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£7.473m has been allocated to Aberdeen City Council, North Ayrshire Council and New Gorbals Housing Association. When including the pilot by North Lanarkshire Council, a total of four capital projects providing 754 homes are being supported by funding in the region of £13 million. We are also at an advanced stage of due diligence on several further applications from local authorities and registered social landlords across Scotland. These have the potential to bring up to a further 250 homes back into use. Approved project costs are published on our website at: Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund - gov.scot

Over the last 12 months Marine Scotland Directorate has recruited a significant number of new staff across Marine Scotland Licensing Operations Team, Marine Scotland Planning and Policy Division and the science function within Marine Scotland to address increased demands expected from processing ScotWind applications. Resources will be kept under review in light of the number of lease options awarded for ScotWind and applicants’ proposed timelines. In addition, the Marine Scotland Directorate has established a streamlining team to identify and implement efficiencies in consenting processes.

The Scottish Government works closely with local partners to monitor delivery of the affordable housing programme on the ground and to overcome delivery issues where they may arise.

We will continue to work with local authorities in ensuring there is an effective pipeline of potential projects, through their annual Strategic Housing Investment Plans, which look five years ahead. We will also consider options for off the shelf purchases where local authorities identify these as a priority.

The potential impact on affordable housing supply of developer contributions, including through Section 75 agreements, is also reviewed regularly.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14615 on 6 March 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/questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government welcomed Audit Scotland’s report, which provided useful lessons which we are already implementing through successor schemes to the NPD and hub models which the report considered. These schemes allowed us to deliver much needed new schools, new NHS facilities, new colleges and other key infrastructure that would otherwise not have been possible. They also provided a significant boost to the Scottish economy at a time of constrained private sector investment.

The eleven main recommendations in the Audit Scotland report are in included within the following tables along with accompanying Scottish Government comments.

The Scottish Government should:

There is no licensing scheme regulating the shooting of woodcock in Scotland. Resident and migratory woodcock can only be shot during the open season, which is between 1 September and 31 January, as set out in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Outwith these dates, woodcock cannot be taken or killed.

The following table details the precision medicines accepted by the Scottish Medicines Consortium where the companion diagnostic test is not yet offered by NHS Scotland laboratories, and the anticipated roll-out of the appropriate test.

Validation is required for every companion diagnostic test to ensure the accuracy of the test meets the indication required. A number of tests have completed validation and are currently awaiting implementation throughout the course of 2023. We continue to work with key partners, such as the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomics Medicine (SSNGM), to ensure there is capacity within laboratories for companion diagnostics tests.

*Olaparib (SMC2366) for the treatment of prostate cancer

**Olaparib (SMC2368) for the treatment of ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer requires two companion diagnostics tests in order for patients to access the treatment. One of the tests, BRCA, is available in NHS Scotland labs, however, the other, HRD, is not available due to its complexity. While testing isn’t available in NHS laboratories, it is available through an alternative provider ensuring patients can still access the medicine.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) classifies the overall condition of Scotland’s surface water environment (rivers, lochs, transitional waters, and coastal areas) at 64% in good or better condition. This is compared to England where its Environment Agency classifies only 16% of its surface water environment in good condition. For river and lochs, only, SEPA classifies that 84% are in good or better condition for water quality, 89% for flows and levels (hydrology), 89% for physical condition (morphology) and 88% for access for fish migration.

Avian influenza viruses remain predominantly a pathogen that affects birds with a small number of cases of mammals being infected worldwide. Evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission in the wild remains very limited and the available genomic surveillance data reported by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in the UK does not suggest widespread mammalian adaption of the virus.

The infection of mammals with influenza of avian origin remains uncommon, including in humans. Public Health Scotland (PHS), who lead on public health responses, have established processes in place should a human case of avian influenza be reported in Scotland, in line with any other notifiable disease.

The Scottish Government are working closely with PHS, and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on avian flu. Work undertaken by PHS to date includes; contributing to, and adopting interim guidance on the management of contacts of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 and participating in the UKHSA national incident management team, and a 4 Nations Operational Avian Influenza Subgroup.

PHS are also part of the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group. HAIRS is a multi-agency cross-government horizon scanning and risk assessment group, which acts as a forum to identify and discuss infections with potential for interspecies transfer (particularly zoonotic infections). PHS contribute to risk assessments on avian influenza led from there, including on the risk of avian influenza from mammals.

The Scottish Government recognises that an improved streamlined process for the implementation of new genetic tests linked to a Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) approved medicine is required. The SMC currently provides early information to National Services Division (NSD) on cancer medicines in clinical development that are expected to require a companion diagnostic through regular horizon scanning reports. To support financial and service planning, the SMC also provides Health Boards – in confidence - with information on medicines that may require a companion diagnostic through regular Forward Look reports, which include emerging new medicines, including Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs).

A key function of the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomics Medicine (SSNGM) is to horizon scan for new medicines to prevent delays for patients getting access to advanced therapies. To support this, the SSNGM has established Scottish Genomics Testing Assessment Groups (SGTAG) for cancer and rare disease. The SGTAG will work with the SMC and others to approve the availability of companion diagnostic tests in the genetic laboratories.