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We published the NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021, which sets out our plans for health and social care over the next 5 years. Backed by over £1 billion of funding, the plan will support an increase in inpatient, day case, and outpatient activity to address the backlogs of care, which will be supported by the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.

The first annual progress update was published on 4 October NHS Recovery Plan: annual progress update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This update detailed the progress being made against the actions to address the backlog in care and meet ongoing healthcare needs for people across Scotland.

The plan will be reviewed regularly and reported on annually to ensure its actions and outcomes are delivered. We will also remain open to new ideas and initiatives that can help accelerate recovery and shape sustainable ways of working.

The Scottish Government’s universal Baby Box programme, the only one in the UK, opened for registration on 15 June 2017. Nationwide delivery of Baby Boxes began on 15 August 2017 for all babies born and resident in Scotland.

We are unable to give the number of Baby Boxes delivered by local authority or other local area breakdown area as we only record numbers of Baby Boxes distributed by Health Board area.

The following table shows the number of Baby Boxes distributed by NHS Board area since the Scheme began up to 25 th August 2023.

All Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) have distinct methodology and approaches for the attraction of inward investment, impacting each IPA’s reporting and monitoring of country-level or sub-national inward investment performance and securing of inward investment global market share. Without a full and detailed knowledge of how other IPAs approach this, including the approach adopted by the IDA Ireland, it would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on comparative inward investment agency performance.

However, the Scottish Government does take an evidence-based approach to inward investment attraction and performance, which we keep under regular review. According to the most recent independent, industry recognised EY Annual Attractiveness Survey 2023, Scotland has been the most attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) location outside of London for the last eight years, providing clear evidence that our Team Scotland approach to attracting good quality inward investment is working.

For ease of reference I’ve included a link to EY’s independent Annual Attractiveness Survey 2023 if you would like to know more Scotland’s foreign investment grows with record results | EY UK

The breakdown for STEM bursaries awarded by local authority is available in the STEM Teacher bursary evaluation reports on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website: Search Results | Skills Development Scotland .

The previous STEM bursary scheme has been expanded this year to include Gaelic and renamed to the Teaching Bursary in Scotland bursary scheme. As of 31 August, 61 Teaching bursaries have been awarded.

Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23, is a statistical publication which presents the latest client and expenditure figures for Free Personal and Nursing Care (FPNC). The data collection does not include information which would allow us to identify why those 25% were not in receipt of FNPC payments.

In Scotland, FPNC is available to all adults, regardless of their age, and is provided based on an assessment of need by the Local Authority.

Although Care at Home may include personal and nursing care, it may also take the form of other support services which sit outwith Free Personal Care legislation.

As outlined in our response of 16 June 2023 to the COVID-19 Recovery Committee report on long COVID, I wrote to NHS National Services Scotland on 16 June 2023 to request implementation of a range of actions to support internal and external communication regarding activities being undertaken by the long COVID Strategic Network. NHS National Services Scotland has confirmed that these actions are in progress, and include the identification of an appropriate web solution to share priorities, key outputs, and meeting minutes.

The Scottish Government is represented on the Strategic Oversight Board of the long COVID Strategic Network. The Strategic Oversight Board provides oversight of the workplan and programme outcomes of the Strategic Network.

This information is not held centrally.

The Single Use Carrier Bags Charge (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (legislation.gov.uk) sets out the record-keeping requirements in respect of bags charged for. There is no requirement to report the data to a third party, only to produce the data, if required by the enforcement authority. The overall purpose of the charge is to reduce carrier bag usage rather than generate funds.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure that their schools are safe for pupils, staff and their users. Those local authorities affected have now published a list of any schools where RAAC has been identified, and it would be for those individual local authorities to decide if they publish the projected cost to remedy any issues within their school estate.

In addition, the First Minister has been clear, while we do not have contingencies within Scottish Government to spend on RAAC.

The UK Government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer recently committed to spend what was necessary, and we would expect to see new funding made available. Continual UK Government cuts to capital budgets make responses across the public sector more difficult.

This is an issue we have been alive to for some time. On 16 th August, the Deputy First Minister wrote to the UK Government’s Treasury seeking clarity on new capital funding to deal with RAAC. Then, on 3 rd September, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Education seeking clarity on funding. Thus far, neither letter has received a response.

Scottish Government grant making is allocated across portfolios to various parts of the third sector to improve a wide range of outcomes. Some Scottish Government funding will also be issued through independent grant makers or intermediary organisations. General guidance is available for grant makers across Scottish Government but each grant funding programme will have its own specific application criteria related to desired policy outcomes. This information is not centrally collated.

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in developing a joint programme to encourage more students, and not just school leavers, to consider careers in pharmacy, including ensuring the output reaches deprived and remote and rural communities.

In addition, both Schools of Pharmacy work towards the widening access targets set by the Commission on Widening Access for universities to drive forward the delivery of equal access in Scotland.

There are also wider initiatives such as The Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP). The partnership develops access programmes for adults returning to education, and targets adults who reside in the most disadvantaged areas of Scotland and particularly those who have no, few or out of date qualifications. This can help support people with few suitable qualifications to progress to degree level Pharmacy studies.

To promote pharmacy technician recruitment, a number of senior pharmacy technicians attend school careers fairs etc to raise awareness of the role. All vacancies for the Pharmacy Technician Technical Apprenticeship are advertised on the Apprenticeships.scot website.