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We are engaging with public sector organisations to seek reassurance of both their awareness and of any action identified on this issue.

From our discussions with local authorities regarding RAAC to date, West Lothian Council indicated that addressing RAAC issues across its estate could cost around £76.8m, whilst East Lothian Council advised that costs relating to one affected school are estimated at around £3.8 million. The current information gathering exercise offers the opportunity to identify similar assessment made by other local authorities.

NHS Scotland Assure are conducting a survey programme which will confirm how many buildings in the NHS estate contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Work undertaken as part of the programme has included a desktop review, pilot and prioritisation exercises by an appointed survey partner at a cost of just over £150,000 to date. It is not currently possible to assess costs until this survey work is complete.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19700 on 31 July 2023. 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 .

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent advisory group which makes recommendations on all screening programmes in the UK, have never recommended routine breast screening for women over 71 years. The Committee has concluded that there is not clear evidence that the benefits of screening women in this age group outweigh the potential risks of harm.

Nonetheless, prior to the COVID pandemic, women over 71 could self-refer to be screened if they chose. As the service continues to recover from the pandemic, Women aged 71-74, and those over 75 with a history of breast cancer, are once again eligible to self-refer for a screening appointment. There continues to be a pause in self-referral appointments for women aged 75 and over without a history of breast cancer.

The Scottish Government understands the wish to widen self-referrals to include those over the age of 75 without a history of breast cancer. However, before doing so we need to understand the impact of current self-referral appointments on wait times for women between 50-70 for whom screening has clear benefits. These impacts are under regular review by the breast screening programme board.

I am committed to reforming crofting law by 2026, however, a decision on the timing of a Crofting Bill will be taken by Cabinet in the context of setting the content of future legislative programmes in the normal way.

The Crofting Bill Group is making good progress in reaching a consensus on the issues raised in 2016-2019, and further issues put forward by the Law Society and the Crofting Commission.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Funding for Autism Understanding Scotland has been provided from the Mental Health budget, with a proportion of this being issued via Inspiring Scotland’s Increasing Understanding of Autism Programme.

In 2021-22 and 2022-23, the Scottish Government has invested £400,000 in this programme, which has provided support to around 2,000 people.

A grant of £15 million for the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults was distributed to Third Sector Interfaces across Scotland in August 2022, to support local, grassroots community organisation. £14,975,678.28 had been distributed by the end of March 2023. Third Sector Interfaces reported a total underspend of £24,321.72 for that year.

A grant of £1,136,695 was provided to support administration costs and the capacity building efforts of Third Sector Interfaces in 2022-2023. Third sector interfaces reported a total underspend on the administration grant of £4,948.63.

A total of 255 substantial refurbishment projects were completed between 2016-17 and 2021-22. These figures do not include new-build schools. Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available.

Table 1 shows the breakdown by local authority. Only refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special are included. School extensions meeting the cost thresholds are counted as substantial refurbishments.

A breakdown by individual year is available from Table 7.2 in the school estate statistics supplementary data tables https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-estate-statistics-2022/documents/ .

Table 1: Substantial refurbishments by local authority between 2016-17 and 2021-22.

Securing positive effects for biodiversity is one of six statutory outcomes for the National Planning Framework, as identified in section 3A(3)(c) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended. National Planning Framework (NPF4) was adopted and published on 13 February 2023. Improving biodiversity is a cross-cutting theme which runs throughout NPF4. Our strategy and policies support development that helps to secure positive effects for biodiversity.

Current building regulations include a standard which promote sustainable development, including advice on how biodiversity can be well served as a topic in new school developments – this is published under Aspect 4 of our ‘statement of sustainability’, standard 7.1 in the Non-domestic Technical Handbook . We plan to revisit this topic, in the context of other ongoing activity, to understand further opportunities for building regulations to make a positive contribution to biodiversity within new developments.

National Planning Framework 4 Policy 3 (c), which relates to local developments, is underpinned by NatureScot’s Developing With Nature guidance published on 13 February 2023. This guidance includes 24 measures that development can incorporate to enhance biodiversity, one of which is Homes for Small Birds (measure 13).

The Swift Conservation website also provides guidance to the building industry on swift bricks and nest boxes Swift Conservation Homepage (swift-conservation.org) .

A total of 147 school builds were completed between 2016-17 and 2021-22. Figures for 2022-23 are not yet available.

Table 1 shows the breakdown by local authority. Only builds with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special are included.

A breakdown by individual year is available from Table 7.1 in the school estate statistics supplementary data tables https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-estate-statistics-2022/documents/ .

Table 1: Schools built by local authority between 2016-17 and 2021-22.