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The Scottish Government is aware of the impact that the UK Government’s pension annual and life time allowances policy is having on the GP workforce in Scotland. There is limited action we can take to mitigate the impact as issues relating to pensions are a reserved matter. We have written to the UK Government on a number occasions to urge them to take action, and we have highlighted our concerns about the risks to delivering in-hours general practice as well as out of hours services.

We intend to publish our Strategy for Seafood today. The strategy underlines the importance of the seafood sector and sets out how we are supporting industry to contribute to achieving our Blue Economy aspirations.

Scotland’s world renowned seafood sector is a vital part of our economy that particularly supports our coastal and island communities. Our marine environment contributes significantly to our commitment to being a Good Food Nation and to the ambition of the Local Food Strategy, with locally sourced seafood forming part of a healthy sustainable diet. The fishing, aquaculture and processing communities also have an important role to play in helping us achieve Scotland’s net zero targets and in implementing a range of measures articulated in the Bute House Agreement to improve existing ecosystems, encourage sustainability and protect our marine natural capital assets.

The strategy draws together and provides cohesion to the many existing initiatives which deliver for the seafood sector, and makes some recommendations which we will continue to explore as we transition towards net zero and delivery of the Blue Economy outcomes.

We look forward to taking this important work forward with the sector.

The publication of the strategy is consistent with our Programme for Government commitment to publish a strategy for seafood in 2022 and the document will be available to view on the Scottish Government website from today.

The Provision of Displaced Persons Crisis Travel Management 2, which was awarded to the company, Corporate Travel Management (CTM), is a call off from a Crown Commercial Services framework and the original framework documentation is available from the Crown Commercial Services website: Travel and Venue Solutions - CCS (crowncommercial.gov.uk) . The contract notice with CTM was published on 9 August 2022.

Neither the Scottish Government nor Sustrans hold details of the split between installation and removal of schemes; this information is held at local authority level.

The performance of Corporate Travel Management (CTM) is robustly monitored by the Scottish Government. This is carried out through regular progress reporting and meetings, rigorous financial monitoring, and through identifying continuous improvements including savings opportunities.

The Framework also provides obligations and standards that the supplier must adhere to in relation to the following: HMRC compliant invoices; appropriate insurances; credit rating threshold maintained; social value via the HM Government Code of Conduct which sets out standards of behaviours expected of the contractor and subcontractors; equality and accessibility; modern slavery; child labour and inhumane treatment; income security and working hours or staff; sustainability as part of Government Buying Standards; subcontractor monitoring; and data protection.

Any large infrastructure organisation that provides an essential service requires significant access to cash to maintain its activities and to respond to unforeseen events. Scottish Water’s cash balances each year are largely a function of when the business borrows from the Scottish Government relative to when capital investments are made; unlike similar infrastructure businesses, Scottish Water does not have access to any other credit facilities. Some of that capital investment will be on projects not delivered in the preceding regulatory period. Furthermore, at any point in time Scottish Water has on-going investment projects and hence has contractual commitments with its delivery partners and it must ensure it has sufficient funds to meet those contractual commitments. At 31 March 2022 Scottish Water had contractual capital commitments of £455.6m and at 31 March 2021 this figure was £541.4m, hence my comments in the Scottish Parliament on 18 May 2022 that Scottish Water's cash balance is ''substantially allocated at any time to investment projects''.

All payments as part of the national contractual framework are published annually. The latest iteration can be found at SHOW - Scotlands Health On the Web - Publications, including payments for non-activity based services delivered as part of the Pharmaceutical Services Remuneration Global Sum.

Health Boards can recover remuneration in line with the measures available as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and the National Health Service (Discipline Committees) (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

As investigations into this matter are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment.

The Scottish Government along with the BMA and other stakeholders provide evidence to the Doctors and Dentist Review Bodies (DDRB) who make an independent recommendation on pay uplifts for medical and dental staff across the UK.

We take part in this process in good faith and in the knowledge that the DDRB make independent recommendations which can be above or below what participants are seeking. This year, the DDRB have recommended a pay award which we have implemented in full for all Medical and Dental staff.

The Patient Travel Guidance is a substantial exercise for the Scottish Government and NHS Boards and, regrettably, a start date is not confirmed at this time. This important piece of work requires prioritisation alongside our ongoing response to Covid and recovery of services and will be taken forward as soon as possible.