The full breakdown by year since 2008-09 is as follows. Data prior to 2008 is not available as this was previously held by the network of local enterprise companies.

Scottish Enterprise receives an annual budget from the Scottish Government to support their work in helping deliver sustainable economic growth across Scotland. Scottish Enterprise also generates its own income through investments and property assets.

Scottish Enterprise’s budget for this financial year is £529m. This includes substantial in year allocations in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to provide additional support for companies through a variety of new funds, including the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund and the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund. Both of these were administered by Scottish Enterprise in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise.

Some of the products and services routinely provided by Scottish Enterprise have also been re-prioritised to provide targeted support to companies adversely affected by COVID-19.

The experience of administering the COVID-19 funding has given Scottish Enterprise valuable insight into how the agency might offer business funding in the future, with an increased focus on eligibility criteria that would allow funding to address a particular challenge or opportunity.

Scottish Enterprise is continuing to develop the range of products and services it offers to support businesses’ growth ambitions. The agency is currently reviewing all projects (other than those for which there is already a legal commitment) and will be working closely with partners and customers to ensure they are kept abreast of any changes.

Existing information held by Scottish Enterprise on R&D grants (including large R&D, SMART and small R&D awards) is provided in the following table:

The following table details the total cost of the Government Car Service since 2007.

Scottish Enterprise’s ‘pipeline’ includes companies at all stages in the large grant application process prior to a company formally accepting an offer. This includes those who have made an initial enquiry, those with projects under appraisal and those considering an offer.

Not all companies in the ‘pipeline’ will proceed to full application and, for a variety of reasons, not all will receive an offer. It is therefore not possible to accurately predict how many companies in the ‘pipeline’ will receive support funding from Scottish Enterprise.

In addition, grant funding is only one element of the support Scottish Enterprise provides to companies. The expertise and advice provided by Scottish Enterprise staff is often a key support mechanism for companies across Scotland.

Work on development of a protocol for NHS boards who wish to undertake pilot programmes for lung cancer screening was planned following the Scottish Screening Committee meeting in November 2019. However, this was paused due to the focus on Covid-19 and the remobilisation of the NHS. In particular, efforts of the Scottish Government, Health boards and the Scottish Screening Committee have focused on ensuring that the adult national screening programmes, which also had to be paused in March, can restart safely.

Progressing this work remains important, and it will be resumed as soon as it is possible to do so.

Wearing a face covering continues to be a legal requirement in certain environments open to members of the public. The enforcement of the Coronavirus Regulations is, of course, a matter for the Chief Constable and Police Scotland. Police Scotland have indicated that, to date, the vast majority of people are, as we would expect, complying with the regulations. It is, however, important to note that some people are exempt from wearing a face covering, and their reasons for this might not be immediately apparent.

In Police Scotland’s approach, enforcement has always been a last resort, where engagement, explanation and encouragement to comply have all failed. The Chief Constable made it clear at the outset that it is important that Police Scotland’s policing tone and style reflects the need for positive engagement and that common sense needs to be applied by everyone.

The Scottish Government will continue to keep the Coronavirus Regulations under review.

In March 2020, the Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) launched the Health and Social Care Covid-19 Accelerated Recruitment Portal. The Portal has allowed returning professionals, including retired GPs and others with relevant skills and experience, to come forward and support health and social care services.

Upon completion of NES pre-employment checks, portal registrants have been made available to Health Boards for deployment. At 31 August 2020, over 1,400 returning health professionals are available to Boards. NES have contacted candidates who have yet to be selected by Boards for deployment to affirm their continued interest. We remain prepared to utilise the Portal to mitigate future spikes in staffing demand.

An interim review exercise has been conducted involving the Scottish Government, NES and NHS workforce planning colleagues to gather lessons learned since the Portal’s implementation; and to inform its future direction.

Health Boards and Integration Authorities are currently developing pan-NHS planning, with support from the Scottish Government, for the safe and effective delivery of this year’s flu vaccination programme.

Over the week commencing 21 August there was a significant increase in demand for testing, some of it associated with the re-opening of schools.

This led to issues with the booking portal. We brought these to the attention of the UK Government and have worked with them and National Services Scotland to rectify this.

In addition we were made aware that the Edinburgh Regional Testing Centre had to be closed on 25 August due to high winds, although it re-opened the following day.

Demand for testing fluctuates for a range of reasons. With winter pressures on the testing system in mind, we have been taking forward plans to expand existing capacity by:

• Deploying additional mobile testing units
• Increasing the number of tests that can be carried out at regional testing centres
• Utilising additional NHS testing capacity, for example by activating additional drive-through facilities
• Establishing new walk-in centres across Scotland: initially 11 of these are planned

Alternatively, home test kits are available through the UK Expanded Testing Programme and can be booked via the UK online digital portal, and are an option where people seeking a test are unable to attend a fixed drive-through centre or mobile testing unit. As with all COVID-19 related measures, we will continue to keep access to testing under regular review.

The prescribing of generic medicines has been a long term initiative and was not the key decision behind the abolition of prescription charges. The prescribing of generic medicines can often cost considerably less than branded equivalents, and are clinically as effective. This is actively promoted within NHSScotland and accounts for 84% of all dispensed medicines in the community.

Prescription charges were abolished in April 2011 because Scottish Ministers believe that prescription charges are a tax on ill health, and are a barrier to good health for many people. This is particularly so for those with long-term conditions and those on low incomes who in the past have faced choices about which medicines they can afford to take.

The introduction of free prescriptions has been fully funded by the Scottish Government, at no cost to NHS budgets. Prescribing decisions are ultimately matters for each clinician taking into account the individual circumstances and treatment needs of each patient.