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We are currently continuing to develop detailed proposals for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). We will include financial provision for this of up to £1.5m in the 2024-2025 budget.

Following the establishment of the Anti-Racism Observatory we are committed to ensuring its continued funding. The budget allocation for each financial year will be subject to work with those leading the Anti-Racism Observatory as to what is required and will be subject to confirmation in each annual budget.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has three scheduled meetings per year with representatives from the Scottish Police Federation and met with them on 21 December 2022, 10 May 2023 and next scheduled for 21 September 2023. The Scottish Police Federation also meet regularly with senior Scottish Government officials.

Police pay is not discussed in these meetings as negotiations take place through the Police Negotiating Board for Scotland. I am delighted that an agreement has now been reached in police officer pay negotiations for 2023-24.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that workers whistleblowing rights are protected, as outlined in the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. Employment powers are a matter reserved to the UK Parliament, however, the Scottish Government encourages all employers to provide fair and inclusive work, including an effective voice, to all workers.

All public sector organisations should have their own whistleblowing policy and procedures in place which should be consistent with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, and with their own nominated officer and process for investigation. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to whistleblowing policy as policies will vary depending on the size and nature of the organisation. It is for each organisation to consider what training is required to support the effective implementation of their whistleblowing arrangements.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21068 on 14 September 2023. 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

In mitigating the impacts of the cost of living crisis, the Scottish Government has taken action to reduce costs, including through our Emergency Budget Review (EBR) in autumn 2022. This responded to the new pressures arising from the crisis, and set out unprecedented reductions in planned spending totalling £1.2 billion, to ensure the Scottish Government was able to manage the annual budget prudently in the face of rising inflation and economic uncertainty.

The significant savings taken in the EBR were applied across government, the full list of which can be found here - Emergency Budget Review published - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Through this reprioritisation in the EBR, we were able to provide further help to those most impacted by the cost of living crisis. The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why, both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3bn to support policies which tackle poverty and to protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis. This includes increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £25, emergency legislation to put in place a rent freeze, and a range of support for energy bills such as delivering energy efficiency and heating improvements.

The 2023-24 Budget built upon work in the EBR and involved taking difficult savings decisions to allocate around £700 million extra to fund enhanced pay deals.

The on-going cost of living crisis continues to present financial challenges to the Scottish Government. We are reviewing opportunities for more effective targeting of spend through the 2024-25 Budget, whilst prioritising programmes of work which have the greatest impact on the delivery of our core missions.

The Scottish Government have purchased the following laptops since 1st March 2020 for use on the SCOTS network.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21068 on‎ 14 September 2023. 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

Public Health Scotland Publish information on the number of GPs and patients nationally and by Health Board and this is available at:

General Practice - GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2012 - 2022 - General Practice - GP workforce and practice list sizes - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Table 2 sets out the number of GPs nationally and in each board area and Table 4 shows the registered number of patients nationally and in each Health Board, over the past 10 years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21068 on 14 September 2023. 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

Information on future releases of Official Statistics by the Scottish Government can be accessed at: Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This shows that publication of the next set of results for the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) has been pre-announced for November 2023. This is consistent with the recent answer to question S6W-18049 on 2 June 2023, which stated that the next SCJS results would be published in the autumn. We will publicise the exact date in November through both the aforementioned document as well as through the Scotstat network. 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 .