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Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Royal College of Pathologists, to discuss areas of mutual interest.

Marine invasive non-native species (INNS) are reported to the Scottish Government by statutory organisations such as NatureScot and SEPA and regional partnership groups, to inform international reporting obligations for INNS monitoring.

A total of £18.181 million has been allocated from the demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund for the current parliamentary term, this includes spend of £9.088 million. The following table provides a breakdown by local authority area.

We will use the September 2023 annual census levels, which will be published in the Official Statistics Summary School Statistics in December 2023 and March 2024, to confirm whether numbers have been maintained. It is important that all stakeholders have confidence in the statistics being used. Official Statistics on teacher numbers, delivered via the annual teacher census, have delivered robust data for many years and they will continue to be the definitive measure.

We have introduced an additional monitoring period in May 2023. At this point, local authorities will be asked to provide an aggregate count of their total teacher and pupil support staff numbers, together with any commentary and supporting evidence.

Transport Scotland commissioned Living Streets in 2021 to investigate issues of inclusion where bus stop bypasses are introduced, primarily to accommodate cycle facilities. The study has visited sites across the UK, photographing, measuring and recording behaviours of pedestrians and cyclists, and has analysed footage using fixed cameras. The study has also included a literature review, and consultation with a wide range of user groups including disabled people and others who are most affected. The study is due to report late summer 2023.

Funding for the teachers’ pay deal is made through the Teacher Training budget line within the Workforce and Infrastructure level 3. In 2022-23 £33 million additional funding was paid from this line. The remaining £83 million of funding for the deal was included within the final local government settlement. In 23-24 the Scottish Government is providing £205m towards the cost of the pay deal.

The Scottish Government has been engaging with stakeholders across the country from industry, academia and the public sector to develop a National Innovation Strategy for Scotland, which will set out a roadmap to transform Scotland's economy over the next decade by placing innovation at the heart of our economic growth and societal prosperity and wellbeing. The Scottish Government intends to publish its National Innovation Strategy this month.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data.

It is important that women are provided with consistent information and care when they seek help with menopause symptoms, be it through primary or specialist care.

Through the delivery of the Women’s Health Plan , we want to ensure that all women have timely access to menopause support and services when required, and more information about the progress we have made on delivering this action can be found in our Women’s Health Plan: A Report on Progress .

Through the Women’s Health Plan we are working to improve collection and use of data, including qualitative evidence of women’s lived experiences to inform service design and improve healthcare services and women’s care and experiences.

Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) Staffing levels in Occupational Therapy have increased by 19% or over 400, from 2161.4 at September 2007 to 2573 at December 2022. Overall, NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are up by around 28,900 WTE. This is a 22.7% increase, from 127,061.9 WTE at September 2006 to 155,926.9 WTE at December 2022).

In March 2022, the Scottish Government published the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social care, which sets out our long term vision for achieving a sustainable health and care workforce, alongside the action we are taking now to support the training, attraction and recruitment of staff, including allied health professionals. This includes a commitment to investing over £11 million in the current parliament, in international recruitment activity, and the provision of some £22 million in 2022-23 to local authorities, to support the employment of additional staff including occupational therapists.

As set out in the response to S6W-17663, the Scottish Government and delivery partners such as Circularity Scotland, SEPA and Zero Waste Scotland continue to regularly engage directly with businesses to ensure all involved are ready for successful launch of the Deposit Return Scheme.

Any decision by an individual business or a specific trade association to make public their priorities is a matter for them. It is not appropriate for Scottish Government to do so.

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