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Rent Service Scotland does not request nor hold official data on Landlords exiting the market.

Rent Service Scotland does not request official data from the Private Rented sector on Landlords leaving the sector.

Everyone needs a safe, warm place to call home, but I know that news of energy price rises will cause many people to worry about their fuel bills. My foremost concern is for households who are affected by these price rises, particularly those who are in or at risk of fuel poverty.

I also know that many energy consumers have seen their direct debit payments increase during this time, some to an excessive degree based on their usage. Unfortunately, regulation in the gas and electricity supply markets remains reserved to the UK Government meaning the Scottish Government’s potential actions are limited.

Within this context we have remained in contact with the UK Government and the energy regulator, Ofgem to raise the concerns of Scottish consumers in light of the large scale changes we are seeing in the energy market.

The Stroke Improvement Programme report 2022 containing the performance of Health Boards against the Stroke Improvement Plan priorities, including access to stroke therapy, is available at: https://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/index.html .

The benchmark criteria for access to stroke therapy are not solely a measure of the initiation of therapy assessment within three days, but also consider the degree of multidisciplinary team (MDT) involvement and the documenting of discussions. A rating below ‘complete and embedded in practice’ does not mean that a board is not performing stroke therapy assessment within three days.

Our Stroke Improvement Plan recognises that rehabilitation is key to improving people’s health and wellbeing. A refreshed Stroke Improvement Plan is in development and will reflect the key elements of a holistic model of stroke rehabilitation including assessment, interventions, evaluation and the rehabilitation infrastructure that supports the provision of coordinated care.

Since launching the Farm Advisory Service in 2016, which has seen over £20 million worth of support, we have ensured the service has worked in partnership with local agricultural agents and businesses through: regular stakeholder meetings, quarterly stakeholder updates, numerous sessions with agricultural agents and building in a robust feedback loop.

We have and will continue to offer a platform for the sector to feed into the service and have made a number of changes to the service from sector feedback in the past.

The Scottish Government continues to prioritise investment in health and social care and to work with health boards to address financial pressures across the system. Investment of over £73 billion over the Resource Spending Review period, and a further £1.3 billion capital investment to 2025-26, will support recovery and redesign of services and delivery of a financially, environmentally and socially sustainable health service.

The upcoming NHS Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy calls for Health Boards to focus on energy efficiency measures and the generation of on-site renewable electricity through solar panels and wind turbines. Short and medium term reductions in electricity use will provide reductions in cumulative emissions, i.e. the total emissions resulting from the NHS over the period, as well as limiting energy bills.

The Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy sets out that its Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation scheme will invest a minimum of £200 million between 2021-2026 in public sector energy efficiency and decarbonisation improvements. Health Boards have successfully applied for funding in the first round of that scheme and will be supported to apply to future rounds as well. Up to £50,000 of pre-capital funding is also available per organisation to carry out measures such as energy audits to inform the development of energy efficiency and transition programmes.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an evaluation of the performance of each NHS Board against Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme measures do not formally evidence the aims of Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Through the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme we reflect the aims of Article 26 of the Convention, particularly that rehabilitation begin at the earliest possible stage, and is based on the multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths.

Our Stroke Improvement Plan recognises that rehabilitation is key to improving people’s health and wellbeing. A refreshed Stroke Improvement Plan is in development and will reflect the key elements of a holistic model of stroke rehabilitation including assessment, interventions, evaluation and the rehabilitation infrastructure that supports the provision of coordinated care.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme (SSIP) report published on 28 June contains information on Stroke Improvement Plan (2014) priorities and actions; and can be found here: Scottish stroke improvement programme 2022 national report - Scottish stroke improvement programme - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

Work to develop the establishment of Scottish Cities of Refuge will start later in this Parliamentary term.

The development of Cities of Refuge will align with the approach of our New Scots refugee integration strategy, which sets out the vision of a welcoming Scotland, where people seeking protection are supported to rebuild their lives from the day they arrive.

From March 2020, a series of Temporary Special Leave Measures (specifically through https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2020)05.pdf and https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2020)30.pdf )were introduced to both support NHS Colleagues and assist in the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading across our NHS Sites.

In particular:

• Since March 2020, NHS Staff who have been absent due to COVID-19 have been paid in full as if they had been at work; and,

• Those absences have not counted towards normal sickness absence triggers for those staff.

As we are now at a different stage in dealing with COVID-19 it was confirmed (on 24 June), and in broad alignment with other UK Nations, that all Temporary Covid Policies (including Special Leave) will be removed ( https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2022)21.pdf) .

In particular, from 1 September 2022, NHS colleagues who are absent due to COVID-19 will revert to contractual sick leave entitlement.

I can confirm that on that date, no-one will see their Sick Pay stop with the vast majority receiving six months full pay followed by six months half pay.