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The Scottish Government understands that details of the Deposit Return Scheme are matters of public interest and should be properly scrutinised and debated in parliament. We are committed to transparency and openness in our administration of the Deposit Return Scheme, and going forward we aim to proactively publish on a monthly basis key information such as notes of meetings, letters, and other information which will help people understand how decisions are made.

This commitment to publish information must be balanced against the continued need to protect peoples personal data, and meet our commitments to protecting commercially confidential information. This is in line with the General Data Protection Regulation, Environmental Information Regulations, and other legal obligations.

The total estimated value of applications received to the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund since it was established is £62,951,713 for capital funding and £1,105,865 for development funding.

The applications include projects submitted under Theme 1 for Zero Emissions Heating Systems for Social Housing across Scotland and Theme 2 for “Fabric First” Energy Efficiency Only Projects.

Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for this government. We recognise the pressure on household budgets which is why last year and this, we have allocated almost £3 billion to support policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

As outlined in ‘A Fairer Scotland for Older People: framework for action’ we are taking a range of actions that directly addresses the financial needs of older people.

Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads and pavements in their area.

The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

ScotRail advises that in Paisley there are 34 positions with 27 monitoring CCTV as part of their duties. 4 Managers and 3 Announcers who can monitor CCTV but it is not their primary role. In Dunfermline there are 20 positions with 13 monitoring CCTV as part of their duties. 4 Managers and 3 Announcers who can monitor CCTV but it is not their primary role. ScotRail has 1 additional position which covers both centres and ScotRail now has 24/7 coverage between the centres. Each centre has the capability to monitor sites across the ScotRail network.

We continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme, of which public education and empowerment is a key work-stream. We launched a new campaign – Be the Early Bird – in March 2023 to empower those with possible symptoms to act early.

We will continue to work with the Scottish Cancer Coalition, as well as the primary care community, to raise awareness of possible symptoms. Work is also underway to redesign DCE’s website (getcheckedearly.org) – this will reflect brain tumour content moving forward, including signposting to The Brain Tumour Charity.

In collaboration with local and regional partners, the Scottish Government supported the development of Community Wealth Building (CWB) action plans for each area that set out practical actions to maximise the economic benefit realised for local communities, businesses and people.

Clackmannanshire, Glasgow City Region and Tay City region plans have been published on the Scottish Hub for Regional Economic Development website. Western Isles’ plan can be found here . South of Scotland Enterprise published their report on the potential for a CWB approach to adding energy efficient measures to Registered Social Landlord (RSL) housing stock in the South of Scotland, which concluded that 2,200 jobs could be created by 2023. The analysis can be found here: A roadmap to decarbonisation ,

A summary of all learnings from the pilots informed the Economic Development Associations Scotland (EDAs) practical CWB guide, available here: Community Wealth Building Scotland | EDAS

Representatives of The Convention Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) participate in the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill Steering Group, which I chair. This Group has met three times.

In addition, I met with Cllr Gail McGregor, COSLA Environment and Economy Spokesperson on 08 February 2023 regarding CWB and other matters.

Scottish Government officials regularly engage with COSLA officers regarding the development of CWB legislation.

This information is available in the Scottish Health Service Costs (often referred to as the 'Costs Book'), published annually by Public Health Scotland (previously Information Services Division).  

The 2021-22 Costs Book was published in February 2023 and provides a high-level summary of health service costs, including the costs of delivering family health services. The 2022-23 Costs Book will be published in 2024.

In the 2021-22 academic year, the Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary eligibility criteria was expanded to incorporate paramedic science students studying in Scotland and renamed the Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary (PNMSB).

In the 2021-22 academic year, there were 700 funding applications from students studying a paramedic science course with 670 being awarded the bursary.