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The Scottish Government recognises that whilst public health awareness campaigns in relation to alcohol can be helpful to provide additional information to the public, evidence is clear that the most effective method of reducing alcohol consumption is tackling the affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol. This is in line with World Health Organization guidance.

The Scottish Government’s Alcohol Framework set out a commitment to engage in a national social marketing campaign to increase public awareness of the UK CMOs’ guidelines on alcohol consumption. The Count 14 materials and unit calculator continue to be hosted to support members of the public to increase awareness of how to calculate units of alcohol and materials continue to be accessible for health boards and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships locally.

An evaluation of the Count 14 campaign found that: “the campaign has made a positive impact on increasing awareness and understanding of the UK CMOs' low-risk drinking guidelines in Scotland.”

Scotland’s DRS was due to launch in March 2024 and we would have been enjoying the benefits of a DRS now if the previous UK Government had agreed a full Internal Market Act exclusion to our scheme.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with businesses regarding Scotland’s Circular Economy and the implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, including the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

In 2023, following a significant amount of engagement with businesses, including small-scale drinks producers, we amended DRS Regulations so that any product with fewer than 5,000 units on the market may be registered as a low volume product. As part of the development of the 3 nations scheme our officials shared the experience of developing the Scottish Scheme and due to this low volume products will be exempt from most of the requirements of the deposit return schemes across the UK.

Draft regulations recently notified to the WTO confirmed that glass will no longer be included in Scotland’s scheme. Because spirits are normally packaged in glass bottles, this means that the majority of distillers and small-scale spirits producers will be out of scope of DRS when it launches in October 2027.

The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 set out requirements for the marketing and labelling of whisky alongside the Food Labelling (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1989 and The Spirit Drinks Regulations 2008. This is enforced by the relevant food authority in the UK or port health authority. The protection Scotch Whisky has under the GI scheme and associated legislation is certified and enforced by HMRC. The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 also sets out additional regulations on the display and promotion of alcohol, which are enforced by the relevant local authority.

Furthermore, retained EU Regulation 110/2008, amended by the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 as well as Regulation 2019/787, amended by the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/1637) and the Agricultural Products, Food and Drink (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 continue to apply to the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of GIs for spirit drinks.

Ministers and officials have met 26 times with the SWA since 24 January 2024. Officials have a close and collaborative working relationship across the SWA and have regular informal engagement on areas of mutual interest.

The Scottish Government continues to support community pharmacies, including rural pharmacies, by delivering the largest ever increase to funding two years in a row. This has delivered a total of £422 million in guaranteed funding for community pharmacies across Scotland in this financial year.

In addition, there is a Guaranteed Minimum Target Income for essential small pharmacies, most of which are rural, and a pharmaceutical needs weighting payment which acknowledges both demographics and deprivation- associated with a patient’s postcode. Both of these measures help support rural pharmacies by ensuring they are not disadvantaged because of their location.

When community pharmacies close or transfer ownership this is a business decision taken by the community pharmacy owner. The Scottish Government has not undertaken an impact assessment on closures. Health Boards are the bodies responsible for ensuring that there is adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services within their area.

The following provides details of marketing activity that has run over the preceding five years, to address chronic diseases. Chronic disease is defined in the Scottish Health Survey as any physical illness or mental illness expected to last a year or more. Messaging has not been tailored to target rural communities specifically, however where possible media platforms and channels have been selected and partnerships have been utilised to reach rural communities.

Crohn’s and Colitis

A Crohn’s and Colitis public information campaign ran in March 2023 via stakeholder and community engagement. The campaign aimed to increase awareness of the symptoms of Crohn’s and Colitis, and signpost to trustworthy information to empower and enable the public to seek advice from a healthcare professional.

Community engagement included the distribution of posters to 1,256 community pharmacies, 908 general practices, 256 leisure/community centres and 32 library hubs (for onward distribution to community libraries) throughout Scotland. This included rural areas, the Highlands and Islands.

Campaign resources including a toolkit were sent to over 300 stakeholders, which included Local Authorities and NHS Health Boards.

Women’s Heart Health

To help improve awareness and signs of heart disease and communicate ways of lowering risk, a public information campaign was developed to coincide with national heart month in February 2023 and was activated through community and stakeholder engagement.

Resources highlighted a key stat:istic “heart disease is killing 10 women a day in Scotland” and signposted to NHS Inform for more information on symptoms and actions to take to lower risks.

The campaign was aimed specifically at women and was delivered via community engagement and included the distribution of posters to 1,256 community pharmacies, 908 general practices, 256 leisure/community centres and 32 library hubs (for onward distribution to community libraries) throughout Scotland, this included rural areas, the Highlands and Islands.

A campaign toolkit was also sent digitally to a comprehensive stakeholder list which included Local Authorities and NHS Health Boards.

