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In December I announced plans to provide refreshed guidance to schools on the use of mobile phones, as part of the joint action plan to respond to the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research. The existing guidance was produced in 2013 and it is right that this is reviewed in light of the evidence provided by the Behaviour In Scotland's Schools Research 2023 and PISA. I have committed that the refreshed guidance will be developed in consultation with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools. The updated guidance will be published in Spring 2024.

Dentists operating in rural areas can also apply to the remote areas allowance. The allowance is calculated on their proportion of NHS earnings to total earnings and therefore can be awarded up to £9000 per year. Other allowances are available for dentists as available in the Statement of Dental Remuneration.

Gender equality is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s vision for a fairer Scotland, one where women and girls have and are empowered to exercise equal rights and opportunities, have equitable access to economic resources and decision making, and live their lives free from all forms of violence, abuse and harassment.

We are absolutely clear that harassment or abuse of any form, whether in professional sport, the workplace, schools, in the home or in society is completely reprehensible and must stop.

Sport, of course, has a very special place in our society, which is why it is important that professional sports clubs take any appropriate steps to ensure they and their players are positive role models for both children and adults across the country.

I met with the End Sexual Misconduct in Sport Campaign, and we strongly encourage all professional clubs to engage with the campaign to ensure they have appropriate policies, training, standards and reporting procedures in place to educate and root out sexual misconduct and discrimination.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council to maximise apprenticeship opportunities and ensure that employers wishing to take on an apprentice are supported and able to do so.

Scottish Apprenticeship Week (SAW) is an annual campaign coordinated by Skills Development Scotland, which took place 4-8 March 2024, providing the opportunity to highlight the benefits of apprenticeships to individuals, employers and learning providers. For employers who have not engaged with apprenticeships, SAW is a chance to discover how work-based learning can develop their workforce, improve performance and productivity and contribute to business growth.

The Developing the Young Workforce Employer-led Groups also facilitate engagement between employers and schools to highlight the importance of vocational pathways, including the range of apprenticeship opportunities available, and support young people to transition into work.

As part of the delivery of our Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy, we are taking forward a review of the Clean Air Act 1993 working closely with SEPA and Local Authorities to focus the review and develop initial findings. From January 2022 Ecodesign standards now apply for all new wood burning appliances. We are currently developing our public engagement framework for air quality, and as part of that we will consider the best approach for engaging with the public on domestic burning issues.

he importance of retaining individuals living with HIV in treatment and care is recognised in the UNAIDS/WHO targets and the Scottish HIV Transmission Elimination Proposal as one of the five pillars of interventions (entry into and retention in specialist HIV care). Specialist HIV services and HIV third sector organisations will work together to optimise the updating of information with regards to the movement or transfer of individuals to facilitate engagement with services.

This work will be supported by Public Health Scotland through the provision of NHS board level data on people diagnosed with HIV but not attending specialist treatment and care services for whom, through linkage of data to migration, death, hospitalisation, prescription and vaccination datasets, there is evidence that they remain resident in Scotland.

Firstly the Scottish Government’s sympathies are with the family and friends of those affected by these tragic accidents. The Scottish Government is clear that one life lost on our roads is one too many. However, as police investigations into these accidents are on-going it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this time.

The A84, the route on which one of these tragic accidents occurred, is part of the Scottish Trunk Road Network between Kildean Roundabout at Stirling and the A85 junction at Lochearnhead. Other public roads in the Stirling area are the responsibility of the local authority. Therefore it is for the relevant roads authority responsible for the route to consider appropriate measures which will safeguard road users and residents, and to determine the priority that should be given to any road safety measures.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reducing casualties on Scotland’s roads, this is why in 2023-24 £9.5m was dedicated to a Road Safety Improvement Fund which has supported local authorities to reduce casualties and risks on their roads through the implementation of Safe System measures. Stirling Council was allocated a total of £245,689.

Each year Transport Scotland, through its Operating Companies, undertakes a review of collisions on the trunk road network to identify cluster sites, or routes with recorded collisions that may be worthwhile of further investigation. The screening process, together with a detailed understanding of collision trends around the network, results in a prioritised programme of sites that will be investigated further. This evidence led approach ensures that resources can be targeted at locations where the greatest potential for casualty reduction is available. This approach has been successful in reducing casualties across Scotland’s trunk road network.

In regards to the A84 trunk road, Transport Scotland is implementing a 40mph speed limit reduction from Kildean to north of the Auction Mart roundabout and investigating active travel improvements in this area. In addition, an investigation into potential road safety and active travel improvements around Kincardine-in-Menteith Primary School is also underway. This is complemented by signing improvements at Kilmahog and consideration of both a new 20mph speed limit at Strathyre and an extension to the 20mph speed limit at Callander.

Transport Scotland will continue to monitor road safety on the A84 and progress investigations and improvements as appropriate.

The UK Government introduced the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme in July 2023.

The scheme provides a partial guarantee to a lender making a loan to a ship-buyer or operator, so that new vessels, or refits, retrofits or repairs of existing vessels can be procured from UK shipyards.

It can provide partial guarantees covering up to 80% of the risk to lenders for a maximum repayment period of up to 12 years.

The scheme is in its infancy, and it would be prudent to evaluate its impact in time before considering any potential alternative schemes in Scotland.

As outlined in the Scottish HIV Transmission Elimination Proposal, published on 1 December 2022, our aim is to achieve ‘zero people contracting HIV within Scotland by 2030’. To do so, one of the key interim targets is to achieve 100 or fewer first ever diagnoses per year by the end of 2025.

The most recently published HIV data for Scotland (to 31 December 2022), released by Public Health Scotland on 26 September 2023, indicate that, since 2017, the annual number of first ever diagnoses recorded in Scotland has more than halved, decreasing from 226 in 2017 to 108 in 2022. Of note, 55 of 108 (51%) first ever diagnoses recorded in 2022 were thought likely to have been acquired within Scotland.

In addition, the data indicate a small proportion (11%) of first ever HIV diagnoses were recently acquired (i.e. within the previous three to four months). This is the lowest number and proportion for over five years and is, in part, the result of the Scottish Government’s world-leading approach to making HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis available on the NHS in 2017.

As set out in my answer to question S6W-25994 on 18 March 2024, we remain committed to delivering the £10 million long COVID Support Fund in full. The 2024-25 budget published on 19 December 2023 outlines our plans to make £3 million from the long COVID Support Fund available over 2024-25.

We will process NHS Boards’ first tranche of their total 2024-25 allocations from the fund early in the financial year. The second tranche will be made later in the financial year following progress reporting.

We anticipate that the remainder of the funding will be allocated over the financial year 2025-26.