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Based on NRS and ONS data, the number of international migrants who have settled in Scotland in the last 10 years, and comparative UK data, is:

IJBs were given a funding allocation in 2021-22 to support a range of Covid pressures. This was a ring fenced allocation specifically for Covid.

There have been a number of significant changes to Public Health policies in relation to Covid over the summer, resulting in the profile of Covid spend reducing significantly compared to when funding was provided to IJBs.

In response to this, we communicated the action to reclaim surplus Covid reserves to be redistributed across the sector to meet current Covid priorities. We will continue to work with IJBs to understand their financial forecasts and further detail will be communicated later in the financial year. The detail will follow at an IJB level and the process and timetable will follow through further communications.

Despite the area of telecommunications being wholly reserved to the UK Parliament under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Government has already stepped in and taken the lead in addressing poor broadband coverage, given its economic importance to Scotland.

Through initiatives such as the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) and Reaching 100% (R100) programmes, we have connected almost one million properties to faster broadband right across Scotland.

Our R100 programme ensures that all homes and businesses can access a superfast broadband connection delivered through the £600 million R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme or commercial coverage.

This would be an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and is subject to the formal administration process.

We have sought information both on the substance of the UK Government’s policy and on its proposed approach to discussing a possible model for Scotland: we await clarity on both fronts.

We know that the global pandemic and the lockdowns implemented to restrict the spread of the virus have had significant impact on many people with learning disabilities who were unable to access the support and community connections that they usual rely upon.

Assessments were carried out before any measure were put in place, to ensure this was the appropriate action to save lives, and during and after the restriction period to assess the impact on people’s mental health.

We have been working with partners and those with lived experience to deliver our Learning/Intellectual Disabilities and Autism: Towards Transformation Plan, which was published in March 2021. This includes actions to shape supports, services and attitudes to ensure that the human rights of people with learning disabilities are respected and protected and that they are empowered to live their lives, the same as everyone else.

We fund the Scottish Learning Disability Observatory (SLDO) to carry out research, including on the impact of the pandemic. We will continue to work closely with the SLDO to fully understand the actions required to address the research findings.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are engaging via a new leadership and engagement framework that puts people’s voices and experiences firmly at its heart. The first topic chosen by people with lived experience was mental health, following the impact of the pandemic. People with a learning disability have conducted their own peer research, including accounts of how the pandemic affected them and their families. They are currently progressing solutions and improvements based on their experiences.

We have also commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to gather and provide insights into different approaches to the redesign of learning disability day services in recognition of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created. In October 2020, the New Models of Learning Disability Day Support Collaborative was launched. The collaborative works with Health and Social Care Partnerships to develop their current service provision in line with Keys to Life outcomes whilst taking into account learning from working through the pandemic.

Budgets have been realigned to take into account the updated plan agreed between the Scottish Government and our R100 delivery partner, Openreach, following on from the 19 August announcement that coverage through the R100 North contract has been extended. This plan will see Openreach align the delivery of the R100 contracts alongside the commercial work that they carry out on a day-to-day basis. This does mean that some properties will receive access earlier than planned, while some properties will receive access later than planned. The £16 million referenced in the Emergency Budget Review is still expected to be spent as part of the overall R100 contracts.

Our address checker at https://www.scotlandsuperfast.com remains the best way to track the most up-to-date connectivity status of individual properties, including the most recent plans and timescales for R100 contract build for eligible properties.

The Scottish Government has received no request for financial assistance.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of day services to adults with learning disabilities, their families and carers. Decisions about individual services are made by local authorities. However, the Scottish Government maintains regular contact with local authorities to encourage and support the re-opening of services. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care wrote to all local authorities and Health and Social Care partnerships on 25th May 2022 requesting that they undertake a survey of registered day centre services in their area with a view to identifying which services have re-opened, which have only partially opened (or opened with reduced capacity), and why. The purpose of this was to gain insight into the challenges around re-opening and capacity to inform the development of Scottish Government policy advice and guidance.

The findings from the survey identified that Covid-19 restrictions such as physical distancing, which were in place at the time were a barrier to services returning to full capacity. Covid-19 guidance for building-based day services was updated in both May and September and there is no longer a requirement for physical distancing between services users or staff. The survey also identified challenges in relation to the workforce. These exist across social care and work is under way to improve recruitment to the sector. This has included funding to extend the Myjobscotland website, the creation of a recruitment portal with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), and working with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) colleagues to host a series of social care job fairs across Scotland.

The survey will be repeated in November 2022 in order to establish how much progress has been made towards increasing capacity since the original survey was undertaken.

The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns any form of hatred or prejudice, it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Cross-Party Report on Tackling Islamophobia shines a light on the impact of anti-Muslim hatred in Scotland and we are considering its findings as we develop a new hate crime strategy for Scotland.

I established the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group to provide collective cross-sectoral strategic leadership in the development of a new strategy. It will set out our priorities for tackling hatred and prejudice in Scotland and support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. Members of the group include justice and public sector agencies, as well as Age Scotland, Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS), Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO), Equality and Human Rights Commission (Observer), Equality Network, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Interfaith Scotland, RespectMe, Scottish Human Rights Commission (Observer) and YouthLink Scotland.

Importantly, the strategy will be informed by communities with lived experience of hate crime – including religious and racially motivated hate crime – and members of our Strategic Partnership Group are actively engaging with communities, to understand their experiences.

We are absolutely committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, including those experienced by Sikhs, Hindus and other South Asians.