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The Scottish Government engages regularly with all three of these stakeholder groups, as well as with other bodies, to discuss a range of issues related to ensuring a just energy transition, including rates of employment and other workforce considerations.

The Scottish Government routinely meets with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) and other stakeholders to discuss a range of issues including skills and workforce. The last SOWEC meeting was held on 20 June 2024.

In relation to oil and gas industry, I met with Offshore Energies UK on 20 March 2024. The First Minister also met with representatives from a number of individual businesses in Aberdeen, including oil and gas companies, to discuss the energy transition on 17 May 2024.

In relation to trade unions, I met with representatives from the Scottish Trade Unions Congress (STUC), UNISON, Unite, RMT and GMB on 29 February 2024. Ministers have also subsequently met with trade unions on matters related to transition in Scotland’s onshore energy system. Scottish Government officials also meet monthly, most recently on 3 June 2024, with representatives of STUC to discuss issues relevant to ensuring a just transition. Previous engagement with trade unions has been fundamental to our policy thinking about a just transition to date, including through the creation of the Just Transition Commission. The Scottish Government has committed to providing annual funding of £100k to support just transition capacity within the trade union movement, which will ensure this vital input continues, as we get on with delivering good, green jobs and a truly just transition.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on the grants, contract and payments made by public bodies. Contracts let by public bodies are held on public record and can be found at Public Contracts Scotland ( www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/ )

Highlands Rewilding received a payment of £5,000 plus VAT on 24 February 2023 for their participation in the CivTech 8 cohort Exploration Stage after applying with a solution for CivTech Challenge 8.6. Highlands Rewilding did not progress further than the Exploration Stage and as such only received the Exploration payment of £5,000 plus VAT. This money was not grant funding and was for work carried out during the exploration stage to develop their proposal as per the contract.

Participants are selected for the Exploration Stage after an open procurement process followed by a thorough sift, selection and interview process. There is no specific financial due diligence required at this stage of the process due to the nature of the procurement.

More information on the CivTech process can be found here:

www.civtech.scot/process

More information on the CivTech Challenge 8.6 can be found here:

www.civtech.scot/civtech-8-challenge-6-simplifying-and-enabling-investment-in-scotlands-nature

Highlands Rewilding was offered a grant of £81,517 through the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) for a project entitled Beldorney Pond Creation for Biodiversity and Resilience to Climate Change. The Scottish Government does not hold information on payments made further to that offer, which would be administered by NatureScot.

Further details about the NRF, including eligibility and other criteria for applicants, can be found here: www.nature.scot/funding-and-projects/scottish-government-nature-restoration-fund-nrf

Highlands Rewilding was offered a grant of £97,350 through the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) in September 2023, administered by NatureScot, with match funding of £97,350 also provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project is titled Joint Ventures for Scalable Community Benefits from Rewilding. The Scottish Government does not hold information on payments made further to that offer.

Further details about FIRNS, including eligibility and information on successful applications, can be found here: https://www.nature.scot/funding-and-projects/firns-facility-investment-ready-nature-scotland

The NRF and FIRNS conform to the conditions for such schemes set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). The SPFM is issued by Scottish Ministers and provides guidance to the Scottish Government and relevant bodies on the proper handling and reporting of public funds. It covers the relevant statutory, parliamentary and administrative requirements and promotes good practice and high standards of propriety.

Further information on the SPFM can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-public-finance-manual/

The Scottish Government/Cancer Research UK funded Paediatric Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) in Glasgow has been involved in a number of initiatives aimed at maximising the number of opportunities for children and young people with cancer to participate in clinical trials.

The Glasgow Paediatric ECMC leads the Northern Paediatric ECMC Network that includes all Scottish Principle Treatment Centres (PTC’s), together with centres in the North of England and Northern Ireland. The Network holds weekly Regional Relapse Discussion Panel (RRDP) meetings which facilitate the identification across an extended geographical area of clinical trials suitable for individual patients.

