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The delivery of domestic launch capability would close the last link in the end-to-end space value chain. This would allow the manufacture, launch and exploitation of small satellite data all to take place in Scotland and give the sector a unique offering to the global market.

This is something long recognised by the Scottish Government and is why we worked in collaboration with industry and academia to develop the jointly owned “A Strategy for Space in Scotland”. Published in 2021, this document sets out the ambitions for the sector regarding delivery of launch capability and facilitating wider growth of the Scottish space eco-system.

The Scottish Government support the Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) model which can help leverage local investment, encourage innovation, unlock opportunities, and deliver sustainable change and improvement for local places.

We fund Scotland’s Improvement Districts (SIDs) as the National Centre for Improvement Districts in Scotland to provide advice and governance support for BIDs in Scotland. We also provide seedcorn grant funding to support the initial development of new BIDs, subject to budget availability.

There is a requirement for Health Boards to maintain accurate and up to date information on PACS Tier Two requests. The Scottish Government does not hold validated data on the number of PACS applications that Health Boards have received from clinicians. This information would need to be requested from Health Boards directly.

Health Boards are required to capture and share data as retrospective “in confidence” summary reports with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The data received by Scottish Government is retained for internal management purposes only and is not formally validated.

Notably, the majority of collated PACS Tier Two requests are for fewer than five medicines; and data for numbers fewer than five are deemed to be patient identifiable and cannot be published.

Since the November 2023 publication of the Scottish Government’s position paper, Taking a Feminist Approach to International Relations, officials have taken forward a range of activities as part of our commitment to mainstream a feminist approach across key policy areas, including international development, climate justice, trade, and peace & security.

This includes working to embed gender equality throughout our international development work as well as developing specific gender equality programmes. In seeking to equalise power in our international development activities, we work directly with organisations in our partner countries of Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia and have established a Global South Advisory Panel. On trade, the Scottish Government is committed to addressing the gender export gap in Scotland, confirmed by the findings in the recent Gender Export Gap research report. We will be working with our delivery agencies and stakeholders in implementing the report’s recommendations, providing tailored advice, assistance, and international market access opportunities to help women-led businesses succeed on the global stage.

Through its International Development Fund, the Scottish Government has over the last year, following work with our partner countries, launched new programmes with a heavier focus on investment in health, education, equalities, and renewables, underpinned by and guided by our core Principles. We also launched two new major Climate Justice Fund programmes in 2023.

The Scottish Government separately provides funding to support Human Rights Defenders. The Scottish Government established the Scottish Human Rights Defender Fellowship in 2018 as a temporary relocation programme to support international human rights defenders at risk as a direct result of their work. The Fellowship – and Scotland – has welcomed 19 human rights defenders from 16 different countries, two of whom have been from our partner countries Malawi and Zambia.

Scottish Government ministers regularly discuss human rights issues with international partners, including individual cases. We do not keep statistics on how often these issues are raised.

We have received a reply from the Secretary of State for Scotland. This reply gives in-principle agreement to the proposed section 104 Order.

Scotland Office has asked for further information on what the Order could cover. The Scottish Government will write to Scotland Office accordingly and will also work with them to agree a timetable.

It may still take some time for the work on the Order to be completed. Scottish Government officials will keep people who have expressed an interest updated on developments.

The SPCB is open to discussions with organisations that may provide a practical improvement to the processes we already have in place.  Already, we have embarked on several ways to reduce single use products including disposable cups usage across the Scottish Parliament.  The cup levy has been in place since 2019 which has significantly reduced the use of disposables.  We actively monitor the usage of disposable cups with our service partner and are working to reduce this further through positive consumer behaviour.  We are in the process of installing a customer operated appliance that rinses and dries reusable cups efficiently and hygienically. This will support customers further with using reusables on a return basis assisting us with the goal of disposable reduction. We have also ordered a stock of reuseable cups to be available when personal cups are forgotten or not available.

Comparing the figures published in Local Government Finance Circular 2/2013 with those in Local Government Finance Circular 1/2025, the total Local Government finance settlement has increased by over £5 billion or 49.7% since 2013-14, that’s a real terms increase of 8.4%.

Delivering high quality endoscopy is a priority of the NHS Scotland clinical and service teams.

The Scottish Government commissioned the National Endoscopy Programme Team, with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), and Scottish Government officials routinely monitor Health Board performance against the eight key diagnostic tests, including upper endoscopy, lower endoscopy, colonoscopy, cystoscopy, which are used for the diagnosis and surveillance of gastrointestinal problems such as ulcerative colitis and intestinal polyps.

The National Endoscopy Programme Team also supports on-site visits to all Boards to identify local issues, offer Boards support to develop Demand, Capacity, Activity and Queue (DCAQ) information/capacity planning, and promote alternatives to traditional endoscopy such as CytoSCOT, where clinically appropriate.

In addition, CfSD’s Gastroenterology Specialty Delivery Group (SDG) is working to develop national pathway recommendations for gastroenterology diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Disease. These pathways will reduce unwarranted variation by standardising service provision and pathways on a best-of-class and once-for-Scotland basis wherever possible.

Performance data relating to the number of waits for one of eight key diagnostic tests is published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) on a quarterly basis. The latest publication provides data up to 31 December 2024 and is available here: Diagnostic waiting times - Waits for key diagnostic tests 25 February 2025 - NHS waiting times - diagnostics - Publications - Public Health Scotland