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I have lead responsibility for the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.

Scottish Ministers accept that the documentation published to date falls short of the requirements of Section 94A of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. Scottish Ministers are committed to complying fully with these requirements and are engaging with Environmental Standards Scotland on this matter through the informal resolution process. To this end, the Scottish Ministers intend to publish an assessment of the extent to which investment in accordance with the Infrastructure Investment Plan is expected to contribute to the meeting of the emissions reduction targets in Part 1 of the 2009 Act. In the context of the informal resolution process, it is the Scottish Ministers’ intention to share with ESS the proposed assessment prior to publication. This will be done as soon as possible and before the end of the calendar year, with publication anticipated in early course thereafter.

We have always been clear that we want the work of the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry to be delivered at speed, addressing the range of questions that people have, so that we can learn and benefit from lessons as early as possible.

It is for the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry itself to comment on its work.

Section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005 gives an inquiry Chair alone, rather than Ministers, responsibility for deciding how an inquiry should operate. Operational matters such as the timetabling, procedure and conduct of hearings are for the Chair to decide, entirely independent of government.

It is for the Chair to determine how to strike the right balance between addressing the wide range of questions people have and making sure that the inquiry can be delivered at speed, so that we can learn and benefit from lessons as early as possible.

The Scottish Government remains committed, in its role as sponsor, to providing operational support as the Chair considers necessary and appropriate, in order to enable the Inquiry to carry out its independent work and help ensure the progress made so far is continued.

The Scottish Budget provides additional funding of £730 million for frontline NHS Boards in 2023-24 and continues to ensure that no Board is further than 0.6% from its target funding allocation.

In 2023-24, NHS Grampian will receive additional investment of £57.7 million, and this will take the Board’s overall funding in excess of £1.1 billion for the fourth consecutive year. Since 2015-16, NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £56.2 million specifically to support the Board's movement towards NRAC parity.

The Scottish Government recently convened a Multi-Agency Co-ordination Group in July 2023, in response to a cybersecurity incident at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). The group was comprised of officials from the Scottish Government, UWS, NCC Group, the National Cyber Security Centre, the Scottish Local Government Digital Office and the Scottish Cyber Co-ordination Centre.

The Group was subsequently stood down once the initial attack and response work had come to an end, with communication lines remaining open in case any further assistance is required.

The Review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation has now concluded. The recommendations formulated by the Review Steering Group have been submitted to Ministers for consideration. A Ministerial response to the recommendations will follow in due course.

As at October 2023, the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) have 145 specialist advisors from various NHS Scotland territorial and national boards, procured under a Service Level Agreement, working with Scottish Government officials.

As at October 2023, the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) have 8 specialist advisors procured under a Service Level Agreement from NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

The following working groups sit under the remit of the Education and Skills portfolio:

National Response to Improving Mathematics in Scotland Short Life Working Group

National Response to Improving Literacy in Scotland Short Life Working Group

NIF Statutory Guidance Working group

National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy External Strategic Working Group

Scottish Government Cross-policy Working Group on Transitions

Improvement and Regulation Working Group

Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group

Short Life Working Group on Data Sharing in Relation to Student Sexual Misconduct

Access Data Short-Life Working Group

Short Life Working Group on the Scope of the Accreditation and Regulation Function for the New Qualifications Body

Short Life Working Group on Economic and Social Opportunities for Gaelic

The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Ayrshire and Arran to increase capacity and reduce cancellations. A number of improvement actions to enable the prioritisation of resources to areas where the capacity gap has the greatest impact are already underway, including:

• A bottom-up review of operating capacity within surgical teams;
• Increase resilience of the planned care service through protection of planned care beds to ensure that operations are not cancelled as a result of bed capacity; and
• Introduction of new enhanced roles across the wider multi-disciplinary teams to increase capacity and improve sustainability, such as surgical care practitioners, anaesthesia associates and theatre assistant practitioners.

These actions will help NHS Ayrshire and Arran deliver its plans to increase capacity which include targeted recruitment, extended workforce roles and new models of service delivery.