Cancer

Between April 2020 to date, a number of campaigns have run to support earlier detection of cancer, including Lung cancer, Cervical screening and Detect Cancer Early campaigns. Local press and radio packages were purchased as part of a Scotland wide media plan, to reach rural communities. Press titles included the Ellon Times, Buchan Observer, Berwickshire Advertiser, Ayrshire Post, The Hawick Paper, Banffshire Herald, John 'Groat Journal and radio stations included Radio Borders, Moray Firth Radio, Northsound, Westsound and Tay Radio.

A new burst of the Detect Cancer Early campaign will run in March and includes community radio in a number of rural locations that network radio does not reach, including Argyll FM, Caithness FM, Radio Skye, Radio Wester Ross, Radio Nevis (Fort William) and Shetlands (SIBC). Also included is a content partnership with local publications such as Ellon Times, Buchan Observer, East Fife Mail, Berwickshire Advertiser and Ayrshire Post and Field activity in locations that are more accessible for those living more rurally such as Elgin, Fort William and Stranraer.

Dementia Stigma

The Rethink Dementia campaign launched on 4 September 2024 and ran for 6 weeks in paid-for media. A number of Local Press Titles were purchased as part of the campaign, including:

Community Scotland Zone Newspaper

South Annandale Series

South Ayr Advertiser

South Berwickshire News

South Border Telegraph

South Cumnock Chronicle and Muirkirk Advertiser

South Dumfries Courier

South Eskdale & Lidderdale Advertiser

South Galloway Gazette

South Lanark and Carluke Gazette

South Peeblesshire News

South Southern Reporter

South Stranraer & Wigtown Free Press

South The Hawick Paper

North Angus County Press

North Banffshire Advertiser

North Banffshire Herald

North Banffshire Journal

North The Buchie & Inverurie Herald/ Ellon Times/ Fraserburgh Herald

North Caithness Courier

North Campbeltown Courier & Argyllshire Advertiser

North Deeside & Donside Piper and Herald

North Forres Gazette

North Helensburgh Advertiser

North Highland News Group

North Huntly Express

North Inverness Courier (Fri & Tues)

North Isle of Bute News

North John O'Groat Journal

North Mearns Leader/ Kincardineshire Observer

North Northern Scot

North Northern Times

North Oban Times and West Highland Times

North Ross-shire Journal

North Shetland Times

North Stornoway Gazette

North Strathspey and Badenoch Herald

North The Orcadian - Orkney

North West Highland Free Press

The Rethink Dementia campaign also utilised pharmacies, libraries, GP practices, community centres and sports centres, providing these settings with campaign assets across Scotland including rural communities.

The Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care support policy in Scotland and has published clear social care standards setting out what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland. Whereas it is local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) who have the statutory responsibility to ensure that these standards are upheld and that social care support services are commissioned and available to provide people with the appropriate social care support in the right place and at the right time.

As set out in the Programme for Government 2023-24, the Scottish Government has committed £3,03m in 2023-26 to progressing the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, which launched in October 2023.

The Centre will focus initially on Primary Care and community services priorities in Phase 1 as an initial proof of concept, with scoping work being carried out during the first 2 years of the Centre to lay the ground for expansion to include the wider rural healthcare workforce and Social Care in due course.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with partners to support older people on a range of issues related to age equality. This includes delivering actions set out in the Strategic Action Framework, A Fairer Scotland for Older People. We also launched a new £3.8m Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund on 8 March 2023 which funds 53 projects supporting people at risk of social isolation and loneliness.

In relation to your question about initiatives to prevent social isolation in Aberdeenshire, I would refer you the written answer to your question S6W-33671 on 31 January 2025 where this response is covered.

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

This information is provided in Glasgow Prestwick Airport’s annual accounts.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport has published annual accounts for each year since the shareholding was acquired by Scottish Ministers. It is a statutory requirement that these are laid in Parliament.

Scottish Ministers do not hold a breakdown of revenue that details revenues derived from any category of customer at Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

The Scottish Government works closely with the legally categorised emergency responder organisations, including Local Authorities, who are responsible for assessing, planning, responding to and recovering from the consequences of civil contingencies emergencies, as considered in the national risk assessment documents produced by the UK and Scottish Governments, as well as the public facing Community Risk Registers produced by Scotland’s three Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs). These documents include specific risk assessments for both severe storms and wildfires.

Representatives of all responder agencies are required, by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, to meet regionally in Scotland’s 3 Regional Resilience Partnership (RRP) areas, in the North, West and East and below that, 12 Local Resilience Partnerships (LRPs) are in place. The Resilience Partnerships meet to ensure plans are in place to co-ordinate a response to any kind of emergency event, including for wildfires and severe storms, should they require a multi-agency response. Existing plans are regularly tested in joint exercises and during real emergencies.

The Scottish Government Civil Contingencies Division co-chairs the Voluntary Sector Resilience Partnership which brings Cat 1 Statutory responders together with relevant Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations to discuss issues around VCS involvement in emergencies, to help empower Scotland’s communities to become more resilient.

The Scottish Government supports this partnership activity in many ways including supporting multi-agency partnership meetings, and organising a range of exercising, learning and professional development opportunities.

Please find below information, broken down by financial year, the costs for social media managers within the Communications division for the last five financial years.