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The number of consultants employed by NHS Scotland has increased by 71% since September 2006 and now stands at 6,217.5 whole time equivalents (31 March 2025).

Despite this increase, NHS Scotland’s medical workforce remains under pressure due to steady, long-term increases in demand. This increase in demand is strongly linked to Scotland’s aging population profile and increasing epidemiological rates for some health care conditions.

Statistics on additional support for learning teachers are published in the teacher census supplementary statistics, available on the Scottish Government website here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

Statistics on pupil support assistants are published in the school support staff statistics, available on the Scottish Government website here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing delayed discharges and addressing the variation in delays across the country and this remains a priority for this Government. However, it is important to reflect that 97% of all discharges happen without delay.

The latest published delayed discharge figures show some progress in reducing the number of people delayed, and we continue to work to drive that number down further. Statistics show that during April 2025, on average 1,854 people were delayed in hospital each day, 3% fewer than in April 2024, the lowest level since October 2023, and a 9% reduction from the peak in October 2024.

The progress comes off the back off intensive work that is being done on a whole system basis, with Health and Social Care Partnerships, the National Health Service, Local Government and community and voluntary sector partners – to ensure that capacity is there to support them.

Furthermore, our budget for 2025-26 set out a clear plan to reduce waiting times, delayed discharges and improve hospital flow, supported by £200 million in targeted investment. Underpinning this is the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan which was published on the 31st of March this year. This is a plan to improve access to treatment, shift the balance of care from acute services to the community, and improve access to health and social care services through digital and technological innovation and prevention.

I am confident that this improvement can continue, delivering better outcomes for patients so that they are cared for in the right setting and hospital beds are there for those who need them.

The Scottish Government does not hold figures on how many retail units are vacant in high streets and town centres across the country. Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration.

My statement to the Scottish Affairs Committee on 4 June 2025 is based on operational data and the clinical interventions of the Thistle Safer Drug Consumption Facility team.

By the end of April 2025, staff had managed 30 medical emergencies requiring urgent intervention. These incidents involved overdose responses, including naloxone and oxygen administration, in situations where lives were at immediate risk. The evidence underpinning this statement is drawn from Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership’s published service data and the professional assessments of clinical staff on-site to attend to medical emergencies

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people living with kidney diseases are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective, and put people at the centre of their care.

We are aware of the findings of Kidney Care UK in their 2024 report, and Ms Minto met with the group shortly after publication. In 2024 we published the transport to health plan to support work across Scottish Government, Health Boards and Transport partners.

Following engagement between Scottish Government and NHS Boards, a Short Life Working Group is set to be established across NHS Boards to consider in more detail the issues relating to transport access for patients attending for kidney care treatment. We look forward to the outcomes of this work.

It is the Scottish Government’s view that both parents should be involved in their child’s life, as long as this is in the child’s best interests.

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 is the key legislation on contact, residence, and parental responsibilities and rights. When deciding whether to make an order under section 11 of the Act (e.g. a contact order) the welfare of the child must be the court’s paramount consideration.

The court must also – taking into account the child's age and maturity – have regard to any views the child wishes to express and the need to protect the child from any abuse, or the risk of any abuse, which affects or might affect the child.

There is no legal presumption in favour of contact contained in section 11 of the 1995 Act. It is for the court to decide what information and evidence it needs to make a decision about what is best for a child, based on the facts and circumstances of the case.

However, recent research suggested there is a general presumption that contact is in the child’s best interests: Domestic Abuse and Child Contact: The Interface Between Criminal and Civil Proceedings - SCCJR.

Following this research, the Scottish Government has held workshops with key stakeholders on how to improve the interaction between the civil and criminal courts in the context of domestic abuse. The Scottish Government is currently considering potential changes to take forward.

The Scottish Government wants to ensure that the child’s best interests are at the centre of any contact case and that the voice of the child is heard. Family circumstances can vary considerably and so, beyond those general principles, there is no single approach which will fit every contact case.

Contact orders are made by courts under section 11 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Through these orders, courts can regulate the arrangements under which non-resident parents maintain personal relations or direct contact with children under the age of 16.

When the court is deciding whether, and in what terms, to make a contact order under section 11 the welfare of the child must be the court’s paramount consideration. The court must also – taking into account the child's age and maturity – have regard to any views the child wishes to express and have regard to matters such as the need to protect the child from the risk of abuse.

Those with parental responsibilities and rights (including in relation to contact) are also expected to exercise these in the interests of the child and, where appropriate, to have regard to the views of the child. If the arrangements provided for in a contact order are no longer considered appropriate the matter could, in appropriate cases, be brought back to the court (including by or on behalf of the child themselves) for the order to be varied or recalled.

The court may order contact to take place at a child contact centre. We expect child contact services to take a child-centred approach, using trauma-informed approaches. We would not expect a child who is distressed to be forced into contact.

The Scottish Government provides funding to Relationships Scotland who are the largest provider of child contact services in Scotland. Child contact services have practices in place to help support facilitation of contact orders, for example: familiarisation visits; gradual build-up of time in contact; signals if child wants contact to end; family support workers to support parents and children.

The Scottish Government regularly discusses a wide range of fire safety topics with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) including battery energy storage system (BESS) sites.

SFRS is a member of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and has access to the wide range of fire and rescue research, guidance and expertise provided by the NFCC. The Scottish Fire and Rescue service provides advice to the Scottish Government on fire safety matters.

There was no communication between the Scottish Government and the NFCC regarding the single recorded incident at a BESS site in Scotland. This incident involved a battery unit which was damaged in transit and was not yet installed. There were no casualties.

The education and training of the Scottish judiciary is the responsibility of the Lord President, who established the Judicial Institute for Scotland (the Institute) to conduct training for all sheriffs and judges in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s understanding is that consideration of domestic abuse has been an ongoing component of the Institute’s training since 2019. In response to the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 the Institute launched a learning programme for all judicial office holders at that time. This training included a Domestic Abuse Resource Kit, which has been extended to cover the implications of domestic abuse in civil cases and the interaction between criminal and civil cases.

Domestic abuse training has also been implemented into induction courses since 2019, ensuring that all those coming into post receive similar training, particularly covering the concept of coercive control in the context of domestic abuse. In addition, family and civil law courses consider the impact of coercive control and other forms of abusive behaviour in family disputes.

The Institute’s annual reports can be found on the Judiciary of Scotland website.

Solicitors in Scotland have to undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD) relevant to their roles in line with the Law Society of Scotland's CPD requirements. Training on domestic abuse is available and revisited regularly, for example, the recent webinar on: A Review of Domestic Abuse in Scotland | Law Society of Scotland.

However, there is no specific requirement for solicitors working in the civil system to undergo specialist training in domestic abuse, coercive control and the potential impact on children’s lives.