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The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn. The BSL National Plan 2023-29 is a cross government plan containing 45 actions under the 10 priority themes. The actions will address barriers faced by BSL users in their daily lives. Ensuring equal access, opportunity, representation and inclusion are key components of our plan stemming across areas such as education, health, justice and culture.

To inform the delivery of the National Plan, an Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) consisting of representative organisations of the deaf and deafblind communities was established to help advise on the delivery of actions and provide accountability on the overall plan.

The group has met twice since the publication of the National Plan. The next meeting is due to take place at the end of October.

Up to 2022, around 280,000 digital devices had already been provided to learners by local authorities and the Scottish Government, along with 14,000 connectivity packages.

As set out by the Finance Secretary, the £10m budget for purchasing additional digital devices for hard pressed families will be available from the financial year 2025-26.

The Green Industrial Strategy recognises ports are key enablers for the energy transition. Ports have a critical role to play in supporting the growth of Scotland’s offshore wind sector and growing our hydrogen production and export capabilities, which are two of the five priority opportunity areas identified in the strategy.

The Scottish Government is engaging and collaborating with ports on the opportunities from offshore wind and engaging with key industry bodies including the recently formed Scottish Offshore Wind Ports Alliance (SOWPA) and the British Ports Association’s Scottish Ports Group.

The Scottish Government is working closely with both Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and Forth Green Freeport which will play a crucial role in our commitment to a just transition to net zero, by creating clusters of high-tech manufacturing excellence in low carbon sectors, including offshore wind and renewable hydrogen.

The Green Industrial Strategy recognises ports are key enablers for the energy transition. Ports have a critical role to play in supporting the growth of Scotland’s offshore wind sector and accelerating investment in related infrastructure, manufacturing and fabrication. Ports will also play a key role in growing the hydrogen sector to facilitate the export of hydrogen and hydrogen products to external markets in the UK and in Northern Europe. Both Wind and Hydrogen are priority opportunity areas identified in the GIS.

There is no statutory process for either scenario.

Subject to the agreement of both parties, any owner-occupier who wishes to sell their home to a local authority and remain in it as a tenant in the social rented sector may do so.

If there is already a private tenancy in place, prior to any purchase there could be some negotiation and agreement with the sitting tenant in order to bring their private tenancy with their existing landlord to an end so that they may enter into a social tenancy when the property is purchased by the local authority.

The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 provides that repairs and maintenance work will be carried out according to the provisions in the relevant title deeds of the properties.

Where homeowners have workable provisions in their title deeds to carry out maintenance and repair then these should be followed. Where title deeds do not specify how decisions should be made, or if different owners' title deeds say conflicting things and are therefore unworkable, the Tenement Management Scheme (TMS) in Schedule 1 Rule 2 of the 2004 Act sets out procedures for flat owners to follow when making scheme decisions about maintaining and repairing common parts of a shared building.

Rules 7 and 8 already set out the requirements for consultation, and rule 9 sets out the procedure for giving notice in connection with the TMS.

More detail is here: Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 (legislation.gov.uk)

The Afghan medical students are eligible for support under paragraph 12B of the Student Support (Scotland) Regulations 2022, as amended by the Education (Fees and Student Support) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2024. This provision enables the students to be considered as Scottish domiciled for the purposes of funding and entitles them to apply for tuition fees and living cost support in the same manner as other Scottish domiciled students.

In 2021-22, there were 973,604 recipients of Winter Fuel Payment in Scotland. This number increased to 991,431 recipients in 2022-23.

To date, 9 school infrastructure projects have opened through the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP). Furthermore, 16 projects are currently in construction.

The LEIP aims to deliver 47 projects by the end of 2027-28.

A Final Report will be published in the Autumn setting out the progress that has been made since publication of the Women’s Health Plan in 2021.

The Women’s Health Plan has brought about positive change, driving changes to policy, guidance and training in many of the ways envisaged for a Scottish Institute for Women’s Health. There is now a Women’s Health Leads Network; a specialist menopause service in every mainland health board and a ‘buddy’ support system in place for the Island health boards; there is a women’s health platform on NHS Inform; there is a menopause and menstrual health workplace policy for NHS Scotland and a Women’s Health Champion, Professor Anna Glasier OBE, has been appointed. In addition, the Scottish Government, primarily through the Chief Scientist Office, has invested in a range of women’s health related research, providing funding for grants and fellowships.

In light of the financial circumstances facing the Scottish Government, it is not possible at present to develop proposals for a Scottish Institute for Women’s Health.