Seòmar agus comataidhean

The £2m programme commitment was initially set out in the digital health and care delivery plan and aims to benefit more than 2,000 people by providing devices and building digital skills and confidence to access growing online services such as digital therapies.

As part of this, an initial £600,000 “Digital Pioneers” project funding call was issued in April 2023 . An announcement will be made on the Digital Pioneer projects who have been selected shortly.

While the UK-led Warm Home Prescription pilot was reportedly extended into Aberdeenshire in late 2022, the Scottish Government understands that an evaluation of this pilot is not available at the present time and the Scottish Government does not hold data on general practice prescriptions for the Warm Homes pilot. The Scottish Government would consider the merits of the approach upon receipt of any evaluation and would discuss with partners as appropriate at that time, dependent on the data and research findings provided.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19387 on 24 July 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answer.

In 2023-24, the average household charge in Scotland is £411 (estimated by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS)). This compares to the average charge of £448 in England and Wales as published by Discover Water.

The Scottish Government had made clear our commitment to supporting Gillian Mackay MSP on her Abortion Services Safe Access Zones (Scotland) Bill. The First Minister and I met Ms Mackay to reaffirm that commitment during the First Minister’s first week in office.

I meet regularly with Ms Mackay to discuss the Bill, and to offer support and input at each stage of the process, most recently the publication of the consultation analysis and final Bill proposal. This support will continue as the Bill is introduced to, and progresses through, Parliament.

A summary of available information on each project is provided in the following table, based on information provided by Zero Waste Scotland.

Circular Economy Business Support (CEBS) is provided by Zero Waste Scotland in order to build capacity, raise the profile of circular economy models and accelerate their adoption. Through CEBS Zero Waste Scotland provide technical support and advice to businesses, not funding, and businesses are under no obligation to report to Zero Waste Scotland. Up to date information on projects’ status is reliant on engagement from businesses, and recipients of previous support do occasionally cease contact. It is therefore not possible to provide a detailed status update for all of the referenced projects.

As this support is primarily provided to early stage or start-up businesses, any impact in terms of job creation and on the environment, including carbon reduction, is dependent on the scale and replication of the supported business model or circular innovation.

Under the Equality Act 2010, which is reserved to the UK Parliament, employers are required to make reasonable adjustments if health conditions are or are likely to be long lasting and have an impact on an employee’s daily life. This may apply in the case of thyroid disease, however this would depend on the circumstances surrounding each individual case.

The Scottish Government currently invests in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to sustain or return to work, including through the NHS delivered Working Health Services Scotland and the Public Health Scotland led Healthy Working Lives resource. They provide advice and support on work related physical and mental health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work practices and workplace safety for employers.

We also recognise that improving access to flexible working is an important means to help people balance work and health conditions, without dropping out of the workplace with the loss of income, experience and skills that this entails. To that end, we have provided a total of £222,000 in 2022-23 to flexible working experts, Flexibility Works to promote flexible working and support employers across Scotland to adopt flexible and family friendly workplaces. A further £86,000 has been committed so far this financial year.

The Workforce Action Plan and Delivery Plan which support the Scottish Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy will be published in Autumn 2023.

The information requested is not centrally held by the Scottish Government but may be available from individual NHS Boards.

Ministers and officials did meet with Circularity Scotland in April, May and June. A range of issues were discussed at these meetings including matters relating to operational aspects of the Deposit Return Scheme, milestones and planning, and the impacts of the 11 th hour decision by the UK Government to grant only a partial and temporary exclusion to the Internal Market Act. All Ministerial engagements are published on the Scottish Government website .