This approach has been extended to clinical trials in the Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) patient cohort, with the Glasgow ECMC a participant in the UK ECMC TYA Network. This group is currently actively considering the development of a UK-wide national complex case TYA multi-disciplinary team (MDT) approach to enable availability of early phase trials across as wide a patient population base as possible.

There has been an expansion of 68 posts in Clinical Radiology specialty training since 2014. Clinical Radiology is a competitive specialty which has historically filled posts at 100%. The 2025 expansion process is currently underway and will conclude later this year. This will consider the need for expansion in all medical specialties, including clinical radiology and clinical oncology, with the overall aim of ensuring Scotland has a sufficient supply of trained doctors coming through the system to meet anticipated future demand.

Consultant radiologists have increased by 34.2%, from 304 headcount ten years ago (March 2014) to 408 headcount in March 2024 .

An Oncology Task and Finish Group was established in May 2024 to improve access to safe, quality oncology services by planning, on a population basis across Scotland, a safe and sustainable operating model for NHS Scotland Oncology Services.

NHS National Services Scotland as commissioner of hyperbaric services and NHS Grampian who provide and co-ordinate the Hyperbaric Medical Unit in Scotland completed a full risk assessment exercise. Within this they reviewed the impact of the service level agreement with the NHS hyperbaric facility in Oban coming to an end.

This assessment is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Grampian and information regarding it is not held centrally by Scottish Government.

The Chief Medical Officer met with the Royal College of Radiologists on 14 December 2023 and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer met with them on 16 May 2024. A representative of the Royal College of Radiologists is a member of the Oncology Task and Finish group that is developing a sustainable operating model for NHS Scotland oncology.

There are no meetings arranged with NHS England.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s December 2023 publication forecast that a total of 98,000 people in Scotland will receive payments for Carer’s Allowance/Carer’s Support Payment in the financial year 2024-25.

Statistics on the number of people receiving Carer’s Allowance in each local authority and constituency area in Scotland can be found on the DWP’s statxplore tool: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml .

Carer Support Payment is replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland and is only currently available for new applications in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Na h-Eileanan Siar. Carer Support Payment will be open to new applicants in South Lanarkshire from 24 June 2024. Everyone in Scotland already receiving Carer’s Allowance will automatically have their awards moved safely and securely to Carer Support Payment. We are writing to carers to let them know when their award has been selected for transfer and what to expect.

Carer Support Payment statistics are published on a quarterly basis. The latest published statistics are available at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics .The next publication of Official Statistics is due to be released on 13 August 2024.

Provision for bereavement support within maternity wards is outside of the scope of specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services, which support women with complex mental health presentations.

The Scottish Government committed through the Programme for Government 2023 – 24 to improve miscarriage care. Part of this work includes the provision of separate spaces in maternity wards in hospitals for those experiencing a pregnancy or baby loss.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing services and support structures which facilitate good Perinatal and Infant mental health across Scotland, investing over £36 million since 2019. This includes funding for the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) third sector fund which has supported a range projects, including Held In Our Hearts which provide counselling and mental health support to parents and families who are pregnant after having experienced baby loss.

The latest published statistics show that since Carer’s Allowance Supplement was first introduced in April 2018, payments have been made to 10,845 carers in South Lanarkshire local authority area who were eligible on at least one eligibility date from April 2018 to October 2023.

Carer’s Allowance Supplement is paid twice a year. For April 2023 and October 2023 eligibility dates, the payment value was £270.50. For the April 2024 eligibility date, the payment value increased to £288.60.

The latest statistics were published on 13 February 2024 and covered carers in receipt of Carer’s Allowance Supplement to the October 2023 eligibility date. This information is available at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/summary-statistics-for-carers-allowance-supplement-to-october-eligibility-date-2023 . The next publication of Official Statistics is due to be released on 13 August 2024 and will include information to the April 2024 eligibility date.

Development of the Partnership is progressing, with work on-going to identify membership from a wide range of organisations from across the Public, Private and Third Sector. As outlined in the Heat in Building’s Public Engagement Strategic Framework, we have made a commitment to set-up the Partnership during 2024 and will provide further details in the coming months.