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The Scottish Government provides a significant amount of financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises in Scotland, notably through our enterprise agencies.

The following table provides information on funding predominantly aimed at businesses with fewer than 250 employees, which was approved by Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise in each financial year between 2017 and 2021.

Funding approved by the enterprise agencies aimed at businesses with fewer than 250 employees (£m)

Note: Approvals by South of Scotland Enterprise are included only for 2020-21, the agency’s first year of operation. 

The Scottish Government follows the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Guidance in the planning of vaccine delivery. This evidence-based guidance advises that the single greatest risk of mortality from COVID-19 is increasing age and that COVID-19 risk increases exponentially with age.

JCVI priority group 4 of the vaccines programme incorporates those considered Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) on the GP system and therefore at higher risk of severe illness with COVID-19.

First doses and second doses of vaccine are offered in accordance with the same clinical prioritisation guidelines outlined under the JCVI priority groups.

The Scottish Government’s office of the Chief Medical Officer is working closely with the UK Department of Health and Social Care and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to prioritise potential treatments for COVID-19. Further results of well-designed randomised controlled clinical trials exploring treatment efficacy of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 are awaited.

The MHRA, together with an independent advisory group, continues to review the emerging body of evidence regarding potential medicines for treatment or prevention of COVID-19, including Ivermectin.

The MHRA advises that, at this time, no application has been received for a licence for ivermectin in the treatment of COVID-19, in the UK. However, should an application for a licence be made, then the MHRA has processes in place to expedite such an application, as required.

Scottish Government annual statistics on the number of long term empty properties and unoccupied exemptions are published at

Housing statistics quarterly update: December 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ,

with detailed local authority level Excel tables with figures from 1996 to 2020 available at Housing statistics: Empty properties and second homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

These figures are sourced from the Council Tax Base data return, and relate to properties on the Council Tax Valuation List as at the first Monday in September each year.

Since 2007, the number of long term empty properties in Scotland has increased from 20,328 properties to 47,333 in 2020. However some of the rises across this period, particularly across 2013 to 2015, will have been due to reclassification exercises which local authorities carry out from time to time, or issues with management information systems, rather than being real changes in the numbers of long term empty properties.

The 16% (6,370 properties) increase in the number of long-term empty properties over the latest year between September 2019 and September 2020 is likely to be associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which directly affected both the property rental and sales markets, with the movement restrictions in place also having a range of other impacts.

The most recent annual data as at September 2020 shows that the local authorities with the highest number of long-term empty properties include the City of Edinburgh (7,152 properties), Aberdeen City (4,537 properties), Glasgow City (3,536 properties), Aberdeenshire (3,167), and Fife (2,943).

We want everyone who would benefit from palliative and end of life care to have access to it, including those who are homeless. As the Marie Curie report makes clear, good end of life care requires collaborative, multi-disciplinary support which is based on the specific needs of the individual and their loved ones. However, we know that people experiencing homelessness are less likely to engage with healthcare services regularly and are more likely to have multiple mental or physical health problems - often with uncertain trajectories. This can make it challenging for care and support services to recognise a palliative care need in a timely manner.

To support better identification of the healthcare needs of homeless people, Public Health Scotland published a learning resource primarily aimed at primary care staff earlier this year. The course aims to raise awareness of the health challenges and barriers that homeless people face and support staff in better identifying the health and care needs of people who are homeless. Although the course has been developed with primary care staff in mind as they act as first healthcare points of contact, it is a foundation level course which is accessible and relevant to all staff working with people who are homeless, particularly those working in frontline homelessness services. This course can be accessed here: https://learning.publichealthscotland.scot/course/view.php?id=553

Over the coming months we will continue to work with key stakeholders to explore what further steps we can take to help ensure that people who are experiencing homelessness can access the palliative care and support that is right for them.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that high quality, person centred bereavement care and support is available for all those who need it, including people experiencing homelessness. Each person’s experience of bereavement is unique as are their support requirements. That is why we undertake a broad range of work to improve the bereavement care and support available for those who need it, particularly at this difficult time.

Since 2016 the Scottish Government has funded Cruse Scotland and Child Bereavement UK through the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund to provide support to individuals and families who have been bereaved, including those who are homeless. This Fund has been extended to end March 2022 to provide greater stability to organisations and we will announce in due course plans for funding the third sector from April 2022.

Our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan, published in October 2020, sets out a number of commitments to support the mental health of people following bereavement and we will continue to engage with providers of bereavement support, and people with lived experience of bereavement.

We will continue to work closely with NHS Boards, Integration Authorities and third sector organisations, including those delivering homelessness services, to continually revisit our work in this area and respond to the needs of individuals and families arising from the pandemic and provide additional support where needed.

We want everyone who would benefit from palliative and end of life care to have access to it, including those who are experiencing homelessness.

We are committed to working with key stakeholders to strengthen partnerships between health, homelessness and frontline services to improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness with multiple and complex needs. Over the coming months we will continue to work with stakeholders to explore areas where improvements to palliative and end of life care could be made as well as reflecting on lessons learned during the pandemic.

I would also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01041 on
22 July 2021. 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

From Monday 19 July, all parts of Scotland moved to level 0. Domestic cruises are able to operate from this date. We have worked closely with the industry to keep them informed of the agreed conditions that would allow operations once again. Our guidance on domestic cruising can be found here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): travel and transport - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Batteries are increasingly important for decarbonising a whole range of vehicles and potentially a major socio-economic opportunity for Scotland. The UK's Faraday Institution estimates there will be enough electric vehicle demand by 2040 for seven gigafactories across the UK.Scotland’s Inward Investment Plan indicates how Scotland’s clear policy on net zero, combined with high value manufacturing capability, battery chemical research and zero emission vehicle test centres, delivers opportunities for inward investment.

Zero Waste Scotland, together with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, commissioned a series of reports into the economic opportunities across the value chain from battery production to recycling and end of life. This research will inform the ongoing development of Scotland’s policies on batteries for electric vehicles and the domestic battery supply chain.

Under the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People, a holder of a +1 National Entitlement Card is entitled to free bus travel for themselves and a companion travelling together with them for the same journey on local registered and long distance scheduled bus journeys throughout Scotland.

Local authorities have discretion to provide local non-bus travel concessions for their residents. Public Transport operators may also provide travel concessions on their services for certain groups of people as part of their own commercial operations. The extent and level of any concessions offered are for individual local authorities and public transport operators to determine.