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Funding of £18 billion is provided for health and social care in 2022-23.

As set out in the Emergency Budget Review (2 November), in common with the overall Scottish Budget, the Health and Social Care budget is facing unpreceded challenges as a result of inflation and the ongoing impacts of Covid and Brexit.

It has therefore been essential to review health and social care spending, with £400 million reprioritised and fully retained within the Portfolio, to ensure that it is directed where it is needed most, including supporting enhanced pay offers.

There have been no discussions between Scottish Government and NHS Highland regarding the sale of Lochbroom House, Ullapool. The statutory duty for care homes resides with the Local Authority.

There have been no discussions between Scottish Government and NHS Highland regarding the sale of Lochbroom House, Ullapool. The statutory duty for the delivery of care homes resides with the Local Authority.

The Scottish Government have made no assessment of the level of care to be provided by Lochbroom House. The statutory duty for the delivery and level of care homes resides with the Local Authority .

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the independent analysis report of responses to the consultation on police complaints, investigation and misconduct - legislation. The full report is available here: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805251668 . A summary report is also available here: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805251651

The consultation received 55 responses, 33 of which came from individuals and 22 on behalf of organisations. The responses will be published today where we have permission to do so at https://consult.gov.scot/safer-communities/police-legislative-reforms/ .

The Scottish Government is giving careful consideration to the range of views received. The findings from the consultation analysis, along with our continuing engagement with stakeholders will help inform how the changes that Dame Elish recommended can be implemented as preparations for introducing a Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill in this Parliamentary session continue.

The establishment of a National Care Service (NCS) is the most ambitious reform of public services since the creation of the National Health Service (NHS). It is necessary to deliver the consistency and quality of care and support across Scotland that people deserve, and reinforce our commitment to Scotland’s people to take long term action to change our society and make it a fairer place to live.

The Financial Memorandum set out the range of possible costs for the NCS. Estimates are being constantly monitored and reviewed as new information becomes available.

We recognise that there is an urgent need to make improvements to social care now, and we are not waiting for the NCS to start that process.

We are taking the action we can now to address challenges in social care. We have committed to increase spend in social care by 25% by the end of parliament, helping to lay the groundwork for the NCS.

Our 2022-23 budget confirmed more than £1.6bn for social care and integration to lay the groundwork for the NCS. Any spending decisions made on the NCS service will be backed by rigorous, evidence based decisions.

In April this year the minimum hourly rate for those providing direct adult social care increased to £10.50 an hour.

The Scottish Government transferred £200 million to Local Government to support investment in social care, including to deliver this uplift.

This represents an increase of 4.8% from the £10.02 pay rate that was introduced in December 2021. This is also an increase of 10.5% for these workers in the course of a year – with pay rising from at least £9.50 per hour in April 2021 to at least £10.50 per hour in April 2022.

Since 2007, the number of Psychiatric Consultants across all specialities in NHS Scotland has increased by 20.7% to 544.9 whole time equivalent posts. Despite this workforce expansion, we know that demand for psychiatric treatment continues to grow. That is why in 2021 we increased the number of Core Psychiatry places by 5 in response to increased demand for psychiatry. This year we are expanding training by a further ten places, and we will consider further increases in future years. In the 2023-24 training year, we will fund another 15 Core Psychiatry training places. Five of these will be created for the February 2023 start date and the other ten will be made available for trainees taking up post in August 2023. Further, the Scottish Government is working with NES and the Royal College of Psychiatry to encourage medical students to consider a long-term career as a psychiatrist. This work includes the ‘Choose Psychiatry’ campaign, undergraduate taster sessions and improved psychiatric placements at Foundation level.

The Scottish Government introduced Scottish Building Regulations in 2019 requiring the provision of Changing Places Toilets in larger new buildings to which the public have access. These provisions are detailed in the Building standards technical handbook 2020 . At the same time, we also amended our Planning System to include these amended building regulations and further detail can be found within the Planning Circular 1/2020: Changing Places Toilets Regulations.We are not planning any further legislative changes in this area at this stage. Our work to amend building standards in 2019 was robust and sought to strike a sensible balance between encouraging further CPT provision across Scotland whilst recognising the resource needed to build these facilities may be prohibitive for smaller buildings.

We have recently published our Changing Places Toilets: Planning Guide and an accompanying easy read . This guide, written in collaboration with PAMIS (Promoting A More Inclusive Society), details practical considerations when considering installing a Changing Places Toilet in both existing and new buildings. This helpful toolkit will improve Changing Places Toilet provision in the immediate term and ensure that new toilets built following our changes to legislation are appropriate and well considered

The Scottish Government will invest in Changing Places Toilets over this parliamentary term, in order to increase the number of these facilities across the country and to support mobile Changing Places Toilets to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

The Scottish Government is currently planning its budgets for 2023-24 and will publish its draft budget on 15 December. More detailed information about budget allocations will be available next year, once the Scottish Parliament has approved the draft budget.

The Scottish Government provides funding annually to Health Boards for smoking cessation and prevention services. The funding is provided as part of a wider Outcomes Framework allocation whereby budget is provided to Health Boards to cover a range of outcomes. It is then up to Health Boards to decide on the amount spent on each of those outcomes.

The following table sets out estimated funding for smoking cessation and prevention which is calculated on the basis of smoking rates and deprivation, however as above it is for Health Boards to determine final spend on this outcome.