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In our engagement with the UK Government on accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as with all developing trade agreements, the Scottish Government has consistently requested an assessment of the economic impacts on Scotland. We believe that before embarking on the negotiation of such agreements, the UK Government should be fully aware of their likely impacts across all parts of the UK.

As part of its Strategic Approach to accession to the CPTPP the UK Government produced a Scoping Assessment covering the UK-wide economic benefits expected as part of membership of the trade pact. This analysis suggested that CPTPP membership will result in a long-term increase of 0.08% in UK GDP.

While the UK Government’s Scoping Assessment does consider regional value added, and suggests an indicative change of £163 million in Scotland, or a 0.12% benefit in regional value added, this analysis is not disaggregated to local authority level. Nor is there any information on the expected impacts on employment or on expected changes to sectoral output at a Scotland-specific level. This limits our capacity to understand the potential impacts of this agreement in Scotland.

Data currently available does not allow the Scottish Government to undertake such an assessment itself, however in line with commitments in our Vision for Trade, we are working to gather evidence to better understand the impacts of trade across our society and economy. We recognise that trade has a net positive effect but that increased openness to trade can create “winners” and “losers”, including across particular local authorities and groups. In line with this commitment the Scottish Government has been building our evidence base on trade impacts and we are considering how to further improve the data available to us on this and the options we can take forward to address these differential impacts of trade.

Trade Ministers from the Scottish, Welsh and UK Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive meet quarterly as the Inter Ministerial Group for Trade. The last meeting of this group took place on 9 January 2023, and was attended by the then Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee MSP; Minister for Economy in the Welsh Government, Vaughan Gething MS; and the then UK Minister for Trade, Greg Hands MP. The UK Government provided an update on the CPTPP negotiations. Subsequent developments towards accession to CPTPP have been covered in official engagement and Ministerial correspondence.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with COSLA and representatives from local authorities regarding the expansion of free school meals.

The £25 million allocated to the Scottish National Investment Bank from the Just Transition Fund is part of the Fund’s existing £500 million commitment over ten years, and will be invested by the Bank on a commercial basis, in line with its Investment Strategy and in support of the just transition to net zero in the North East.

The Bank reports publicly on the performance of its investments including through their annual Impact Report.

Officials have met with the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) to discuss attracting more people to apply for environmental health courses and to work in local authorities.

The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health is due to meet with REHIS soon to discuss these themes.

The Scottish Government is aware that there has been and are challenges in delivering complex surgery (such as ovarian) across all regions. Regional action plans have been developed to address the specific issues in those areas.

The NHS continue to prioritise emergency, urgent and cancer care, and where there is an urgent suspicion of cancer, they make every effort to ensure a patient is seen as quickly as possible, with the majority receiving appointments within the appropriate time frame.

Significant pressures may result in longer waiting times and efforts are being made to reduce waiting times and support patients to be seen as quickly as possible.

There is one Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) accredited undergraduate course currently available in Scotland, provided by the University of West of Scotland. The University of West of Scotland are able to provide data over the past 9 years on the number of people who have graduated with this degree:

This information is not held centrally within the Scottish Government.

Any arrangements for NHS patients to be treated at an Independent Sector hospital would need to be made between the patient, NHS Board and their clinical team.

While a patient has the right, at any time, to exercise choice and seek private treatment, there can never be the expectation that the NHS will pay for it. The reimbursement of any costs incurred when a patient opts for private treatment, however, is a matter for consideration by the local Health Board.

We have not undertaken any assessments regarding the affordability of nappies in Scotland and food banks do not currently publish data on nappies and other baby products. However, we will continue to work with partners to ensure that our financial offerings are maximising the support available for young families.

This includes our work to increase the value of the Scottish Child Payment to £25 per child per week and expanding it to all eligible children under the age of 16 from November 2022.

Our five family payments, including the Scottish Child Payment, could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns 6 with Scottish support providing over £20,000 by the time an eligible child is 16 years old.

The Child Poverty Action Group estimates that low income families in Scotland will be around £28,000 better off by the time their child turns 18 as a result of more generous support and lower costs for childcare provided by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has not met with COSLA or individual local authorities to discuss reusable nappies. We promote and raise awareness of reusable nappies direct to families by including a voucher for one waterproof nappy wrap, with five stay dry nappy pads inside Scotland’s Baby Box.