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Subject to Parliamentary time being available, our intention remains to seek a debate on fisheries before the end of the year. It is recognised that the fishing sector is currently facing a range of challenges, and a Parliamentary debate would be a valuable opportunity to discuss these issues. Any proposals for Government business in Parliament are subject to consideration by the Bureau and approval by the Parliament.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-41059 on 4 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.

Health and Social Care Partnerships provide Public Health Scotland (PHS) with a weekly snapshot of the current demand for Care at Home services. The data includes information on the number of people waiting on an assessment for a package of care to allow them to live at home or in the community, the number of people assessed and waiting on Care at Home and also the number of hours of care that people have been assessed for but not yet delivered. The data is published monthly on the PHS website. The data does not break the figures down by either client group or age. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not collect or hold information on disabled children awaiting a care package centrally.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill introduces a requirement on the Scottish Ministers to carry out a review of the repossession grounds under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 within 2 years of the day after Royal Assent and lay a report before Parliament.

This provision will be commenced in the current parliamentary term.

The views and experiences of landlords and tenants will be considered as part of the review.

It is the primary duty of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to strategically plan the delivery of integrated adult health and social care provision in a local authority area. This duty will include the gathering of information regarding the demand for local services, including provision of respite care. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not collect or hold this information centrally.

NHS Education of Scotland are responsible for the publication of GP workforce data. GP Headcount data is now published on a bi-annually basis with reference points relating to March and September. While the Scottish Government do not set annual recruitment targets, we do measure our progress against our commitment to increase GP numbers by 800 by the end of 2027 against the September data. The latest figures show an increase of 360 GPs since 2017 against this commitment. The latest data can be found here NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence.

The Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Product Register is a Scotland specific register that is governed by legislation. Scottish Ministers have a commitment to keep and maintain a register of all sellers of tobacco and vapes. The register has been an asset to enforcement authorities in Scotland for over 15 years. The refreshed register, launched in January this year, has improved this important tool for enforcement as well as a more efficient vehicle for engagement with retailers on compliance.

In addition, we work closely with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) to support enforcement of existing legislation, including on illicit tobacco. SCOTSS manages the Enhanced Tobacco Sales Enforcement Programme (ETSEP) in Scotland, which is a key component in the Scottish Government’s Tobacco and Vaping Framework.

In 2025-2026, Scottish Government provided funding of £46k to SCOTSS support a National Coordinator post and specific enforcement projects that vary year on year.

In 2024-2025 SCOTSS received an additional £75k to support the UK-wide Operation CeCe, which is a joint initiative between National Trading Standards and HMRC to remove illicit tobacco product from sale. SCOTSS plays a key role in this operation, coordinating local authority activity in Scotland. From 2025-2026 Operation CeCe is being funded directly by UKG.

Scottish Government Officials also meet regularly with HMRC, who work with Border Force to take action to tackle the import of illicit tobacco and vaping products at the border.

The resourcing and supervision of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders is a matter for individual local authorities which are best placed to ensure provision meets the needs of their local area.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the universal provision of free school meals in primary schools. Current financial constraints mean that we are prioritising investment to reach those pupils most in need.

Currently over 230,000 pupils across Scotland, all primary school pupils in primaries one to five, all children in special schools, and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to Secondary 6 can already benefit from free school meals during term-time in Scotland and we are expanding this provision to target those pupils whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment in Primaries 6 and 7. This phase began in February of this year. It is expected that once this phase is completed 84% of all primary children will benefit from the opportunity to take a free school meal.

In addition, we are taking forward a test of change policy for those in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in Secondary 1 to 3 in 60 schools across 8 local authorities which started in August 2025 and will run to July 2026. This will benefit around an additional 6,100 pupils.

The 2019 Fuel Poverty Act requires Ministers to undertake a review of the current Fuel Poverty Strategy by December 2026. I welcome the Panel's report and met with the Panel on 11 September to discuss it and recommendations, which we will consider as we work together to ensure any future strategy meets the ambitions and challenges of tackling fuel poverty and achieving our fuel poverty targets – which remain the most ambitious in the UK.

Our commitment to tackling fuel poverty is unwavering, and we are doing all we can within our powers to support households. We continue to support vulnerable households through our winter heating benefits, provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice and energy efficiency schemes.

High energy prices are currently the greatest driver of fuel poverty. It is clear that high energy prices must be addressed, and the fundamental fiscal and policy levers lie with the UK Government. This is why we continue to press the UK Government to urgently deliver an automatic and targeted discount on energy bills to address unaffordable bills at source.