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The Scottish Government welcomes the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care’s report: Every Story’s Ending. This report provides a helpful insight into the experiences that people and their families have at the end of life in Scotland.

The findings of the report will be helpful in shaping the work to take forward our commitment to produce a new palliative and end of life care strategy over the course of the coming year.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield carried out various sets of modelling of minimum unit pricing for alcohol for the Scottish Government, including the modelling carried out in 2016. The modelling estimated the costs and benefits of various minimum unit prices. At the time the modelling was carried out, minimum unit pricing in the form introduced in Scotland on 1 May 2018, was not present in any other country.

Since minimum unit pricing at 50 pence was introduced on 1 May 2018, we are able to evaluate the real-life impact of this. Public Health Scotland are leading the comprehensive evaluation of the impact of a 50 pence minimum unit price on four outcome areas: implementation and compliance; alcoholic drinks industry; consumption; and health and social harms. More information on this can be found on the MUP Evaluation pages on Public Health Scotland’s website.

On 2 September 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture announced that £250,000 would be made available from the Scottish Government’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF) to provide critical help for the people of Afghanistan.

Given the volatile operating environment on the ground in Afghanistan, our NGO partners have been unable, as of 19 October, to operate safely to deliver much needed humanitarian assistance. However, we are in close contact with our partners and as soon as assurances over the safety of their staff in Afghanistan are forthcoming, disbursement will commence.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03743 on 26 October 2021. 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

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table provides the total number of drug tests conducted in each financial year, along with the results.

The advertising and promotion of alcohol entails a range of activity which is seen by children and young people across Scotland. This influences attitudes towards drinking alcohol and can encourage children and young people to start drinking alcohol or to drink more alcohol. This is why the Scottish Government will consult on potential alcohol advertising restrictions during 2022, to protect children and young people, as announced in A Fairer, Greener Scotland: Programme for Government 2021-22 , published on 7 September 2021.

The Scottish Government has not given a contract to Oviva to deliver any NHS services.

As Scotland emerges from COVID-19, our colleges and universities have a key role to play in rebuilding our economy. Ministers have been liaising with our education and skills system to address skills needs across various sectors of the Scottish economy, both in the short and longer term.

There are a number of subsidised training schemes provided by Scottish Government in regards to HGV and Bus Driver training including: Employability Fund, Modern Apprenticeships, National Transition Training Fund and Individual Training Accounts

A summary table has been provided, showing the number of people supported through the various schemes in relation to HGV and Bus driver training. To ensure consistency, we have provided figures based on financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and Quarter 1 of 2021-22.

Our colleges and universities have been vital in our efforts to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. The decades to come will bring further significant change at pace – shifts in automation, digital developments and artificial intelligence, the move to net-zero, changes in the world of work and study, global competition for talent and resources and our future demographic, health and social care needs.

That is why we asked the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to review how it could best fulfil its mission of achieving coherence, quality and sustainability in tertiary education and research. SFC’s report - Coherence and Sustainability: A Review of Tertiary Education and Research - was published at the end of June 2021.

Our full response was published today and is available at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802015041 . The Scottish Government broadly accept the Review’s recommendations. We recognise that, given the breadth of recommendations, some require a Scottish Government lead, others are for SFC and its Board to consider further, while we expect the sector itself to respond across a number of key areas. In addition, some recommendations will require further development for consultation.

As a government, our ambition is to create the best possible environment for colleges and universities, students and employers to thrive, now and into the future. I look forward to working with them to achieve our ambitions for Scotland’s tertiary education and research system.