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The Scottish Government is committed to delivering vital public services and supporting households, but to balance the budget with a focus on supporting public services, tackling child poverty, and transitioning to Net Zero, limited funding must be prioritised to deliver the best value for every taxpayer in Scotland. This requires some difficult decisions and robust spending control.

Discussions are continuing to finalise allocations, with funding being released as decisions are taken to ensure activities in agreed areas can proceed as soon as possible. To enable progress and support continuity of service, I can confirm the decision to release funding equivalent to the first quarter of the financial year allocation for No One Left Behind.

Grant Offer Letters for the first quarter were issued to Local Authorities as Lead Accountable Bodies for No One Left Behind on 2 May 2024.

The Scottish Government has made a significant investment in residential rehabilitation services and associated aftercare as part of the £250 million investment into our National Mission to improve and save lives impacted by substance use. As part of this investment, we allocated a £5 million uplift in funding to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) across Scotland, to be spent on residential rehabilitation until the end of this parliament.

The Scottish Government has been clear that this funding must be distributed fairly, taking account of the many factors that influence the needs of particular areas and the costs of supplying local services. The ADP uplift, therefore, was and continues to be administered using the National Resource Allocation Formula, which is responsibility of the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC).

The NRAC formula remains the fairest method of distributing funding allocations across the country, and this was applied to the allocation for both East and South Ayrshire, taking into consideration the local requirements as appropriate.

Public Health Scotland published their interim Evaluation of the Scottish Government Residential Rehabilitation programme in February, where the best available evidence put the average cost estimate of a publicly funded residential rehabilitation placement in Scotland at £11,000 per person (in the first six months of financial year 2023-2024).

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting and improving eating disorder services across Scotland and ensuring everyone receives the best possible care and support from our health services. It is essential that someone who is diagnosed with an eating disorder receives a thorough assessment and gets the right care and treatment for every aspect of their illness as soon as possible.

That is why in 2023-24, we directly allocated £55.5 million to Health Boards via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework. The Framework aims to enable continued improvements to mental health services, including eating disorder services, in line with the aims of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Mental health and wellbeing strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and associated specifications and standards.

Whilst this Government sets the strategic policy direction for mental health workforce development within NHS Boards, the direct recruitment of staff and operational decisions about individual services are the responsibility of each NHS Board. Workforce and service planning is conducted by Health Boards according to the needs of their populations.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested as this is a matter for local Health and Social Care Partnerships. The information is not held centrally.

We recognise the importance of good quality care for children and young people living with ME/CFS.

The Scottish Government, at this time, does not have plans to introduce legislation similar to the UK Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving animal welfare and will carefully consider DEFRA’s proposals for restricting advertising of animal activities abroad, once known.

Sadly the opportunity to jointly introduce this legislation was lost due to the last minute handling by the UK Government that saw Scottish Ministers given insufficient time to consider the proposals and their implications. The Scottish Government would have liked to have given their full support to these measures

Scottish Ministers will continue to engage with the UK Government and other devolved administrations where it is practical and feasible to do so.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

Individual Boards are responsible for developing and applying their own policies, including determining eligibility and reimbursement rates, whilst ensuring patient care and safety.

A requirement has been placed within the NHS Territorial Boards annual delivery guidance to bring attention to the requirement for the Boards to consider transport to health for patients and ensure patients have access to information.

The Scottish Government is aware of the current situation at GEWA. We are working with our fund managers, Inspiring Scotland, and other funders of GEWA to ensure support is available to survivors. Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, a key funder, is working on refuge contingency plans for those affected.

It would not be appropriate to comment on any speculation surrounding the finances of the organisation or on matters relating to potential legal or employment disputes.

The 2024-25 public sector pay will be determined in due course by the Scottish Government. It is anticipated that this process will also include consideration of the fee position for General Ophthalmic Services.

The Scottish Government has ongoing engagement with the Build to Rent sector including through recent Ministerial meetings and the Housing Investment Taskforce. We also continue to work with stakeholders across landlords, tenants and investors as we develop a rent control system that works for Scotland. To support this, we have also established a Private Rented Sector Stakeholder Group which includes representatives from across landlords, tenants, campaign groups and investors.