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The Scottish Government’s drive to boost productivity and innovation is set out in the third programme of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) . Our approach to expanding international opportunities is set out in NSET’s fifth programme “New Markets”, which is in turn driven by our Trade and Investment plans, Shaping Scotland's Economy: inward investment plan and A Trading Nation: a plan for growing Scotland's exports .

The inward investment plan, which was published in October 2020, takes a targeted approach to attract high quality inward investment into nine opportunity areas where Scotland’s strengths meet international demand, that fall within the overarching areas of Net Zero, Digital and High Value Manufacturing. The export plan refocuses the enterprise agencies’ export support activities to the markets with the international opportunities that best match our strengths, and to support the companies most able to service these opportunities.

Evidence suggests that foreign owned firms make a disproportionate impact to our economic performance and productivity. Just 3% of business in Scotland are foreign owned but account for over a third of jobs, almost half of GVA, just under two thirds of business research & development spending and three quarters of exports.

Progress to date on both the export growth and inward investment plans was set out in detail in A Trading Nation: progress review 2022 and Shaping Scotland's Economy - progress report 2022 .

Funding decisions relating to Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), which includes implementation of the legislative commitment on deferrals, will be taken through the usual Scottish Government Budget process for 2023-24.

The ELC Finance Working Group, a joint Scottish Government/COSLA group which includes representation from SOLACE, CIPFA Directors of Finance and ADES Resources, plays an important role in informing funding decisions relating to the 1140 programme and deferrals policy.

The Scottish Government conducted an Island Communities Impact Assessment into the Deposit Return Scheme which was published on 16 March 2020. You can access it here: Deposit return scheme for Scotland: islands communities impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Further to the answer to question S6W-11628, answered on 7 November 2022, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-11493 on 26 October 2022, and S6T-00915 on 25 October 2022. The administration process is still ongoing, but I would like to assure the member that the Scottish Government is continuing to engage with key partners in relation to this matter, including Creative Scotland.

The answer to Topical Question S6T-00915 can be found here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-25-10-2022?meeting=13939&iob=126317#16180

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-answers

Parents and carers are encouraged to talk to their ELC setting about their child’s needs, and ELC practitioners will be able to discuss options for children who may benefit from an additional year of funded ELC. Local authorities are responsible for school enrolments in their area and this includes supporting parents and carers who cannot access online resources.

The Scottish Government recognised the unprecedented nature of the changes required in the Emergency Budget Review and also published analysis of the equality and fairness impacts of the most substantive in-year adjustments. Given the exceptional circumstances and time constraints under which the Review was undertaken, the summary evidence was necessarily presented at a high level and focused on the most substantial changes.

In the case of the £116m reduction in Covid-related spending, this covers a range of actions on vaccinations, test and protect, PPE and additional capacity to drive down additional costs. It is important to note that the spending reduction is a consequence of reduced prevalence and hospitalisation rates resulted in evidence-based easing of infection prevention and control measures.

However, the impact on inequalities continues to be a focus, and includes measures to ensure uptake rates and activity aimed at reducing vaccine inequalities are not negatively affected.

We will continue to develop equality evidence, as well as mitigations wherever possible for negative impacts, including building on the evidence on inequalities in relation to COVID vaccination, testing and surveillance, for example as set out in the equality impact assessment for the Coronavirus (COVID-19): Strategic Framework update (February 2022).

The default position for new public bodies is that they will be subject to the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy (PSPP). However, the decision was taken that David MacBrayne Ltd (DML), the public body which owns CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL), be excluded from the Policy. This was to enable CFL to operate in a similar commercial environment and on a level basis with other operators in tendering for future ferry service contracts.

The “ Families Affected by Drug and Alcohol Use in Scotland : A framework for holistic whole family approaches and family inclusive practice ” published in December 2021, sets out principles of how we will improve holistic support for families affected by substance use.

We want to ensure we are providing the right kind of support to enable families to thrive. Investing Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, which aims to deliver transformational change to improve holistic whole family support, with £32m already allocated to local authorities this year.

Since 2021-22, we have provided Alcohol and Drug Partnerships with an additional £3.5 million per year until the end of the National Drugs Mission, to support their implementation of this framework, which includes allocating funding to local family support services.

Our National Drugs Mission, provides £3 million each year, administered by Corra, through the Children and Families element for family support each year to front-line and third-sector organisations. This fund is intended to help these organisations to sustain, stabilise or increase capacity, extend or improve services and/or meet identified gaps in service provision.

We are providing funding of nearly £9 million over the course of the National Mission to Phoenix Futures Family Service, which is a family rehabilitation service offering a unique programme of interventions to benefit each family member and the family unit as a whole. As well as this, more than £5.5 million has been committed over this parliamentary term to support the establishment of two houses at Aberlour, specifically designed to support women and their children through recovery.

We also fund Scottish Families Affected by Drugs (SFAD), £160,000 per year, for family support services. This includes a national bereavement support service andhelpline. We have also allocated a one-off payment of £2,820 to SFAD for information booklets to support families who have lost a loved one to a drug or alcohol related death.

Additionally, we allocate £30,000 per annum for our Family Recovery Initiative Fund (FRIF). This is administered through SFAD and offers one-off grants of up to £5,000 to groups that support families affected by alcohol and drugs in Scotland.

In 2021-22, we funded £550,000 for the Partnership Drugs Initiative (PDI), which is managed and match-funded by the Corra Foundation. The PDI provides funding to locally based projects and charities working with children and young people affected by substance issues, and produces insights for policy and practice .

There are a range of funding sources available to land managers to control invasive non-native species. These include the Agri-environment and Climate Scheme (AECS) and the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) under the Scottish Rural Development Programme. To date, more than £3.6m of FGS funding over the past eight years has been committed for rhododendron control projects.

There are also a number of projects that are tackling invasive plants and animals across Scotland, such as the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative and the Tweed Invasives project set up by the Tweed Forum.

In September 2021, at COP26, Scottish Ministers announced that the Nature Restoration Fund would provide £65 million for projects that benefit nature to be funded through this Parliamentary session. Habitat and species restoration which include the eradication of invasive non-native species are among the types of projects that can apply for grants funding, including for projects lasting up to three years.