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The Scottish Government’s target is to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities.

Our long term plans recognise that changing circumstances or unforeseen events may require us to adapt, and we intend to carry out a review at the mid-point of the 110,000 target period (2026-27), to assess if current plans should continue unchanged or be adapted.

To note that the homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes, as identified in Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) prepared annually by local authorities.

NHS Health Boards deliver the Pregnancy and Newborn screening programme locally. Scottish Government does not hold the information requested centrally.

The Scottish Government does not routinely collate data about electric vehicle charge points which are not part of the ChargePlace Scotland public charging network. Data about public charging devices on privately-managed networks can be obtained from third party data suppliers, such as Zap-Map, who publish monthly statistics on electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Orkney Islands Council is wholly responsible for their inter-island ferries, including vessel maintenance, and therefore they or Orkney Ferries Limited would be best placed to provide this information.

Since the introduction of the Forestry Grant Scheme in 2016, 7 woodland creation projects with a value of £1.9M have been agreed directly with Gresham House.

The member will be aware in March of this year the previous Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care approved the plan for integrated maternity services across the North of Scotland with consultant-led obstetric services at Dr Gray’s Hospital, supporting this with initial investment of up to £6.6m. NHS Grampian and NHS Highland are moving forward with implementation, including progressing local recruitment and marketing, and progressing the NHS Highland Business Case for Raigmore redevelopment. I mentioned in the Chamber on the 31 st May I was expecting to have the revised NHS Highland Business Case which I have now received. I will be considering this carefully and seeking views from the External Assurance panel led by Prof Linda de Caestecker. I have already received specific questions from the Keep MUM campaign group and my officials will be following up on these points.

As advertised on the Traffic Scotland website a single lane closure and 50mph speed restriction was in place in both directions on the dual carriageway section of the A9 between Kincraig and Dalraddy between 7:00am on 12 June and 12:00pm on 16 June 2023. The traffic restrictions were required to ensure the safety of road users and road workers whilst maintenance works, including repairs to surfacing, structures and roadside infrastructure as well as landscape maintenance, were undertaken by the Contractor responsible for the A9 Dualling: Kincraig to Dalraddy contract.

Due to the scope and timeframe of the question, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as this data is not available from a single source.

HM Treasury budgeting rules, with which the Scottish Government must comply, are very clear that it is not possible to use capital budgets to support current spending. All the capital budget will be used to support capital spending in the 2023-24 financial year.

On 13 June the Cabinet met with Fraser McKinlay – Chief Executive Officer of The Promise Scotland and Fiona Duncan – Chair of The Promise Scotland and Independent Strategic Advisor for the Promise.