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The Scottish Government is doing everything within its power to ensure that the renewable energy opportunity for Scotland is realised.

In offshore wind, we continue to work to provide investors with policy certainty. We have consulted on proposals to update Scotland’s offshore wind ambition and will publish an updated Offshore Wind Policy Statement setting out an updated ambition for Scotland in 2026. We have committed significant investment to support offshore wind infrastructure and the supply chain in Scotland. To date, we have unlocked almost £900m of investment: our own investment of almost £150 million is crowding in a further £70m from UK public finance institutions and leveraging up to £670 million in private investment.

Where a decision by the UK Government is required to enable manufacturing proposals to move forward, we await the timely outcome of that process.

We do not collect national data on patients waiting on trolleys in A&E. Our focus is on addressing the underlying causes of this practice, such as high hospital occupancy and poor patient flow.

We want to drive improvements and are working closely with health boards to ensure they have the support in place to cope with peaks in demand. Through the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan, we are investing £220 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges.

As set out by me in the statement to Parliament on 13 November on winter preparedness and national planning, winter resilience planning is best undertaken by those delivering the services themselves. The Scottish Government supports this via the nationally agreed priorities and principles set out in the document “National Planning Priorities and Principles for Surge and Winter Preparedness in Health and Social Care” which was published on 13 November 2025.

My sympathies go to anyone bereaved after a loved one endured a long A&E wait. The Scottish Government recognises the link between prolonged waits and increased risk of harm. We monitor A&E performance through weekly data and operational reviews, analysing factors such as bed occupancy, delayed discharge, workforce pressures and seasonal demand. This informs actions to reduce delays and improve patient flow.

We acknowledge the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s modelling, which estimates excess deaths associated with long waits. While based on modelling rather than case reviews, it highlights the need to address underlying causes. Our analysis shows high bed occupancy and delayed discharge are key drivers, compounded by winter pressures. To tackle these, we have invested £220 million in 2025-26 to improve hospital flow, reduce waiting times and expand community care, including frailty services and Hospital at Home. I will meet RCEM later this month to discuss ongoing improvements.

I met with the UK Minister for Energy Consumers most recently on 3 December during which the Warm Homes Plan was discussed.

In its advice to the Scottish Government on Scotland’s Carbon Budgets, the Climate Change Committee noted that “Making electricity cheaper, through rebalancing prices to remove policy levies from electricity bills, is a key recommendation the Committee have made to the UK Government and will be essential to delivering Scotland’s targets, in tandem with action by the Scottish Government.”

It is therefore legitimate that the Scottish Parliament should be able to consider the Heat in Buildings Bill in the context of the Warm Homes Plan and any UK-wide action that may be taken to make electricity cheaper. We will therefore continue to press the UK Government to share more information on the timing and content of the Plan in order to bring forward legislation whilst ensuring the transition to clean heat is affordable and deliverable.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that parents and carers receive clear and consistent information about symptoms that may indicate type 1 diabetes in children.

Responsibility for providing advice and discussing symptoms lies with clinicians, who are expected to follow established clinical guidance and ensure families receive accurate information tailored to individual circumstances. We encourage parents and carers to urgently contact their GP if their child is displaying symptoms of diabetes, as they are best placed to provide specific advice and support.

To support this, we fund and promote a range of trusted resources:

• NHS Inform, Scotland’s national health information service, provides accurate and up-to-date information on identifying, treating and managing diabetes. The diabetes pages were reviewed by clinicians in 2025 and updated where appropriate.
• My Diabetes My Way, Scotland’s interactive self-management platform, offers NHS-accredited eLearning resources and personalised tools to help families understand diabetes care.
• DigiBete, a digital tool designed for children and young people which provides age-appropriate educational videos, milestone-based learning modules, and practical tools in multiple languages.

We also work closely with Diabetes Scotland and other third-sector partners to promote awareness and peer support, ensuring families have access to practical advice alongside clinical guidance.

Through the Scottish Diabetes Group and its subgroups, we continue to deliver the commitments set out in the Diabetes Improvement Plan, including improving knowledge and confidence in primary care teams to ensure consistent messaging across Scotland.

The Scottish Government Executive Committee, settled on implementing 40% in-person working over a working month, for staff in core directorates. This target was settled on following an internal review of evidence from a number of sources. The aim is to spend 40% of contracted hours working in-person with colleagues and/or stakeholders or other settings from 27 October 2025. The 40% target is averaged over a four-week period and is a target not a mandate.

We recognise the impact of technology in helping children and young people manage their type 1 diabetes. This is why we have invested over £50 million in diabetes technology since 2016, prioritising access for children and young people.

The funding we are providing ensures that every child or young person in Scotland with Type 1 diabetes who wants to use a hybrid closed loop system can access one. As of September 2025, 77% of under-18s with Type 1 diabetes have access, and every child or young person should have received at least a referral. This paediatric focus helps prevent complications early and get the most out of this life changing technology.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to publish a national audit of diagnostic pathways for paediatric diabetes.

Diagnosis of diabetes in children is a clinical responsibility and is carried out in line with national clinical guidance. Current NICE guidance recommends that any child displaying symptoms of type 1 diabetes is referred immediately to paediatric diabetes services for assessment and diagnosis.

Scotland has a system-level approach to quality improvement in diabetes care. Rather than relying on standing national audits, this approach is based on a single national clinical information system in the form of SCI-Diabetes, annual national reporting through the Scottish Diabetes Survey, and improvement led through Managed Clinical Networks with national oversight provided by the Scottish Diabetes Group. This model embeds data collection within routine clinical care and supports continuous improvement and local accountability.

Quality improvement activity, including review of diagnostic practice and local pathway effectiveness, is best led by NHS Boards and clinicians who are responsible for service delivery and can take account of local population need and service challenges.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the Scottish Diabetes Group and Managed Clinical Networks to support early diagnosis, consistent application of clinical guidance, and reduction of avoidable harm, through education, data-driven improvement and national oversight.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards and healthcare professionals to follow relevant clinical guidelines when assessing children and to refer them for testing where clinically necessary.

Decisions on testing are a matter for clinicians, guided by national clinical standards, and it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to mandate this. In May 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updated its diabetes guideline (NG18), which recommends that any child displaying symptoms such as excessive urination, thirst or tiredness should be referred immediately to paediatric diabetes services for diagnosis and care. This process includes appropriate testing to confirm diagnosis.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards and healthcare professionals to follow relevant clinical guidelines when assessing children and to refer them for testing where clinically necessary.

We encourage parents and carers to contact their GP urgently if their child is displaying symptoms.

We remain committed to improving early diagnosis and awareness among healthcare professionals and will continue to monitor emerging evidence to inform future policy decisions.