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The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the Fracture Liaison Service audit and, have provided Public Health Scotland with funding to undertake a provisional organisational audit and scoping exercise.

Following completion of this scoping exercise the Scottish Government has advised the Royal Osteoporosis Society that the funding will be made available for a national fracture liaison service audit. The reporting timescale is expected to be finalised soon.

ChargePlace Scotland’s charging assets are owned by over 400 separate organisations across the public, private and third sectors and therefore are not all in public ownership. These organisations are responsible for procurement, maintenance and commercial decisions relating to their own charge point assets.

ChargePlace Scotland is a charge point management service paid for by the Scottish Government under a Framework Agreement to provide back-office, frontline call-handling and fault management functions on behalf of the charge point owners. The current contract to operate the back-office service runs until at least 2025.

On 20 June 2023 the Scottish Government’s vision for the future of Scotland’s electric vehicle charging network was published. This new vision places people and businesses first and outlines the accessible, affordable and reliable public network required for the future.

Our vision emphasises the need to attract greater private investment to deliver infrastructure at scale and pace across the whole of Scotland, as the public sector cannot deliver this alone. That’s why our Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund aims to draw in £60 million of public and private investment to double the size of the public charging network to 6,000 charge points by 2026, including areas of the network where private investment may be less viable, such as in our rural and island areas.

Through our Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund we are supporting Local Authorities to develop public electric vehicle charging strategies and expansion plans, encompassing their urban, rural and island areas.

Since 2011, the Scottish Government has invested over £65m to develop the ChargePlace Scotland network of publicly available charge points, which is now the fifth largest network in the UK with over 2500 charge points.

A total of 299 charge points were commissioned on to the ChargePlace Scotland network between June 2022 and May 2023.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance which sets out steps an employer should take to ensure the training their first aiders receive is adequate and appropriate.

The recommendations outlined in Volume 1 of the Manchester Arena Inquiry falls to the UK Government for consideration as this is a reserved matter. The UK Government have published a draft Bill – The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) (previously referred to as Martyn’s law) for pre-legislative scrutiny on 2 nd May, ahead of a full Bill being introduced to UK Parliament in the next UK parliamentary session.

Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government in the development and progression of this Bill, which aims to enhance public safety at Publicly Accessible Locations and Events across the UK, including Scotland.

The food and drink industry has been through significant turmoil in recent years, and Scottish Government support has been vital in ensuring the industry has been as resilient as possible during these times. As a key member of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership, the Scottish Government has been integral in the collective decision making and financial support for the previous Industry Strategy (Ambition 2030) and the subsequent Recovery Plan in place during Covid.

Today, we are delighted to announce year 1 funding of £5m, supplemented by £1m from Industry themselves, towards the new Food and Drink Industry led strategy – Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World – which sets out short-, medium- and long-term goals developed in collaboration with food and drink producers with a focus on stability amidst turbulence from global events including the war in Ukraine.

The Scottish Government is working with the energy sector to plan for a multi-skilled workforce, one that can benefit from opportunities across the energy system. Our oil and gas workers, and their vital skills, will be essential to the transition. Workers, and trade unions, will be at heart of everything we do.

Scotland’s green jobs revolution is underway and a recent report from the Universities of Strathclyde and Warwick provided an initial estimate that up to 100,000 roles are ‘new and emerging’ green jobs in Scotland. Although the researchers regard this as an upper estimate, it is encouraging to see a strong indication of green jobs in Scotland.

While we do not hold data on job flows from the oil and gas sector to the renewables sector at present, the Office for National Statistics undertakes an annual Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy survey. This provides estimates of renewable FTE employment statistics in Scotland.

As the table below shows, there were 28,300 full time equivalent jobs in Scotland in the low carbon and renewable energy sectors in 2021.

The total cost to the Scottish Government, in the 2023-24 financial year of the teachers’ pay deal agreed in March 2023 is £205 million.

The figure of £188 million quoted by officials at the Education, Children and Young People Committee meeting on 17 May 2023 represents the cost to the Education and Skills Portfolio of funding overall teachers’ pay costs in 2023-24. This figure also includes recurring costs relating to the 2021-22 teachers’ pay deal but does not include the proportion of costs relating to the teachers’ pay deal agreed in March 2023 that are being met directly through the local government finance settlement, as these costs do not sit within the Education and Skills Portfolio budget.

Yes, the Scottish Government has received complaints and concerns regarding private first aid companies operating at events. Where appropriate, officials have followed this up with relevant organisations.

Scottish Government officials are currently undertaking further work and engagement with stakeholders to scope the potential extent of issues raised by unregulated private first aid companies and consider the most appropriate and proportionate next steps.

Scottish Government has developed guidance on Protective Security at Publicly Accessible Locations. The aim and purpose of the document is to increase knowledge of what counter terrorism products are available, and it includes first aid provisions and the hyperlinks to access them. This guidance was issued to key stakeholders in June 2023.

The UK Government in partnership with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) developed a website “Protect UK”, which is available to members of the public and organisations. This website includes guidance on First Aid preparedness for organisations. This was in response to the Manchester Arena Inquiry recommendations to create a central library for guidance and advice that organisations and members of the public could access.

Scottish Government has promoted the use of the guidance and advice available through this platform to all relevant Scottish stakeholders.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also provides dedicated guidance on first aid and on events, which is available on the HSE web site.

The Scottish Government has an ambition of at least 5GW of hydrogen production capacity by 2030 and 25GW by 2025. The Hydrogen Policy Statement (2020) and the Hydrogen Action Plan (2022) set out how we will work collaboratively with the energy sector to drive progress over the course of this Parliament.

The Hydrogen Action Plan is supported by a programme of capital funding, designed to accelerate and maximise the production of renewable hydrogen in Scotland.

Funding to date includes:

• over £7m in grants offered via the Hydrogen Innovation Scheme to 32 projects that will drive innovation in renewable hydrogen production, storage, and distribution;
• over £6m awarded via the Just Transition Fund to HydroGlen, a green hydrogen farming pilot;
• and £15m awarded via the Energy Transition Fund to accelerate Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub.

The next tranche of the hydrogen investment programme, the Green Hydrogen Fund, will launch later this year. This fund will focus on supporting renewable hydrogen production from Scotland’s abundant renewable energy resources, seeking to give Scotland first-mover advantage.