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The Scottish Government is developing the approach for implementing the priorities set out in the Purpose and Principles for Post-School Education, Research and Skills, which addresses some of the recommendations by James Withers, including on national and regional skills planning.

As I stated in my opening remarks in the debate about Scotland’s skills system on 25 th October, I am keen to engage widely on the approach to implementing change as we narrow in on the potential routes to reform.

Local Authorities, colleges and employers, alongside other partners, have an important role in regional skills planning and I will engage with them in the coming weeks to gather their views and discuss this matter.

Information on how many hospital pharmacists have been employed in each NHS board area in each year since 2012, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot .

Data is not held from before 2012. The following figures include all pharmacists working in any territorial board, in Acute, Mental Health, or in a Community Hospital setting. It excludes ‘central staff’ since some of these were employed in primary care, but includes Golden Jubilee National Hospital and National Waiting Times Centre staff. Figures provided are head count.

We continue to monitor the impact and effectiveness of the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) and keep this under review.

The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) has been available since July 2021. We ask NHS Boards to report on the number of young inpatients (and therefore families) who benefit from the Fund.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16109 on 3 April 2023 in relation to families supported through YPFF in 2021-22.

Since YPFF was established in 2021 NHS Boards reported that 6887 families were supported through YPFF.

The Scottish Government does not hold estimates of how many people are not currently registered with a GP. Health Boards make arrangements for patients who are unable to find a practice which will register them.

Diagnostic laboratories are located within all 14 NHS territorial health boards and in one special health board - NHS Golden Jubilee. National Services Scotland also host the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) which carries out testing on all blood donations received.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the capacity of laboratory blood testing within individual NHS Boards. This information will be held at Board level and should be considered as part of local service planning, to ensure capacity sufficiently meets demands.

As advised in the previous answer, the information requested is not routinely gathered or held centrally by the Scottish Government. Any outstanding liabilities to settle equal pay claims will be reflected in a local authority's annual accounts. Information of this nature can be obtained by approaching individual local authorities or COSLA accordingly.

While the Scottish Government keeps legislation under review, we have no current plans to introduce a social responsibility levy.

There are no available estimates on the amount of funds that could be raised on the section 14 provision contained within The Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010, as this provision has not been enacted.

Scottish Ministers would be required to consult on the draft regulations relating to the social responsibility levy if this provision was to be enacted in the future.

The Scottish Government has been exploring the workforce demand for skilled stonemasons through engagement with the stonemasonry short life working group led by Historic Environment Scotland. The working group was set up to look at stonemasonry and traditional skills provision in Scotland with a view to identifying sustainable models of stonemasonry training for future delivery.

Additionally, Historic Environment Scotland ran a stonemasonry consultation in early 2023 to inform understanding of the size, shape and resilience of the stonemasonry sector in Scotland.

The stonemasonry working group have since provided their report of findings and recommendations to Ministers for their consideration.

The Minister for Higher and Further Education and Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development met recently to discuss the report and will also meet with HES and key stakeholders in due course to discuss the report’s findings and proposals for sustainable provision of a Stonemasonry apprenticeships and traditional skills in Scotland.

The Purpose and Principles for Post-School Education, Research and Skills, and the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape publications both make clear that the system needs to be reformed to deliver both for the learner and the needs of employers. This includes a commitment to national, regional and local skills planning to ensure that the education and skills system continues to be responsive to learner and employer needs.

There is no requirement to display the short term let licence at or on the premises. There is, however, a requirement to display a site notice at or near the premises for a period of 21 days from the submission of the application.

There is a right for members of the public to make representations or objections about applications, which may include referencing an applicant’s suitability as a fit and proper person to hold a short-term let licence. Therefore the site notice must contain the name and address of the applicant, the address of the short-term let premises and the names and addresses of the owners of the premises (if different from the applicant).