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There will always be referrals to CAMHS that are not accepted as CAMHS only provide the right support for a small proportion of children and young people. Children who require neurodevelopmental support are not reported in these statistics unless they have co-morbid mental health issues, but may be included within total referral figures, leading to lower accepted referral rates in some Boards.

Public Health Scotland has started publishing data from the CAMHS and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND), including referrals to CAMHS by sex, age and SIMD as well as reasons for referral not being accepted.

However, CAPTND is still under development, and any inferences or conclusions drawn from this data should be treated with caution. Work is ongoing between NHS Boards, Public Health Scotland, and the Scottish Government to improve the consistency and completeness of the information.

The Scottish Government has not had any engagement with the Bank of England, regarding support to train and recruit more economics teachers in Scottish schools.

We are aware of the Bank of England’s new jointly funded initiative with the University of Manchester, which will see existing teachers offered training to deliver A Level economics alongside their core subject. We will note feedback as the pilot programme progresses and consider if there is applicable learning for the Scottish education sector.

There will always be referrals to CAMHS that are not accepted as CAMHS only provide the right support for a small proportion of children and young people. Children who require neurodevelopmental support are not reported in these statistics unless they have co-morbid mental health issues, but may be included within total referral figures, leading to lower accepted referral rates in some Boards.

The National CAMHS specification includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service, such as our community-based supports.

We have provided local authorities with over £65 million since 2020 to fund community-based mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children, young people and their families. This £15 million per annum funding will continue through the local government finance settlement from 2025-26.

We will continue to work with NHS Boards and partners to monitor the National Specification’s implementation, to improve services and support for children and young people and their families.

Data on full-time equivalent (FTE) secondary teachers by main subject taught and Local Authority is available in the Teacher Census Supplementary Statistics, here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government’s policy could not be clearer, our National Health Service must be maintained on its founding principles – publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need. As we have previously said, the provision of health services must always be based on the individual needs of a patient.

The 2025-26 Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for Health and Social Care, including almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and improve flow through hospitals.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-35337 on 11 March 2025 which covered the costs of the current charter agreement. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

MV Alfred has operated 2,720 sailings since 1 May 2023 (covering up to 30 April 2025).

The Scottish Government recognises the vital importance of tourism to Scotland’s economy. Whilst, several funds were created as part of our covid recovery plan in the previous parliamentary session, no specific funds have been created during this session.

The Scottish Government has continued to provide funding support to the sector through the enterprise agencies and VisitScotland, as well as support to Creative Scotland which also provides benefits to wider tourism through support for cultural events.

For example: In its first five years South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) has invested around £28m in supporting projects connected to Tourism and the Visitor Economy in the South of Scotland, supporting over 200 projects with enterprises and community groups.

In addition we have allocated £4 million in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget to the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) for projects which enhance transport links and infrastructure in areas that experience high visitor numbers. This will help communities to reap the rewards of their tourism offer, driving growth and sustaining vital jobs.

A further £2 million, will be provided to VisitScotland in 2025/26, to support activity to spread visitor numbers more equally across Scotland, including by promoting some of the country’s lesser-known beauty spots and attractions. It will also support activity to grow direct international connectivity.

Growth Deal Funding is also helping to support the tourism sector. For example the Destination Tweed project received £10 million from the Scottish Government to create a trail allowing options for both cycling and walking along the River Tweed. The 113 mile route will connect Berwick upon Tweed to Moffat and will showcase some of the South of Scotland’s most scenic areas.

Spend on digital connectivity infrastructure for the current parliamentary session and projected spend for the remainder of the session is set out in the table below by financial year. The Scottish Government has also secured UK Government funding for investment in digital infrastructure through the Project Gigabit programme which will further increase planned digital spend in 2025-26.