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Whilst prevalence of COVID remains high this is not translating into severe illness and deaths in the same way as earlier in the pandemic due largely to vaccination. So we would encourage everyone who is eligible to take up their boosters as soon as these are offered to ‘top up’ their immune response. The autumn booster vaccination will be offered to people aged over 50 and those at highest risk aged 5 and over – this will include people with a chronic neurological disease.

In recognition of the particular challenges the North East has faced as result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the downturn in oil and gas, we have allocated £14.3m to the North East Economic Recovery and Skills Fund, which offers over 3,000 training opportunities in addition to supporting hundreds of local businesses at a critical time for the local economy. We have worked closely with local partners to develop proposals aligned to the City Region economic priorities of diversification and net zero transition, including local authorities, Skills Development Scotland, Opportunity North East, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Funding Council and local universities.

This programme aligns with existing nationwide upskilling and reskilling programmes of support for colleges and universities as we work towards a just transition, including the Young Person’s Guarantee, the National Transition Training Fund, the Flexible Workforce Development Fund and the Green Jobs Workforce Academy.

In 2022-23, we are also progressing key actions from the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) focused on inspiring and empowering young people; supporting upskilling to meet emerging green jobs requirements; aligning work-based learning, Further and Higher Education provision to meet the needs of the net zero transition; facilitating behaviour change and helping employers capitalise on opportunities, and driving change in the skills system. The CESAP is being driven forward by an Implementation Steering Group comprised of central and local government and its agencies, education and skills providers, industry and independent experts.

This is a matter for the NHS Boards. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government recognises that accurate data on the number of people diagnosed with long COVID is needed to forecast and plan for the need for healthcare services arising from long COVID. Public Health Scotland will lead on surveillance of long COVID. It is currently anticipated that this surveillance will be undertaken via the EAVE II study, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh ( About EAVE II | The University of Edinburgh ). Funded by the Medical Research Council, the EAVE II study has used a pseudonymised patient dataset to track the COVID-19 pandemic across Scotland. In a separate project funded by the Chief Scientist Office, the EAVE II dataset will be used to create a tool to identify people at greatest risk of developing long COVID. The findings will in due course provide information about the number of people diagnosed with long COVID, including a breakdown by NHS Board.

The Public Health Scotland COVID-19 Shielding Programme impact and experience survey which was published in March 2022 reported that 81% of respondents still make decisions that are mainly influenced by fear of COVID-19 infection, and 36% still try to minimise all physical contact with other households. While this data relates to a survey completed between 25 October 2021 and
‎ 7 November 2021, we know there are still people who continue to limit activities and contacts with other households.

Our case transfer processes have been developed in line with our case transfer principles, which were developed with input from our experience panels, others with lived experience and wider stakeholders. We have worked and continue to work with existing benefit recipients, other key stakeholders including the Disability and Carer Benefits Expert Advisory Group, and the Department for Work and Pensions to develop and test our case transfer processes, including to ensure they deliver against these principles.

We have delivered roadshows over spring and summer focusing specifically on the detail of the case transfer process for people in Scotland who will see their awards move to Adult Disability Payment. We have included case transfer messaging in all our Adult Disability Payment communications such as media releases, opinion pieces, social media posts on Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland channels and paid for marketing campaigns that have run in the pilot areas including radio, social media, digital and print. We are also providing a stakeholder toolkit which will include specific fact sheets, video content and FAQs. We are also producing a specific leaflet to explain the differences between Disability Living Allowance and Adult Disability Payment and signposting individuals on where to seek independent advice, consistent with the recommendation of the Scottish Commission on Social Security.

We will continue to communicate, engage, and work closely with stakeholders as we near the national launch of case transfer for Adult Disability Payment to ensure those currently in receipt of adult disability benefits in Scotland, and those that support them, have a solid understanding of how their awards will transfer to Social Security Scotland.

Case transfer guidance, which provides people with further information on the case transfer process to Adult Disability Payment is available at: https://www.mygov.scot/browse/benefits/benefit-transfer .

The Scottish Government welcomed the findings in the Review which was funded through our £14.3m North East Economic Recovery and Skills Fund (NEERSF). The Review clearly demonstrates that, with the right investment, the North East of Scotland could support 9,000 more offshore energy jobs by 2030 than it currently does.

The just transition to a net zero economy is one of our greatest economic opportunities. Scotland has the potential to be a net zero global energy hub, that leaves no one behind by supporting existing oil & gas roles into the renewables and low carbon roles of the future.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with COSLA to find a way forward on the introduction of a Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship carers.

The Scottish Government fully supports the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) in its efforts to meet the needs of children and young people with additional support needs. Every child’s individual needs are considered by SCRA, based on information provided by other agencies and professionals. SCRA has, for a number of years, worked on support and assistance for neurodiverse children and families. They are creating sensory spaces in their hearings centres, the first of which opened in March this year, and have updated information material and internal guidance to staff in conjunction with the charity Reach for Autism. They are currently working on plans to develop a network of local neurodiversity champions to further promote and address the specific needs of children and families in Children’s Hearings.

The new SCRA digital case management system, now in its second full year of operation, is capable of recording specific data relating to protected characteristics and SCRA are considering how this can be used to the greatest effect.

This is a matter for Public Health Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

The information is not held centrally.

Some data are available for Revolve certified organisations. Revolve is Scotland’s National Reuse Quality Standard and Revolve stores are supported to work to key standards, and are committed to quality.

In 2020-21 sales through Revolve certified community stores reported to Zero Waste Scotland were over £22 million. The 95 Revolve stores which reported to Zero Waste Scotland recorded 680 full time staff employed and 52,873 volunteer hours from 1,095 volunteers recorded in those same organisations, and approximately 22,000 tonnes of material was estimated to be diverted from landfill. It is not appropriate to compare these totals directly with those of previous years, as a different proportion of stores provided monitoring data and, because of COVID-19, stores were operational for only a fraction of the year.