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The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, which Boards use to best meet the healthcare needs of their resident population.

Funding is not ring-fenced for neurology services. It is not therefore possible to provide this proportion of health board funding.

Information on the number of dental students expected to graduate is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Scottish Government makes a recommendation on intake targets each year for Scottish dental schools but we do not hold information on students’ progress towards graduation. However, dentistry generally has a high completion rate and NHS Education for Scotland forecast data predicts around 160 graduates will enter into dental vocational training in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) grants are currently available in certain areas within 12 NHS Boards, as follows:

• NHS Borders;
• NHS Dumfries and Galloway;
• Dalmellington and Patna within NHS Ayrshire and Arran;
• Auchtermuchty, Leslie, Newburgh and Tayport within NHS Fife;
• Stirlingshire within NHS Forth Valley;
• Banff, Fraserburgh, Huntly and Moray within NHS Grampian;
• Inverclyde within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde;
• NHS Highland;
• NHS Orkney;
• NHS Shetland;
• Arbroath, Dundee, Forfar, Monifieth and Kinross within NHS Tayside; and
• NHS Western Isles.

For the period 2007 to 2020 our records show the number of Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) Grants made by NHS Boards as follows:

Regulatory policy officials are in regular contact with the GDC and The Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care is scheduled to meet with the regulator's Chair and Chief Executive in early September.

Officials work closely with their counterparts in the Department for Health and Social Care and I myself have recently written to UK Government Ministers, with an offer to work together to explore how we can improve the take-up of overseas applicants across the four countries of the UK.

In terms of action taken this far in addressing the backlog of applicants, this Parliament agreed on Wednesday 25 January 2023 that the Dentists, Dental Care Professionals, Nurses, Nursing Associates and Midwives (International Registrations) Order 2022 be approved, with it subsequently coming into force on 8 March 2023.

This UK Statutory Instrument gives the General Dental Council (GDC) powers to amend international routes into registration without the approval of the Privy Council, subject to consulting on proposed changes. The GDC launched such a consultation on 4 July 2023 with proposals to enable registration processes to continue to be effective for internationally qualified dental professionals in the medium term, and plans to consult again in due course on longer term arrangements.

In its immediate response to the current demand for the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE), the GDC announced on 16 May 2023 that it has worked with its providers to triple the number of places available for Part 1 of the ORE from 200 to 600, and has committed to maintaining that additional capacity into 2024.

We will continue to work closely with the GDC, UK Government and other stakeholders, to assist wherever possible in smoothing the path of international dental graduates into UK practice.

The funding formula for the Local Government Settlements for local authorities in the Highlands and Islands recognises their need in relation to transport and includes allocations for this. It is, however, for individual local authorities to decide how to allocate the total financial resources available to them.

We do recognise the challenge for local authorities that have responsibility for ferries and have provided more than £136m over the last 5 years to support the running of these services. Orkney and Shetland Ferry Replacement Task Forces are in progress to look at processes for ferry replacement and potential solutions.

While vouchers issued through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) can be used to connect individual properties, the scheme was specifically designed to allow vouchers in a community to be combined to extend available funding. Indeed, there are a number of examples of communities across Scotland – including Ardnamurchan within your own region – pooling together vouchers to deliver superfast broadband connectivity to a number of properties.

We also remain actively engaged with all 32 Local Authorities to ensure they are fully aware of any developments around the R100 SBVS, as well as other elements of the wider R100 programme. We hold quarterly meetings with a network of Single Points of Contact, and we also maintain a data portal that all Local Authorities can access to identify and support voucher-eligible properties.

The Reaching 100% (R100) programme is ensuring that all homes and businesses can access superfast broadband. This is being delivered through three strands of activity – the £600 million R100 contracts (North, Central and South), our R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and commercial coverage.

As of 31 May 2023 the Reaching 100% contracts have delivered to 24,194 premises. Of those premises, 20,666 were in rural and remote areas.

As of 01 July 2023 the R100 SBVS has delivered to 3,288 premises. Of those vouchers, 2,807 vouchers in remote and rural areas.

Information regarding superfast broadband coverage in Scotland can be accessed on Ofcom’s website. Ofcom’s most recent figures, published in May 2023 , show that as of January 2023 the percentage of residential and commercial premises able to access superfast broadband (30 Megabits per second or above) in each local authority area in the Highlands and Islands region was as follows:

The R100 contracts do not have a targeted number of premises broken down at local authority level. However, as of 31 May 2023 the R100 North contract has delivered 6,897 connections which equates to 11.3% of the R100 North contract targeted figures. For the R100 Central contract 8,905 connections have been delivered which equates to 27.6% of the R100 Central contract targeted figures. For the R100 South contract, 8,392 connections have been delivered which equates to 38.3% of the R100 South contract targeted figures.

Additionally, as the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) is demand-led we do not have a targeted number of vouchers broken down at local authority level. However, as of 1 July 2023, a total of 3,288 connections have been delivered through utilisation of R100 SBVS vouchers.

While we do not have a targeted number of premises broken down at local authority level, and therefore cannot provide a percentage breakdown, we can provide details of the number of premises that have received a connection through the R100 contracts and the R100 SBVS at local authority level. Please see the following below for further information: