under 18 years admitted to hospital where a diagnosis of tooth decay was recorded, from April 1999 to March 2024, in Scotland, by financial year.

Table 1: Number of patients under 18 years admitted to hospital where a diagnosis of tooth decay was recorded, from April 1999 to March 2024, in Scotland, by financial year.

In circumstances where the authority considers that a person’s need for services is a matter of urgency, they have the power to provide community care support to individuals, carers and their families without an assessment under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Local authorities also have duties under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 to provide adult carer support plans (ACSP) or young carer statements (YCS) for any carer that wants one and to provide support to carers according to their eligible needs. In circumstances where a carer is caring for someone with a terminal illness, the authority must offer and prepare an ACSP or YCS in set timescales, ensuring associated support is provided in an efficient and timely manner. These responsibilities are set out in the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 Statutory Guidance.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on the age profile of scanning equipment held by NHS Boards. As holding bodies, NHS Boards are responsible for the management of their infrastructure assets and for identifying maintenance and replacement requirements.

The online app for health and social care, which is part of our ‘digital front door’ programme, will initially be available to a small cohort of people in Lanarkshire from December 2025. Whilst work continues on preparing for that initial release, we are simultaneously engaging with Health Boards and COSLA to develop the rollout approach beyond Lanarkshire. It is our intention to set this out in more detail from Summer 2025.