Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland continue to support NHS Highland and Highland HSCP to ensure consistent, safe and timely access to vaccination across the area under the new model. The detailed timetable is a matter for NHS Highland and Highland HSCP.

NatureScot staff continue to engage with officials from the Highland Council Steering Group that is dealing with the issues of seagull management.

NatureScot staff are due to attend a Steering Group meeting with Highland Council in December. This was originally proposed to take place in November but has been rescheduled due to the unavailability of some staff.

The SMC | Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraisal is undertaken independently of Scottish Ministers. Making decisions about whether or not to recommend that people should routinely have access to new medicines is a complex task, and the independent SMC bases its decisions on the best available evidence provided to it.

Where licensed medicines, such as elacestrant and capivasertib, are not routinely available on the NHS in Scotland, doctors can use the PACS Tier Two system to request access on a case-by-case basis. The cost of the medicine is not a decision-making criterion when considering PACS Tier Two applications.

There were many reasons why applications were not considered eligible for grant supporting. These were:

• One or more items applied for not fundable (multiple unrelated items applied for as a single entry/incomplete description/no supporting animals for item/no lengths, areas etc.)
• Application email provided was not valid
• Business declared their business didn't deliver any of the Scottish Governments Vision for Agriculture
• Failed the Active Farmer/Crofter BPS test
• No other Support Scheme Claims
• No Single Application Form Submitted
• Not Registered & Approved for Funding
• Didn't Comply With Whole Farm Plan requirements for BPS
• Payment Holds Applied To Business
• Agricultural Area Less than 3 hectares
• Previous Capital Grant Scheme Claim Refused
• Declared New Entrant but evidence showed not meeting FFIS definition
• Declared Young Farmer but evidence showed not meeting FFIS definition
• Declared Organic Land but evidence showed not meeting FFIS definition
• Declared they were a medium sized business to obtain higher grant than entitled to
• Declared they were a large business to obtain higher grant than entitled to
• Declared they were a small business but farmed area greater than 30 hectares
• Declared that more than 50% of their agricultural business was on a tenancy but wasn't
• Declared they were island based but weren’t
• Did not declare previous SACGS/CAGS Payment
• Recoverability Safeguard Not Passed (level of outstanding debt to SG)
• Applied for more than their maximum grant eligibility

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of school days lost due to industrial action since 1999.

The Scottish Government periodically collects information on the number of school closures for reasons including adverse weather and industrial action, however, this is not collated in the format requested.

(a) Data on the number of adult social care packages which have been initiated is not held centrally.

Numbers of new personal care clients were previously collected and published annually until 2022-23. Data was based on one quarter of data (January to March), each year and was available at local authority (LA) level, although not all LAs were able to provide the information:

Social care: eligibility criteria and waiting times Scotland 2022-2023 - gov.scot.

Due to difficulties faced by LAs in providing the data requested, including issues with consistency and comprehensiveness, this data collection has been paused while SG work with Public Health Scotland to explore ways to obtain more robust data.

(b) Data on adult social care packages which have been cancelled is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO) supports open competitive grant and fellowship schemes for applied health research in Scotland across a wide remit. This remit is inclusive of consideration of applications for funding for research on eye health. Applications submitted to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.

Funding awarded through these schemes in the years from 2019 - 2025 for research relating to eye health has included:

Competitive grant and fellowship schemes

NatureScot have been informed by the Deer Code in every section 7 (control agreement) intervention it has taken since the publication of the Code in 2011, as required under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996.

NatureScot has also had due regard to the Code in undertaking its actions under section 6A (deer management plans) since 2011 and considers it in much of their advisory work with Deer Management Groups, landowners and occupiers as it necessarily informs their approach.

The approach set out in the Code is also used as part of their deer authorisation functions regarding out of season and night shooting.

No, individual feedback is not available to businesses. However, businesses can email the FFIS team if they have concerns.