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The Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland’s Principles into Practice trial programme, which was conducted in ten participating Local Authority areas, concluded on 31 March 2023. The revised Principles into Practice Framework will shortly be made available on ARC’s dedicated website, along with Compass - an online tool developed in partnership with young people and parents and carers during the trial programme, to help them, and the professionals who support them, to navigate the transition to young adult life.

Over the next two years ARC Scotland will continue the work of the Scottish Transitions Forum, including supporting the wider implementation of Principles into Practice across Scotland, through funding from the Scottish Government’s Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector Fund.

The following table shows the remaining £50 million play park allocation for each local authority. This information can also be found on the Scottish Government website Renewing Scotland’s play parks - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We are jointly funding a £250,000 endometriosis research project with the charity Wellbeing of Women. The research project, which will primarily be run by researchers at The University of Edinburgh, will look at the drug dichloroacetate in the management of endometriosis-associated pain.

Additionally, in January 2023 our Chief Scientist Office announced funding for the ENDOCAN project, led by researchers at The University of Edinburgh. Through a large scale UK-wide trial, the research will investigate whether a cannabinoid can reduce endometriosis-associated pain. Funding of £299,509 has been committed to this 30 month project.

The Chief Scientist Office is also currently inviting applications for Applied Health Research Programmes . An applied health research programme is envisaged to comprise a coherent group of inter-related projects that together can have a high level of direct impact to address an important Scottish population health or NHS challenge within the lifetime of the programme or soon thereafter.

We recognise the challenges facing remote and rural NHS Boards in balancing paramount safety considerations with the delivery of care as close to home as practicable. Work is ongoing to ensure that services are developed in a flexible way, recognising local population needs and geographic challenges. We expect NHS Boards to engage constructively with local communities in this and understand that there is significant community engagement work already underway across remote and rural NHS Board areas.

Figures for median travel distance for obstetric and/ or gynaecology services are not collected centrally. The requested Information on how many obstetrics and gynaecology consultants have been recruited across all NHS Boards in each of the past 5 years can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence . NHS Boards are responsible for planning and delivering local services, including maternity services. This includes planning where those services should be located, based on local population need and any geographic challenges, and staff recruitment.

Housing to 2040, sets out our plans to continue delivering quality homes for private rent. Over the next decade, we will continue to support the provision of homes for private rent with a focus on maximising delivery of these homes at the affordable end of market rents, working with private sector investors and partners whose business models match our ambition to improve quality and affordability for tenants.

For the social rented sector, we are committed to delivering on our target of 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. We have delivered 118,124 affordable homes since 2007, over 83,000 (83,291) of which were for social rent, including 21,313 council homes. And we are pleased that housebuilding completions are at their highest annual rate since 2008, up 10% on last year, and that the number of affordable homes delivered is above the pre-pandemic year 2019.

Our ‘New Deal for Tenants’ draft strategy consultation set out that both private and social rented homes have a role to play in delivering affordable, quality housing which gives people choice and flexibility about where they live.

The New Deal for Tenants consultation set out the importance of attracting new investment to the private rented sector, acknowledging the important role of Mid-Market Rental properties and the Build to Rent sector. It was also acknowledged in the draft strategy consultation, that there is a clear need to improve the evidence base on the private rented sector in Scotland, in order to provide key evidence to support future policies. In the meantime, we continue to closely monitor available evidence and data in the private rented sector.

Finally, it is important to acknowledge the interconnections of second homes and Short Term Lets on the rental market. On 17 April, we launched a consultation on Second and Empty Homes – seeking views on giving powers to local authorities to increase the rate of council tax on second homes and empty homes. Nationally, we want to encourage more residential accommodation to be used as homes for living in and for these to be occupied for more of the time. Locally, councils should decide how to achieve the right balance in the use of housing to meet local needs and to support thriving communities.

