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There are no plans to revaccinate individuals who have had a previous Zostavax vaccination. The need for booster doses following previous vaccination has not yet been determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

A statement on the shingles vaccination programme was published on 13 November 2024, advising that the offer of Shingrix vaccination should be expanded to include older adult cohorts aged 80 years and over.

JCVI recognise that some of these individuals will have already received a Zostavax vaccination. However there is a clear cost-effective benefit from offering a single dose of Shingrix to this age group as this would help prevent severe illness and other serious complications from shingles, which can cause illness or hospitalisation.

The Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland and NHS Boards will work together to consider these recommendations.

A. There have been no discussions between the Scottish Government and the Camphill organisation regarding long-term funding for their work.

A public consultation was undertaken in 2021, which looked at levels of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs). Following this, on 1 April 2023, the maximum PCN amount was raised to £100. Local authorities must ensure that they issue PCNs only when it is lawful to do so. It is important to note that PCNs are a penalty for illegal parking and are not to be used specifically to generate income, though any profit from PCNs is ring-fenced and must only be used by the local authority for transport related purposes. Local authorities also report the income and expenditure annually and these reports are published on the Transport Scotland website.

When a patient moves to Scotland from abroad with an existing diagnosis and treatment plan, and where such treatment is approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium, clinicians will make a decision whether to reassess the patient to ensure it is safe to go ahead with their existing treatment plan.

Patients with an urgent clinical need will always be prioritised.

In all cases, we expect Health Boards to make every effort to ensure equity of care and that any disruptions to the patient’s journey are minimised.

The number of applications that the Energy Consents Unit (ECU) has received from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) over the last ten years, including those which have been referred to the Planning & Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) for a public inquiry, and instances in which Scottish Ministers have agreed with the DPEA’s recommendations, are as follows:

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises newly licensed medicines for clinical and cost-effectiveness to help Health Boards determine whether a medicine should be accepted for routine use within the NHS in Scotland. Following the appraisal process, the SMC publishes advice for Health Boards in Scotland to consider. The SMC does not issue tailored guidance for specific medicines.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving connectivity in rural areas and are considering alternative models of public transport delivery.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review recommends that pilot schemes, involving demand responsive transport and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) draw on innovative solutions, international best practice, and smart technologies. Following the successful completion and evaluation of our £2 million MaaS Investment Fund - of which the evaluation report can be found on the Transport Scotland website. Transport Scotland continues to work with MaaS Scotland and the Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) to build on this work to develop innovative, digital data driven solutions to provide better access to flexible transport options.

The 2025-26 Scottish Budget includes £188.7 million for a range of active and sustainable travel measures to make it easier for people to walk, wheel or cycle on everyday journeys and access resilient and efficient bus services. Funding of £167,000 is being provided in 2024-25 to enable CTA Scotland to provide support for community transport groups that already exist, renew those that have lapsed and support the formation of others where there are currently none.

There are Scottish Government funds available which Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs) and Local Authorities can use to tailor their approach to sustainable travel provision in rural areas. These include the People and Place Programme and the Bus Infrastructure Fund. Through the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, we have given local authorities powers on partnership working, franchising and to run their own bus services. We want all local transport authorities to be able to improve all of the bus services within their areas.

To avoid accusations of bias or undue influence in planning and consenting decisions, Minsters cannot undertake any discussions with developers or objectors about the merits or otherwise of forthcoming, or live applications.

Ministers may of course undertake meetings with companies, as part of everyday Scottish Government business. However, these meetings do not contain conversations about specific planning applications and are properly recorded to ensure full transparency.

The Scottish Government will invest over a billion pounds (£1,148 million) in 2025-26 in the Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands (RALRI) budget to support Scottish farmers, crofters, land managers, islands and rural communities.

We continue to directly support Scottish farmers, crofters and land managers by providing over £660 million, including by maintaining our direct payments to the sector and in ensuring support for those farming and crofting in our upland and most challenging areas of Scotland through the £65.5 million Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS). The 2025-26 budget includes returning £20 million to support transformation and reform in Scotland’s farming and food production industry, as pledged to the sector.

Our Vision for Scottish Agriculture states that farming, crofting and land management will continue to play an important role in maintaining thriving rural and island communities and this is further reaffirmed in the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 objective of enabling rural communities to thrive.

We fully recognise that this is a challenging time for families. Importantly, no-one needs a formal diagnosis to apply for Child or Adult Disability Payment; decisions about eligibility are based on the individual’s level of needs, rather than a diagnosis.

Once a decision is made the award will commence from the date of application where the conditions of entitlement were met at this point.

We urge anyone applying on behalf of a terminally ill child to use our fast-tracked route so that they and their family can access the maximum level of financial support they are entitled to – quickly and with dignity.