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The Scottish Government greatly values the positive effects that twinning can offer to communities home and abroad and the opportunities it can provide to maintain close international relationships with partnering countries.

With the financial challenges we currently face, there are no current plans for the Scottish Government to provide financial support towards town twinning in the near future.

However, the Scottish Government and the international network will continue to work with partners at home and abroad to support and promote meaningful and valuable twinning arrangements.

Scottish Water faces many technical challenges providing drought resilience compared to England and Wales. Due to the geography of Scotland, and population spread, Scottish Water operates many more water resource zones and has less connectivity between zones as is the case in the rest of the UK.

Despite the challenges, Scottish Water currently plans to maintain supplies through the worst historic drought, using fixed assets and drought plan contingencies which are broadly the equivalent of a 1 in 150 year return period. Scottish Water is looking to develop processes to move toward assessing drought risk to a 1 in 500 worst plausible drought level, which is similar to companies in England and Wales.

Drought has historically been more prevalent in England, however, the climate emergency means that drought is becoming more common and more severe in Scotland, hence our developing processes. Our water, wastewater and drainage policy consultation ( https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/water-wastewater-and-drainage-policy-consultation/ ) seeks views on how Scotland should adapt.

The application for a mixed use development consisting of residential and commercial units at a site bounded by Candleriggs, Ingram Street and Albion Street in Glasgow, is currently with a Reporter at the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) of the Scottish Government.

The application was called in by Scottish Ministers on 27 February 2023 in view of the proposal raising issues of importance requiring scrutiny at a national level.

The reporter is currently in the process of finalising their report and recommendations to Ministers and is aiming to submit this by the end of February 2024. It will then be for Scottish Ministers to consider the reporters recommendations and all other submissions made on the application before making their decision. Scottish Ministers will aim to make a decision on this application as quickly as possible following receipt of the report.

The budget for 2024-25 includes all costs including any pay increases agreed during that financial year.

Firefighter pay is negotiated on a UK wide basis through the National Joint Council and SFRS support staff pay is negotiated between SFRS as the employer and its recognised trade unions. In common with all public sector employers, SFRS is expected to deliver pay deals which are both fair and affordable.

The Scottish Government has no current intention to propose a debate in the Parliament on Public Petition PE1859: Retain falconers' rights to practise upland falconry in Scotland. We are aware this is being considered by the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee who have been taking evidence, and are best placed to consider the issue. Should the Committee deem it appropriate they may submit a report to the Scottish Parliament with a recommendation for debate. Details of the Committee’s consideration so far can be found here: PE1859 Retain falconer's rights to practise upland falconry in Scotland | Scottish Parliament Website .

Overall, more trainee doctor posts have filled in 2023 than any other year on record. 8 posts were advertised in Palliative Medicine at ST4 level and 4 (or 50%) filled successfully. These figures are accurate as of 25 July and pertain only to the initial recruitment rounds of 2023; NHS England will publish full recruitment data for all UK nations in January (date TBC).

Palliative Medicine recently became what is known as a group 2 specialty (formerly group 1), meaning that trainees must complete 3 years of Internal Medicine Training (IMT) rather than 2. We are working with NES to determine what impact this is having on the attractiveness of the programme. We are also funding uplifts in IMT with 22 posts set to be created in 2024. IMT is a pre-requisite for Palliative Medicine (among several other specialties) and increasing front-end supply should therefore improve the sustainability of services in the longer term.

In addition to expanding numbers, the mandatory education programme in the first year of IMT now includes aspects of Palliative Medicine training which should increase the visibility of the specialty for trainees who are considering their future career options. Various careers events have also been showcasing opportunities in Palliative Medicine.

(a) For Local Authorities there were 140 separate lines in the funding formula being used in the consultation process for the 2024-25 revenue settlement. Twenty-six lines specifically use rurality-related indicators, though about 120 of the lines attract extra funding for island communities .

(b) Formula allocations to territorial NHS boards are informed by the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula. The NRAC formula captures the variation in both the relative need for health services across small area populations and the relative unit costs of delivering services across different geographies. The formula models 6 care programmes separately: Acute (with 7 discrete diagnostic groups), Care of the Elderly, Maternity, Mental Health and Learning Difficulties, Community and Prescribing. An adjustment to take account of the difference in relative unit costs across urban, rural and remote areas is applied to all of the care programmes except GP prescribing (because prescriptions are reimbursed at national prices).

The increase in operational budgets of overseas offices in 2024-25 predominantly reflects how running costs for Scotland House London are attributed from a budgeting perspective as well as a minor amendment to IFRS 16 adjustments, and does not reflect an increase in the costs of its activities. Aside from these, there are adjustments across all offices to reflect a smaller increase in staff costs for the pay award announced by the Scottish Government in June 2023.

Overall more trainee doctor posts have filled in 2023 than any other year on record, (data correct as at 25 July 2023).Within that overall context there will always be a number of posts which do not fill. Occupational Medicine ST3 is a small specialty with only 1 post advertised in 2023, therefore, as this post has not filled, the fill rate appears as 0%. We continue to work closely with our partners in NHS Education for Scotland and Health Boards, to consider ways of improving fill rates across all specialities.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-24197 on 19 January 2024. 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