Our Short Term Lets licensing scheme will allow local authorities and communities to take action to manage issues more effectively, without unduly curtailing the many benefits of short-term lets to hosts, visitors and the Scottish economy whilst ensuring short-term lets are safe and the people providing them are suitable. Powers to designate control areas will allow local authorities to manage high concentrations of short-term lets and help them ensure that homes are used to best effect in their areas. We consider the legislation is appropriate for the whole of Scotland, including island and rural communities, and offers considerable flexibility to local authorities on how it is implemented.

All 32 local authorities in Scotland are currently working on producing their first Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) and Delivery Plan, in line with their statutory duty to publish their first iteration by the end of 2023 and then update them every five years. LHEES will set out the long-term plan for decarbonising heat in buildings and improving energy efficiency across an entire local authority area. LHEES will be the principal mechanism for locally led heat planning and will support local planning, coordination and delivery of the heat transition across Scotland.

To support the development of LHEES the Scottish Government published guidance in October 2022 setting out what is required when developing a Strategy and Delivery Plan. In addition, a methodology, made up of practitioner guidance, models, tools and templates, provides a practical approach that local authorities can use to develop their LHEES. However, this methodology is not mandatory allowing local authorities flexibility to respond to local variations.

Multi-year funding for local authorities to resource the development of their LHEES has been agreed in partnership with COSLA and began in 2022/23. This funding could cover, for example, recruitment of an LHEES coordinator or the procurement of technical services from consultants.

The Scottish Government is continuing to support local authorities to improve their knowledge and skills to develop their LHEES and are working with Zero Waste Scotland to provide on-going capacity building support including workshops, online video tutorials and one to one support. To help identify where local authorities would benefit from further support and understand progress the Scottish Government is in regular contact with local authorities including through quarterly monitoring and in-person visits. The Scottish Government also facilitates regular forums focused on key issues local authorities face in developing their LHEES, for example engagement with utilities and data.

The Scottish Government is working to embed LHEES and area-based approaches across its heat decarbonisation programme. We are working with wider stakeholders to align current and future delivery and funding programmes with LHEES to support a strategic approach to the decarbonisation of heat reflecting local contexts and tailoring support to specific needs of communities.

The cost of identified maintenance and repair work at Inverclyde Royal Hospital and University Hospital Crosshouse is approximately £102 million and £31 million respectively.

The Scottish Government published its Heat in Buildings Strategy in October 2021, which commits us, subject to legal competence, to introduce new regulations to require all buildings to reach a good level of energy efficiency by 2033, and use zero emissions heating and cooling systems by 2045.

As set out in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will consult in detail on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill this year. This will include further detail on how we propose to introduce regulations by 2025 to set minimum standards for energy efficiency equivalent to EPC C across all private housing, with backstop dates of 2028 for private rented sector (PRS) homes and 2033 for owner occupied properties, where cost effective and technically feasible.

I am absolutely delighted that today, Japan based cable manufacturer Sumitomo has announced plans to establish a manufacturing plant in Scotland to supply the country’s growing renewable energy sector. This is a real statement of intent that demonstrates the strength of confidence that investors have in our vision for a net zero economy.

Sumitomo have a proven track record in renewables technology which will be invaluable to supporting Scotland’s rapidly expanding offshore wind sector and the Scottish Government, together with our partners, will continue to work closely with Sumitomo to foster this important partnership and unlock the opportunities the global renewables revolution presents.

The Scottish Government remains committed to exploring the implementation of HPV self-sampling, acknowledging the potential that it has to increase uptake levels and reduce barriers to cervical screening. As introducing a new screening test into the National Screening Programme is inherently complex, a working group has been convened to assess potential models and understand any required changes to the screening programme to support an initial roll-out. This work is being informed by emerging evidence from UK and global research, and will put us in a strong position to consider how any recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee (NSC) can be implemented in Scotland.

While the NSC recognises the potential benefits of self-sampling, it has concluded that there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend implementation. Studies are underway to gather further evidence, but it is not yet known when the NSC may make a positive recommendation. Additionally, it is unclear when the work to assess and validate a test for HPV self-sampling in the UK will be complete.