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The Scottish Government is providing further funding of £500,000 this year to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, and their families.

Further, our Autistic Adult Support Fund provides £1 million of funding per year to organisations that support autistic adults both pre- and post-diagnosis. As autism and ADHD often co-occur, adults with ADHD have benefitted and will continue to benefit from this support. A recent independent evaluation of the Fund showed that 72% of individuals and 71% of families supported via the Fund reported improved wellbeing as a result.

The Scottish Government published the Transition Care Plan (TCP) Guidance in 2018, describing the standards required in the planning of good transitions for children and young people moving to adult services. This guidance is underpinned by a rights based approach and ensures the young person is involved in discussions about their care.

The National Neurodevelopmental Specification notes that the guidance should be used to ensure that transitions between children and young people’s services and other services are robust and that, wherever possible, services work together with the young person and families/carers to plan in advance for transition.

Public Health Scotland publish Official Statistics on the number of people (aged 18 or over) experiencing a delayed discharge from hospital, including the number of people delayed at the monthly census point broken down by primary reason for delay. The latest published statistics show that on 31 July 2025, 453 people were delayed primarily due to awaiting residential place availability; a further 61 people were delayed awaiting place availability in a specialist residential facility where the facility is not currently available and no interim option is appropriate; and a further 54 people were recorded as delayed primarily due to non-availability of statutory funding for a care home place. These reasons accounted for 29% of all people delayed in hospital on 31 July.

Some people whose discharge is delayed primarily for other reasons at the census point (for example, a portion of delays awaiting a social care assessment, or delays relating to Adults With Incapacity legislation) may also require residential placements.

Management Information on the number of available care home beds is collected directly from care homes through the TURAS Care Management system. This provides an indication of care home capacity, including the number of available beds. However, there is no satisfactory source of information on the overall demand for care home places (other than by people experiencing a delayed discharge), and this prevents a full analysis of the shortage of available care home places relative to total demand.

Scottish Government officials regularly review the number of delayed discharges relating to residential place availability, in relation to the number of available care home beds. This information is regularly shared with ministers and has been periodically discussed with the Collaborative Response and Assurance Group.

The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to establish a national framework for shared care. However, we are engaging with the Royal College of GPs (Scotland) to understand the current issues around shared care agreements for patients with ADHD.

Officials have also written to all health boards seeking clarification on what neurodevelopmental assessment and support they currently have in place for adults, this included a question on local protocol for patients with a private diagnosis. We are currently collating and considering this information.

Some NHS Boards may have shared care policies, but it remains at the clinical discretion of each individual GP to decide the best course of action for their patients. A recommendation from a private specialist for a particular medicine does not entitle the patient to NHS prescriptions for that medicine.

The National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) published guidance on Prescribing ADHD medication to adults following private sector diagnosis in Scotland in April 2022. This guidance is available to practitioners and patients.

Discussions have already taken place for the MV Isle of Islay in relation to commercial crewing levels in which trade unions, with the exception of RMT, have agreed the crew numbers.

A meeting will be scheduled by CalMac Ferries Ltd within the coming weeks with the RMT to continue discussions. This same approach will be taking forward for all new vessels entering service.

In regards to the route specific sea trials mentioned, CalMac have confirmed that once that vessel is under their operation, the vessel personnel will operate under the terms of their individual Seafarer Employment Agreements and Collective Agreements, which they do not envisage as needing to be re-negotiated.

The Scottish Government is unable to provide such a list, as the dry dock facility at Inchgreen has not been used to undertake scheduled or unscheduled dry dock work on vessels that are owned by CMAL.

CalMac informed Transport Scotland of the incident, which is their contractual obligation. The Scottish Government has no role in discussing these matters with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Organisational hierarchies are in operation for performance management, pay and finance purposes. Since October 2024 when the Scottish Government’s new HR and Finance system, Oracle Cloud, went live, the practice of Position Management is being utilised within the organisation. This is a common practice in large public and private sector organisations and means all employees operate within an overarching hierarchy, thus their reporting line follows this hierarchy.

A Professions Strategy is in operation within Scottish Government. This enhances workforce management by adopting a classification system that links all jobs to a profession and a related job family and job type, within the Positions hierarchy. Although there are occasional instances in system reporting when a small number of people may appear not to have a reporting line on a system report, in practice they will be managed in line with Scottish Government’s line management practices.

I have yet to meet with Rail Action Group, East of Scotland, who have recently shown particular interest in transport connectivity in and around Haddington.

The Scottish Government remains firmly committed to delivering our vision for agriculture and support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. To achieve this we are delivering a phased transition from legacy Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support into the new four-tier framework ensuring ensure a just transition for our farmers and crofters.

In 2025 we introduced additional measures to protect wetlands and peatlands as part of the mandatory conditions of GAEC 6. These measures are designed to promote healthy peatland contributing to improved biodiversity by providing a habitat for plants and insects as well as regulating water flow and prevent flooding.

Work is continuing with the industry as we demonstrate our commitment to co-develop the future support framework delivering the Vision for Agriculture and meeting the objectives of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2025.