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The draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) makes clear that we encourage developers to offer community benefit and shared ownership opportunities as standard on all renewable energy projects.

As set out within the ESJTP, the Scottish Government is reviewing its Good Practice Principles for community benefits from offshore renewable energy developments.

As part of the development process, we are currently holding a series of stakeholder engagement sessions to raise awareness of the work and gather initial input, with a view to consulting on the draft guidance later this year.

We are still considering the next steps on how to address the responses to our engagement with people affected by historical adoption practices.

In the meantime, we have commissioned a scoping study of the support services available in Scotland for people affected by historical adoption practices. This will help us understand where we need to improve, introduce or enhance the services to better meet the needs and expectations of those affected by historical adoption. The research started on 9 January and will take approximately 8 months.

We have also agreed to fund a proposal to establish specialist peer support groups for those affected, in partnership with Health in Mind The planning and implementation of this support service has already begun and been influenced by a working group of people affected by historical adoption.

Transport Scotland do not have a specific extreme weather maintenance budget. The winter service budget for the South-West Unit was £5.69 m in 2022/23 and this covers all trunk roads in the Unit; including the A77.

Investment for A77 trunk road maintenance programmes currently indicate an allocation of £7.03m for this financial year as well as a provisional maintenance spend for 2023/24 and 2024/25 of £5.4m and £5.74m respectively.

All local authorities will consider and monitor the impact of the scheme on glass collection after the implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

Zero Waste Scotland’s advice to local authorities is not to make service changes in advance of Scotland’s DRS launching and it is currently undertaking modelling of different options for local authorities to provide efficient kerbside glass recycling services and will share this with local authorities in due course.

We are supporting local authorities to modernise recycling services, align with our forthcoming deposit return scheme, and make it easier for households to recycle and increase local recycling rates.

The New Scots refugee integration strategy is built on partnership and collaboration, led by the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council, and involves a wide range of partners across different sectors.

From 2017-22, the Scottish Government had one civil servant working on the New Scots refugee integration strategy, although the post was redeployed to support the Covid-19 response in 2020-2021. An additional civil servant has supported work on the strategy since May 2022. Other civil servants have worked in support of the New Scots strategy across a range of policy areas.

In addition to the permanent civil servants working on the strategy, from January 2021, up to three additional temporary staff have worked to manage the delivery of the New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project.

The New Scots refugee integration strategy is built on partnership and collaboration, led by the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council, and involves a wide range of partners across different sectors.

The strategy provides a clear framework for all those working towards refugee integration in Scotland. It has also assisted in coordinating the work of the Scottish Government and its partner organisations to maximise impact and make the most of limited resources, placing Scotland in a strong position to respond to recent humanitarian crises.

The New Scots Core Group brings together key stakeholders and is responsible for monitoring and reviewing progress against the overarching outcomes of New Scots during the strategy implementation period. The Core Group is chaired by Professor Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow.

The year one report for the New Scots refugee integration strategy 2018-2022 was published on 2 April 2019. The report can be found here: New Scots refugee integration strategy 2018-2022: first year progress report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The COVID-19 pandemic and work to support people arriving from Afghanistan and Ukraine have impacted delivery of the strategy and meant that it has not been possible to produce the year two and three reports as originally planned. However, the New Scots Core Group continues to meet four times a year to monitor and review progress of the strategy, as well as identifying areas for collaboration.

The New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project includes a workstream on research and evaluation. This entails working with our partners and external evaluators to carry out project monitoring, research work and an evaluation of the strategy. An evaluation report of the current strategy is due to be published in Spring 2023.

The Scottish Government consulted on a Circular Economy Bill and Waste Route Map in summer 2022, setting out proposed actions that must be taken to meet Scotland's waste targets and deliver a circular economy in Scotland. This included a proposal to strengthen the approach to household recycling collection services through new co-designed statutory guidance to provide a clear strategic direction for recycling in Scotland, improve consistency of services for households, and accelerate improvements to both the quality and quantity of recycling collected to help meet our waste and climate change targets .

The analysis of consultation responses to the Bill was published in November 2022. Programme for Government states that the Circular Economy Bill will be introduced in this parliamentary year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13547 on 16 January 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

There has been no new assessment into the possibility of material switching in light of the recently published producer fees.

Work is ongoing to establish the most effective means, and timescales, of further expanding access to thrombectomy, including how the increased budget will be best used in recruiting staff to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from this treatment.

By working with National Services Division, we aim to ensure that decisions taken on potential expansions of the thrombectomy service consider the wider access requirements of patients across Scotland and ensure access is as equitable as possible.