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The Scottish Government's position on this is set out in the improvement plan which was produced in response to the recommendations set out in Environmental Standards Scotland's improvement report following its investigation into air quality. The improvement plan was laid in the Scottish Parliament on 27 March 2023 and can be viewed at: Environmental Standards Scotland air quality investigation - Scottish Government improvement plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We will publish the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy in June. A programme of stakeholder engagement will take place over the summer on the accompanying Delivery Plan, with the intention of publishing it alongside the Workforce Action Plan in the autumn.

The Just Transition Fund sends a clear signal of our support for the North East and Moray however government alone cannot finance the region’s journey to net zero. The Scottish National Investment Bank will invest this £25 million funding in line with the Bank’s Investment Strategy, its missions including to support the Just Transition to net zero, and the Fund’s geographic remit.

Officials have engaged regularly with the Enterprise Agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank to inform the approach to Just Transition Fund investment capital.

On 24 January officials engaged with representatives from local councils, chambers of commerce, enterprise agencies, regional economic development organisations and community groups to reflect on the lessons learned from the first year of the Just Transition Fund.

On 9 February 2023 the former Minister for Just Transition held a series of engagements with representatives from Opportunity North East, Energy Transition Zone and the Net Zero Technology Centre.

The Scottish Government did not place any newspaper or TV adverts in relation to our initial public consultation on our overall approach to Highly Protected Marine Areas.

Universal Credit is reserved to Westminster and the UK Government has deliberately introduced age discrimination within it. We agree with campaigners that it should be paid at the same amount to everyone.

Universal Credit should be supporting families and children, not punishing them and we continue to call on the UK Government to urgently review Universal Credit, as it is fundamentally not fit for purpose.

We already take action to protect people against the impact of UK Government policies including the bedroom tax and benefit cap but we cannot mitigate every action from our fixed budget.

The Scottish Child Payment was doubled in April 2022 to £20 per eligible child and increased again to £25 when we extended it to under 16s in November, an increase of 150% in less than eight months.

Social Security Scotland is committed to building a trauma-informed workforce. All client facing staff undertake a 6 week “Routeway” training course featuring specific sessions on Trauma Informed Practice and on Mental Health and Supporting Vulnerable People.

Social Security Scotland has been designed with the people who use it to ensure that processes are clear and inclusive and that it delivers support to people with dignity, fairness and respect. 94% of people who took part in the latest annual client survey said they were treated with kindness.

Social Security Scotland have signed the Scottish Government’s Leadership Pledge of Support for trauma-informed practice and are fully committed to building an awareness and understanding of the impact of trauma into their work. This includes understanding when trauma might create barriers for people.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Human activities have had a considerable impact in Scotland’s seas. Of the 21 marine regions reported in the Scottish Marine Assessment 2020 , where physical disturbance was assessed, 18 were predicted to have more than 15% of their area classified as highly disturbed and are considered to be in “poor condition”.

Our proposals to introduce Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) are intended to contribute to addressing this situation and improving the state of our sea bed across Scotland’s seas. However, enhanced marine protection is about more than tackling biodiversity loss and climate change – it is also about delivering societal benefits which must include benefits for coastal and island communities.

We are proposing that HPMAs protect ecosystems and the services they provide, including essential fish and shellfish habitats, which will deliver societal benefits, including for island and coastal communities. By being properly designed and located we believe these areas would provide long term and sustainable benefits for island and coastal communities.

Scientific studies indicate that fish stocks can increase in HPMAs, providing spill over benefits for fishers and making sure there are sustainable levels of fish and other marine products to be derived and benefitted from our seas. For example, a study by Lenihan et al in California has shown spill over benefits with increased stocks of spiny lobster.

We have conducted a range of initial impact assessments, including an initial Sustainability Appraisal (composed of a Strategic Environmental Report and a Socio-Economic Impact Assessment); a partial Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) Screening Report; and a partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA). We sought views on these as part of our initial consultation, which closed on 17 April. However, as was noted in the consultation, any specific potential impacts can only be considered in full once specific site proposals have been developed, following close stakeholder and community engagement.

Reducing harm due to high-risk medicines has been identified as a priority by health boards across Scotland and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) has focussed on supporting teams to discuss and prioritise improvement activities related to high-risk medicines and high-risk situations around medicines.

The SPSP programme within HIS has developed a number of tools and resources which are publicly available via the Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) website. These resources include the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) Safer Care Bundle, NSAID Communication Care Bundle, Medicines Sick Day Rule Cards, High Risk Medicines Framework and the High Risk Medicines Discussion Framework. All resources available on the HIS website are reviewed by the clinical team supporting HIS to ensure they remain up to date and beneficial, and are available for staff to use within their local settings.

During this initial phase of policy development the Scottish Government met with representatives of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar on 17 February 2023, representatives of Highland Council on 20 February 2023, and representatives of Orkney Islands Council on 17 February, 22 February and 4 April 2023.