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The Scottish Government have not awarded a contract to Bain & Co to undertake any work in the last five years. Any decision to prohibit Bain & Co from tendering for a Scottish Government Contract will be considered on a case by case basis under the provisions of ‘Discretionary Grounds’, Regulation 58 (Exclusion Grounds) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

The Scottish Government has already been taking action to improve business cash flow and annual farm payment dates are to be brought forward to September. Subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament, farmers and crofters will receive their advance payment for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Greening around a month earlier than originally planned, and we remain committed to delivering over 70% of payments by the end of December and over 95.24% of payments by the end of February 2023.

The Just Transition Fund was established to support and accelerate the transition of the region and support the role of Aberdeen and the wider North East as one of Scotland’s centres of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy. The call for year one projects closed on 15 July 2022 and expressions of interest are currently being assessed against the published Fund criteria. It will not be possible to indicate what portion of the Fund will be allocated specifically to upskilling activity until final decisions on awards have concluded. An announcement of successful bids will be made in due course.

The Scottish Government recognises the private sector action required to deliver a just transition to net zero. Our Global Capital Investment Plan outlines these opportunities and we are expanding our Green Investment Portfolio to bring together market-ready projects worth £3 billion as well as establishing an investor panel to attract investment to a pipeline of projects.

In the North East, we engaged extensively over Spring 2022 on the design of the £500 million Just Transition Fund to understand how it can have maximum impact in the region. We are also a full partner in the Aberdeen City Region Deal, which is stimulating private investment through partnership with Opportunity North East and has already seen £59 million of private investment committed to the region for digital infrastructure.

The ScotWind projects committed to investment of up to £25 billion across the Scottish supply chain across the 17 ScotWind offshore wind projects as set out in their Supply Chain Development Statements. This work is further complemented by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s (SOWEC) Collaborative Framework as a practical way for developers and Scottish ports to work together, helping to build a long-term pipeline of work, creating certainty that ports need to prioritise investment in higher value activities like fabrication. By working together developers can identify joint opportunities, mitigating risks in bringing together the infrastructure needed to build out the full pipeline of ScotWind projects. The call for year one projects of the Just Transition Fund closed on 15 July 2022 and expressions of interest are currently being assessed against the published Fund criteria. It will not be possible to indicate what portion of the Fund will be allocated specifically to manufacturing capability until final decisions on awards have concluded.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and accelerating the transition of the North East as a centre of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy, as evidenced by our £500 million Just Transition Fund. The Scottish Government is also a full partner in the Aberdeen City Region Deal, contributing £125 million over 10 years alongside an additional £254 million, which will help ensure economic transformation for the North East with inclusive growth, increased wellbeing and a just transition to net zero. We are investing a separate £32.5 million through the Moray Growth Deal to support a number of projects that will grow the region’s economy.

The police investigation is ongoing and direction of that investigation is provided by lawyers in the Specialist Casework Division in Crown Office.

The Crown does not routinely collate the total costs associated with investigating individual cases and thus does not hold the information requested.

Over the last two years our NHS has suffered the biggest shock of its 74 year existence. Caring for large numbers of patients seriously unwell with COVID-19 has inevitably meant that planned care procedures have had to be delayed, and while we are working hard to recover and remobilise our NHS, this will not be done in a few weeks or even months. Addressing the backlog of care, while continuing to meet the ongoing urgent health and care needs of the country, remains a priority for this Government.

We know that excessively long waits have grown as a result of the pandemic, which is why we now need to focus on treating people that are waiting too long for treatment. On 6 July 2022, I introduced a new set of targets for NHS Scotland to address the backlog of planned care.

We will continue to work with the National Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to improve the waits that people are currently experiencing.

In the first instance where patients have concerns regarding their appointments these are best addressed by contacting their local Health Board who can advise on rescheduling in a timely manner. The patient feedback team within the Health Board may also be able to advise or support if required.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Practices must apply to their Health Boards to close their lists and agree the conditions and timelines for reopening them.

Circumstances will arise where a practice experiences capacity issues and is unable to routinely accept new patients onto its list. We expect Health Boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to help manage the situation and ensure that all patients have access to GP services.