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Scottish Government has not undertaken a recent assessment of mixed sex wards in NHS hospitals.

Since 2005 the Scottish Government has expected Boards to ensure that all of their facilities comply with the guidelines and recommendations on the elimination of mixed sex accommodation produced in 1999 and 2000 following a review of mixed sex accommodation, as well as relevant legislation including the Equality Act 2010.

This Government supports the appropriate use of the separate and single-sex exceptions contained in paragraphs 26, 27 and 28 of Schedule 3 of the Equality Act 2010 by service providers, where it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. When taking decisions on where a person should be accommodated in the NHS, account should be taken of the rights of all.

Responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 rests with individual organisations. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has produced guidance to support separate and single sex service providers.

The Scottish Government expects everyone to be treated fairly and equally and with respect when seeking healthcare. NHS staff will make every effort to ensure that the privacy and dignity of all patients are maintained in Scottish hospitals.

Fulfilling the commitment made within the Housing to 2040 route map, we are currently in the process of reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide. The guide offers good practice in the design of homes in order to help them achieve a good standard of accessibility and flexibility. Where possible, all new affordable homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are built to Housing for Varying Needs standards.

Over the coming months, we will publish a consultation on proposed changes to the guide. As part of this consultation we plan to seek views on the introduction of building standards in 2025-26 to underpin a new Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which all new homes will need to achieve, regardless of tenure.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with epilepsy are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

That is why in 2019 we published a Neurological Care and Support – National Framework for Action 2020-25, which sets out a vision that everyone with a neurological condition, including epilepsy, can access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms. Since October 2020, we have invested £324,500 in funding via the Framework to projects that specifically improve the health and wellbeing of people with epilepsy in Scotland.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published a National Workforce Strategy on 11 March 2022. The Strategy commits to publishing new workforce projections in the autumn, once we have had the opportunity to consider Health Board and Health and Social Care Partnerships' three year workforce plans. The staffing needs for services and professional specialities across NHS Scotland such as epilepsy care will be, in partnership with stakeholders, factored into the development of these projections. As part of this work, we are actively listening to colleagues to understand where the current pressures are, and what actions can be taken to mitigate their impact on staff. Decisions on local staffing requirements are, however, the responsibility of individual NHS Boards.

NHS Board’s baseline revenue allocations are set out annually in the Scottish Budget, as published on the Scottish Government’s website. In addition, resource and capital spending limits are reported in Board’s annual accounts, which are published on their websites.

Since 2018-19, funding for frontline boards has increased by 17.4%.

The Scottish Government allocates funding to territorial NHS Boards based on the NRAC formula. The NRAC formula takes into account factors in addition to population levels, including relative deprivation and need for healthcare in different NHS Board areas.

Since 2012-13, almost £2.6 billion additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC parity levels, bringing all boards to within 0.8% of parity.

More information on the NRAC formula is available at: Resource Allocation Formula in Scotland - Finance - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

Scottish Government support schemes available to farmers, crofters and land managers to support nature-rich farming and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions are:

Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS)

AECS provides important funding to the sector to help achieve our commitment to support farmers, crofters, and land managers to support and deliver nature restoration. To date a total of £242 million has been committed to 2,970 businesses of which a total of 495 organics contracts have been approved, with £28.8m committed.

Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS)

The scheme opened on 26 April 2022 to Scottish farmers, crofters and agricultural contractors who store and/or spread livestock slurry or digestate. 3,148 businesses have been supported over the life span of the scheme with a total of £12.80m invested. As of the 12 July 2022 we have issued a further 572 SACGS 2022 offers of grant worth £4.74m.

Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (CAGS)

A part of crofting activity revolves around livestock production associated with low-intensity systems of high nature value with a natural balance between food production and the environment. From 2016 to 2022 over £16m in CAGS funding has been approved, helping over 3,000 crofters with their businesses – 85% of all eligible applications being approved.

Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund (KTIF)

The Fund periodically opens to support knowledge transfer and innovation based projects contributing to improving biodiversity or emission reductions. Since 2015, Scottish Government has supported 45 projects under the KTIF to a tune of approximately £7.5 million. The Fund has supported just under 20 different organisations and in 2021 the knowledge transfer based projects alone ran training events which had a total attendance of roughly 1,500.

Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service (FAS)

FAS provides a range of low and no cost ideas to help farmers identify, support and improve biodiversity on their land, raising awareness of woodland planting and the benefits for businesses, carbon sequestration and habitat and ideas to help farmers manage carbon on their farm and adapt to a changing climate, making their business more resilient to future changes. Since 2016 Scottish Government has supported the FAS to a tune of just under £21 million as of May 2022, delivering over 4,300 bespoke advice products. In 2021 FAS delivered 167 events to approximately 5,000 farmers, crofters and land managers.

Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS)

In the life of FGS, we have approved £312m worth of projects, providing financial support for the creation of new woodland and the sustainable management of existing woodland, to 3,816 projects (completed) from a total number of 5,204 projects with approved funding. Payments to date amount to circa £235m.

To meet our increasing ambitions to deliver greater woodland creation hectares year on year until 2024/25, we have a proposed budget of £71m for the financial year (22/23) and a further £76m and £80m proposed for the following two financial years.

I know that the energy price increases we have seen recently will be concerning to many Scottish consumers, not least of all those in vulnerable circumstances.

I also know that consumers using prepayment meters pay a higher tariff for their energy. Unfortunately, regulation in the gas and electricity supply markets remains reserved to the UK Government meaning the Scottish Government’s potential actions are limited.

We are doing what we can within our reserved powers. We have extended our Fuel Insecurity Fund through 2022-23 and made available a further £10m to support those facing fuel insecurity. The Fuel Insecurity Fund includes support for the Fuel Bank Foundation to expand their existing Fuel Bank network in Scotland, to provide same-day support to prepayment meter users at risk of imminent self-disconnection We will seek to ensure that those receiving help are not just provided with financial support but that they are also connected with wider advice and support on energy efficiency, income maximisation and how to reduce energy bills.

The Investing in Scotland’s Future: Resource Spending Review confirmed that the Scottish Government will work closely with COSLA to agree a New Deal for Local Government, in advance of the next financial year. This will be based on the twin pillars of a new Fiscal Framework and an accompanying partnership agreement with Local Government. The New Deal will also build on the Local Governance Review, and help to bring a sharpened focus on ensuring the review arrives at a set of findings which can transform local democracy in Scotland.

In a recent letter to the Minister for BEIS, Paul Scully MP, I urged the UK Government to deliver on its Good Work Plan commitments, which included measures to tackle one-sided flexibility, and to go further by raising the minimum wage to a real Living Wage and to put an end to the exploitative nature of insecure contracts. It is unacceptable that long overdue reforms to employment protections has been abandoned with the cancelled Employment Bill.

We continue to press the UK Government for the full devolution of employment powers in order to allow us to fully deliver our Fair Work ambitions.

The percentage of people in employment on a zero-hours contract (ZHC) in Scotland was 2.9% in Jan-Mar 2022, lower than the UK proportion which was 3.1%. However the proportion in both Scotland and the UK increased over the year, from 2.3% for Scotland and 2.7% for the UK in Jan-Mar 2021.

We firmly oppose the inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We are using all the levers available to make Fair Work the norm in Scottish workplaces, including through our Fair Work First policy, which asks employers to commit to fair working practices including no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts.

We have also introduced a Living Hours Employer Accreditation Scheme for Scotland, recognising that as well as payment of the real Living Wage, the number and frequency of working hours and security of contract is critical to addressing in-work poverty.

No one should have to rely on charitable food provision which is why we have committed to publishing a plan on ending the need for food banks this Autumn.

We consulted on a draft plan earlier this year, which reaffirms our human rights approach – we prioritise action to prevent poverty and promote cash-first responses to hardship so that people have sufficient income to meet their needs and preferences.

Both the Trussell Trust and the Independent Food Aid Network have endorsed the cash-first approach, including through our Scottish Welfare Fund and low income pandemic supports.

Through the budget for 2022-23 the Scottish Government has allocated almost £3 billion to a range of supports that will contribute to mitigating the impact of the increased cost of living on households. This includes work to tackle child poverty, reduce inequalities and support financial wellbeing, alongside social security payments not available anywhere else in the UK.

INTOG is aligned to the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering plan-led opportunities for offshore wind and marine renewables in Scottish waters. INTOG has been designed to facilitate both targeted oil and gas decarbonisation opportunities and provide a plan led approach to allowing smaller innovation type projects to access seabed. Something that is currently unavailable.

Whilst decoupling IN and TOG processes may allow one category of applications to proceed faster, the potential for cumulative impact and the need for plan-level assessments, to ensure negative impacts are appropriately managed, would not be removed and in fact may delay and complicate the assessments unnecessarily. As such, both components of INTOG will remain combined.