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I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-42391 on 9 December 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Publicly available influenza vaccine uptake data is published every Thursday, by Public Health Scotland (PHS), via . Publication of influenza uptake data by eligible cohort group began on Thursday 23 October. Publication of uptake for each of the 14 Health Boards began on Thursday 27 November.

NHS Highland, along with the other territorial Health Boards, have access to a range of management information data that is updated each Tuesday by PHS. This has been available to the Health Boards since Tuesday 23 September.

The Scottish Government welcomes the theme of Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week 2025, How it feels, and values the work of charities like Crohn’s and Colitis UK in highlighting the challenges of managing often invisible symptoms.

We are committed to a person-centred approach across all health and care services, including those supporting people with inflammatory bowel disease. Our policy focuses on understanding individual needs and enabling outcomes that matter to people, helping them live well on their terms. We are currently developing a new Long Term Conditions Framework, shaped by lived experience engagement.

The Scottish Government is committed to enabling individuals/workers at all stages of their careers to retrain and enhance their capabilities in artificial intelligence (AI) and information technology. This commitment is delivered through a comprehensive suite of interventions, including funding administered by Skills Development Scotland, strategic investment in colleges and universities, the expansion of digital apprenticeships, and targeted support for data and AI skills development through initiatives such as The Data Lab.

As set out in the Programme for Government 2025-26, the Scottish Government will establish AI Scotland — a national transformation programme underpinned by collaboration across businesses, academia, government, and public bodies. A central component of this programme is the development of a national AI adoption framework for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This will focus on building delivery capacity, assessing and addressing AI-related skills requirements, and strengthening Scotland’s AI talent pipeline to facilitate workforce reskilling and adaptation as AI technologies reshape employment and the wider economy.

Public Health Scotland is responsible for preparing influenza vaccination uptake statistics.

Adult influenza vaccine uptake data is publicly available via and is updated every Thursday. This includes uptake data for each of the 14 Health Boards, including NHS Highland, which has been publicly available since 27 November.

Child influenza uptake data is also available via for each cohort but is not broken down by Health Board.

Public Health Scotland is responsible for preparing influenza vaccination uptake statistics for NHS Highland, as well as all of the other territorial Health Boards.

As of 30 November 2025, uptake of the adult flu vaccine in NHS Highland is 45.2% (69,285 vaccinations administered).

For winter 2024-25, NHS Highland adult flu vaccination uptake was 53.4% and in winter 2023-24 it was 52.8%. The figures for 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 can all be found at: .

Uptake for child flu vaccinations by Health Board level is not published by Public Health Scotland via .

We recommend contacting NHS Highland’s Immunisation Team directly, as they may be able to provide you with additional data.

The Scottish Government does not envisage that there will be any discernible impact on patients resulting from changes to Part IX of the UK Drug Tariff. The Scottish Government uses the UK Drug Tariff to populate medical device listings and pricing, which are then organised into different parts of the Scottish Drug Tariff. There will be no change to availability of existing medical devices available to be prescribed to patients in NHS Scotland.

While we have not specifically assessed the psychosocial impact of living with fluctuating conditions such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring people with long-term conditions receive safe, effective, person-centred care, including appropriate psychosocial support. NHS Boards are expected to follow best practice in delivering this care.

We are currently developing a Long Term Conditions Framework to inform future approaches to prevention, diagnosis and care, including mental health and wellbeing support.

We are also considering the message of Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week 2025 and will reflect this in future planning.

The spend on the St Andrew’s Day campaign, in support of community cohesion at home in Scotland, and to promote Scotland as a country internationally as a place to live, work, visit, study and do business, was;

£60,586 for radio

£77,819 for digital and social media

No other paid-media channels were used.