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The Scottish Government will consider the advice of the Climate Change Committee before setting out its own proposals for taking necessary actions on climate change.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting our livestock farmers in playing a full part in Scotland’s journey to net zero, including by reducing methane emissions in ways that strengthen farm productivity and resilience. The Scottish Government has no policy to reduce the national herd, our approach focuses on reducing emissions intensity rather than livestock numbers, through improvements in genetics, low-methane breeding, and appropriate uptake of methane-suppressing feed products. We continue to support the sector through a range of schemes including the SSBSS and through reformed direct payments – in stark contrast to the policies of UKG.

We recognise that the meat processing industry is a vital part of the supply chain, and have supported the sector. This has included a Ministerial discount scheme which has been applied to Official Veterinarian charges since 2015, as well as resource funding through the Small Producers Pilot Fund to explore solutions to challenges surrounding abattoirs and small producers’ access to private kill services. The recently published Programme for Government commits to £5 million to support food processing and marketing.

We will continue working with the sector to ensure it thrives as part of a climate-smart food system, while recognising the importance of Scotland’s livestock products to UK and international markets.

The Scottish Government is focused on delivering for people across the country and making the case for taking decisions in Scotland for Scotland with independence.

The Scottish Government will publish further material on independence to give the people of Scotland the information they need to make an informed choice about their constitutional future. We are not planning an independence convention this summer.

As required under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, the Charter must be reviewed at least once every 5 years. The Charter was last published in October 2022 and is scheduled to be reviewed in 2027.

Guidance to clinicians to support prescribing medicines off-label is provided by the General Medical Council (GMC) . The guidance states that doctors should usually prescribe licensed medicines in accordance with the terms of their licence but they may prescribe medicines off-label where, on the basis of an assessment of the individual patient, they conclude, for medical reasons, that it is necessary to do so to meet the specific needs of the patient. In addition, extant guidance states that, unless there is a specific clinical reason, clinicians should prescribe a licensed medicine which has been accepted for routine use in the NHS in Scotland by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) as opposed to prescribing off-label or unlicensed medicines.

Squid fishing is a sporadic fishery with the majority of landings of squid occurring between May to October. Historically squid has been present in the Moray Firth and is becoming prevalent in Shetland.

The information you have requested to do with the areas of Scotland’s inshore waters where squid fishing has taken place is not held by the Scottish Government. It is not possible to separate landings of squid between inshore and offshore waters and so it is not possible to provide a breakdown of squid fisheries within inshore waters.

We must recognise that our health service has experienced unprecedented pressures over the past few years, including pandemic backlogs, staff shortages and the most difficult winter the NHS has ever faced, with the pausing of all non-emergency treatment inevitably leading to planned care delays and an increase in waiting times.

We have remobilised services but understand that activity levels are still lower than we would wish them to be. Patients requiring urgent care, including cancer treatment, are being prioritised. The Scottish Government remains committed to delivering reductions in waiting times.

Our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care. More than £106 million has been allocated to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations.

There is limited evidence about the impacts of targeted squid fishery and associated bycatches. The occurrence of squid in samples of bycatch from the Nephrops fleet is rare. The Marine Directorate is undertaking a limited trial with a number of inshore vessels to help gather information and evidence on bycatch within inshore areas to support a longer-term policy decision on fishing for squid.

On the 4 December as part of the Budget, The Scottish Government published a borrowing memorandum (Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026: Scottish Government borrowing - gov.scot), which included the outcome of the initial phase of Due Diligence on the work towards an inaugural Scottish Government Bond. The second phase of Due Diligence on Bonds issuance is currently ongoing, and the Government will continue to update Parliament over the course of the year as this work progresses

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on application processing times for Carer Support Payment as part of official statistics releases.

Funding for the Deal is awarded to the Stirling and Clackmannanshire region rather than individual council areas, including joint projects between the three main Deal partners, Stirling Council, Clackmannanshire Council and University of Stirling. The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal private sector investment total secured to date is £476,000, with this investment coming through the University of Stirling’s Scotland’s International Environment Centre (SIEC Phase 1) as commissioned work.

All other secured and leveraged investment in the Deal is from the public sector, including academia, or third sector.