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The Scottish Government £50m Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund was launched on 22 September 2022, and to date has received 21 enquiries from a mix of Council's and Registered Social Landlords. In terms of full applications submitted, four proposals have now come forward to the Fund, with others expected to follow in due course.

There is no formal closing date for the Fund, we are prioritising applications which deliver completed homes by 31 March 2023. Projects with homes completed in 2023/24 will be considered by exception.

In terms of the local authority areas where Scottish Government has received full proposals from, these are as follows:

Aberdeen City Council has been awarded up to £6.150m for up to 500 void properties on 28 October 2022.

North Ayrshire Council has been awarded up to £0.486m for up to 30 void properties on 6 October 2022.

Glasgow City Council - two applications from housing associations based within the Glasgow City Council area have also been received (with due diligence work currently progressing).

This does not include a pilot project, where we awarded £5m to North Lanarkshire Council for the refurbishment of up to 200 homes on 6 July 2022.

Despite the area of telecommunications being wholly reserved to the UK Parliament, the Scottish Government has asked BT and EE to do all it can to resolve the matter on Uig as quickly as possible, given the vital importance of reliable digital connectivity for island communities.

The R100 contracts will deliver a significant number of full fibre connections which will provide future proofed, resilient connectivity for decades to come. The R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme is also available to those who are unable to access a superfast connection currently, and who are not in commercial or R100 contract build plans, offering up to £5,000 to secure a superfast broadband connection.

The Emergency Budget Review identified the additional costs of respective pay offers and deals for certain workforces, estimating that the total additional cost reflecting offers at the time was over £700 million. The exact costs will be finalised as pay deals are concluded.

NHS Scotland Health Boards determine consultant requirements locally, based on their service provision responsibilities and service configuration needs. Scottish Government workforce planning guidance requires Boards to take a demand-led approach by determining future staffing requirements in line with healthcare needs within their locality.

Under this Government, however, the number of Consultant Haematologists working in NHS Scotland has increased by 18.9% or by 15.5 WTE, from 82.1 WTE as at September 2006 to 97.6 WTE as at June 2022.

Future medical workforce needs are considered annually by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG) wherein existing training numbers are reviewed and additional ‘expansion’ posts can be added where there is evidence of increasing future demand for specialist services within a particular discipline. Ministers have created 725 additional training places since 2014 following recommendations made by the SSoTTG, 152 of which were agreed to through the most recent consultation. This represents the largest annual expansion to date. The SSoTTG will review the number of training places in haematology within the upcoming consultation which will take place in 2023.

Furthermore, we are developing a new 10 year Cancer Strategy to launch in Spring 2023 which will take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. This will be supported by a 3-year action plan.

The Scottish Government strongly opposes the immigration health surcharge (IHS) and believes it should be removed, despite receiving £20.8 million in Barnett consequentials from it in 2018. Increasing the surcharge to £624 in 2018, more than three times the cost, was morally wrong.

The Scottish Government remains deeply concerned that multiple unnecessary immigration charges could make Scotland a less attractive destination for skilled workers and international students and impact student retention rates on the Graduate visa. Scottish Ministers have, and will continue to push the UK Government for an immigration system that meets Scotland’s needs

The Scottish Government regularly engages with universities on matters impacting the sector.

Whilst the reinstatement of the Graduate Route in 2021 was welcomed, it remains clear that the UK Government’s immigration policy does not address Scotland’s economic, demographic and social needs.

In absence of a UK Government equivalent, the Scottish Government is developing, and seeks to pilot, a student retention programme, aiming to reduce the flow of students outside Scotland once they have completed further/higher education.

The report of analysis of responses to the consultation draft National Planning Framework 4 was published on 8 November 2022 and is available from the Scottish Government’s website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/draft-fourth-national-planning-framework-analysis-responses-consultation-exercise-analysis-report/ .

Notwithstanding NHS Lanarkshire’s staffing levels are at a record high, with 33% growth under the SNP government compared to 22.1% across NHSScotland, we are providing continued assistance by investing in domestic labour supply, international recruitment, training, and retention.

That is why we have a £600 million package of measures that will get us through the winter, which includes hiring up to 750 nurses, midwives and allied health professionals from overseas and 250 additional support staff across acute, primary care and mental health.

Over the last 10 years we have doubled the number of funded places for Nursing and Midwifery to a target intake in 2022-23 of 4,837. Scotland already trains more doctors per head than elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and we’re working to increase Scotland’s medical undergraduate intake by 500 by the end of the parliament.

The UK Climate Change Committee briefing on blue carbon, published in March 2022, recognised the challenges in estimating the climate change impact of fishing through disturbance to sea floor sediments and the current, significant, evidence gaps. The briefing concluded that fundamental scientific uncertainties currently prevent accurate quantification of this effect. This has been an area of focus for the Scottish Blue Carbon Forum since its establishment in 2018 and we continue to invest in research, through the Forum, to improve scientific approaches, fill key evidence gaps and understand the implications of this interaction.

Many of the habitats research has identified as important for blue carbon are priority marine features within Scotland’s Marine Protected Area network. Blue carbon will also be one of the search criteria for designation of Scotland’s Highly Protected Marine Areas, in 2026, affording the opportunity for enhanced protection.

The contract for MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802 confirms a deadweight of 878 tonnes, speed of 16.5 knots and fuel consumption of 7770 kilojoule per kilowatt-hour for liquefied natural gas and 196 grams per kilowatt-hour for marine gas oil.