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Staffing levels are an operational matter for Scotrail, however the Scottish Government appreciates the importance of staff being visibly deployed appropriately in stations and across the network to enhance the passengers experience, including safety and control of antisocial behaviour.

Section 8.1 of the ‘COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19’ developed jointly by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) recommends to “provide access to multidisciplinary services, if available, [. . .] for assessing physical and mental health symptoms and carrying out further tests and investigations. Services should be led by a doctor with relevant skills and experience and appropriate specialist support, taking into account the variety of presenting symptoms.”

The rationale section of the guideline relating to this recommendation notes that “1 model would not fit all areas” and “in areas where multidisciplinary services are not available, services may be provided through integrated and coordinated primary care, community, rehabilitation and mental health services.”

Patient related experience and patient outcome measures will be recorded through NHS Boards’ use of the C-19 YRS digital screening tool. The provision of heath data through this tool will assist in understanding the provision and effectiveness of long COVID services. Where possible, the data will be disaggregated by age, gender, ethnicity, and deprivation quintile. This will support understanding of any inequitable variation in service provision, experience and outcomes which may need to be addressed through service changes.

The Strategic Network has contracted the University of Leeds to support the initial evaluation of long COVID services in Scotland, using data from the C19-YRS tool. The outputs of the evaluation are expected following the end of the financial year.

NHS Inform has a dedicated long COVID microsite for people with ongoing symptoms after Covid-19, accessible at Long-term effects of COVID-19 | NHS inform . The information was updated in November 2023 following a user research exercise conducted with people living with long COVID to understand their experiences of accessing the information and identify areas for further development of the content.

More broadly, current COVID-19 specific guidance is still in place for the public and wider guidance for individuals and non-clinical workplaces, promoting a risk-based approach to building resilience to respiratory infections, including COVID-19. Any change in guidance will be driven by the data and evidence gathered, as well as expert advice.

The Bank Refund Guarantee for the two new vessels for the Little Minch routes was signed on 3 February 2023. The name of the financial institution that provided the guarantee is commercially confidential.

Scotland’s farmland and farming sector have a critical role to play in Scotland’s food security, producing food for consumption in Scotland, and increasing our economic resilience through exports of food and drink worth £7.6 billion in 2023. Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) includes national planning policy which seeks to protect and restore valued soils.

Under the Public Sector Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 Government bodies are required to publish details of information relating to: public relations; overseas travel; hospitality and entertainment; external consultancy; details of all items of expenditure over £25,000; remuneration; sustainable growth; efficiency; and shared services.

Transport Scotland has also followed the Scottish Government extension of these requirements to publish annual details of Electronic Procurement card transactions. Details can be found on the Transport Scotland website.

Disclosures for the financial years 2022-23 and 2021-22 - Electronic Purchasing Cards | Transport Scotland

Legislation and regulations relating to electricity and gas networks are reserved to the UK Government, with the Electricity System Operator (ESO) responsible for the strategic approach to transmission investment, working with Transmission Owners across Great Britain. Regulation of the electricity and gas networks including approval of investment on infrastructure is carried out by the independent energy regulator Ofgem. Ofgem conducts analysis on the impact of standing charges on consumer bills across Great Britain and sets the framework for investment in the electricity and gas networks through the RIIO price controls. The Scottish Government has no role in networks regulation, apart from our statutory consenting process, however we work closely with the networks companies to promote consideration of Scottish Government policies and ambitions in their business plans and wider activities.

NHS National Services Scotland, National Services Division (NSD) and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHS GGC) are working to improve waiting times for access to the highly specialist Complex Mesh Surgical Service. The ongoing need for service recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic, across all areas of need in terms of women’s health, has resulted in waiting times which are disappointing, and the frustration felt by women facing significant waits is wholly understandable. For this we apologise.

However, patients are being seen, surgeries carried out, and efforts are being made to increase capacity.

The Service now also writes to patients once they are added to the outpatient waiting list, advising that their referral has been received and offering an estimated waiting time for their first appointment. This letter provides a QR code that links to the recently upgraded Complex Mesh Surgical Service Website where patients can access information about what patients can expect during their visit.

Waiting times from decision on treatment to surgery are now generally within the 12 week treatment time guarantee.

More generally, the Scottish Government is committed to eradicating long waits and we’ve already seen a significant reduction in the longest waits (over 2 years) since targets were announced. We are committed to providing further reductions through our £1bn NHS Recovery plan to increase health service capacity. We are also working closely with Health Boards to support implementation of alternative pathways and initiatives to support people being seen more quickly and increase capacity to ensure sustainability.

The Scottish Government remains committed to co-designing a National Care Service (NCS) which fits the needs of our unique communities and considers the needs of people who face additional barriers to engaging with us.

We’ve heard from thousands of people already and our focus remains on ensuring that those with lived experience and stakeholders will continue to be at the heart of developing the National Care Service. A new Expert Legislative Advisory Group will be established to supplement, rather than replace, the extensive engagement which is underway.

We are engaging with people with lived experience of accessing and delivering social care support through the Social Covenant Steering Group, which advises on how we can engage people in co-design in a more accessible and inclusive way.

We also continue to work closely with stakeholder groups, organisations with close ties to ‘seldom heard’ communities who have had less opportunity to engage in the co-design work to date, and with people through last year’s regional forums, the National Forum and opportunities offered by the Lived Experience Experts Panel.