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Grants towards the cost of flood resilient repairs and/or protection measures for individual homes are available from some local authorities. For example, the Scottish Borders Council make flood protection products available through a discount scheme. Further details are available through the attached link FINAL_Subsidised_Flood_Protection_Products_June_2021 (1).pdf or from the Council.

The Scottish Flood Forum, a charity funded by the Scottish Government, can provide households with informed impartial help and guidance in making the best choice of property flood protection. They can arrange a community Property Flood Protection Exhibition to show householders what options are available to help them reduce flood risks at homes and can arrange to carry out assessments of individual homes on request.

In recognition of the importance of reducing flood risk the Scottish Government has provided, since 2008, a total of £42 million a year through the General Capital Grant to local authorities to allow them to invest in flood protection measures. In addition the 2020 Programme for Government committed an additional £150 million over the course of this Parliament for flood risk management actions.

Scottish Government officials have been in contact with the UK Government to ensure that North Ayrshire Council and other stakeholders have the opportunity to discuss the decision taken to locate the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production programme at a West Burton site, in North Nottinghamshire.

We understand that the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, are conducting follow up sessions with each of the unsuccessful sites, including Ardeer.

Funding provided through the Youth Music Initiative Formula Fund by Creative Scotland, who deliver the initiative on behalf of the Scottish Government, was paused and then confirmed to all 32 local authorities and Jordanhill School. This was related to the management of the 2022-23 Scottish Budget. The Scottish Government’s Resource Spending Review in May 2022 related to future years’ spending.

Screen Scotland, the dedicated public sector agency for the film and television industry in Scotland which is funded by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery, has supported a total of 1,964 trainees between March 2021 and September 2022.

In this time, Screen Scotland has awarded a total of £3.3m through a Targeted Skills Fund and Professional Development Fund. This commitment to developing a skilled and diverse workforce has seen 1,889 people supported, with an average of £1,750 invested in each person looking to enter or step up within the screen sector.

In addition, Screen Scotland’s Production Growth Fund also incentivises the creative of traineeships. 75 trainees were offered training through productions such as Good Omens S2, The Rig and The Lost King.

As part of the second year of the National Transition Training Fund, which ran from April 2021 to August 2022, and as part of support for creative industries recovering from the impact of the pandemic, the RESET Screen Scotland was co-designed, co-funded, and delivered in partnership with Creative Scotland, through which two programmes were delivered by Screen Scotland.

Overall 28 interns were supported through the Animation, VFX, and Games Internship programme which aimed to give those made unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic an opportunity to retrain for these industries, through a 10-month programme of training and paid industry work placements.

A total of 21 individuals benefitted from an Introduction to Production Accounting, which offered those made unemployed during the Covid-19 pandemic an opportunity to gain practical training in production accounting across the film and TV sector, allowing individuals to develop skills through a 2-day course.

There were a total of 72 Modern Apprenticeship starts in the year 2021-22, related to the Scottish screen industries.

The Scottish Government continues to work with the sector, stakeholders and the scientific community to explore practical ways to address interactions between salmon and seals in rivers.

In spring 2021 Scottish Government in partnership with Crown Estate Scotland published a report which reviewed measures that have been adopted globally and which could assist in developing non-lethal strategies to address seal predation on salmonids in Scottish rivers, as well as setting out a number of assessments and recommendations for use of, or further development of, specific measures - Review of non-lethal seal control options to limit seal predation on salmonids in rivers and at finfish farms | Marine Scotland Data Publications .

Building on the recommendations of the report, the Scottish Government continues to support practical work to investigate and develop non-lethal deterrent tools for use by wild salmonid fisheries. This is an ongoing work programme and, progress reports can be found on the Sea Mammal Research Unit’s Marine Mammal Scientific Support to Scottish Government | SMRU (st-andrews.ac.uk) .

Scottish Ministers remain committed to a Short Life Working Group specifically to consider the adoption of OCT equipment in optometry practices.

However that Group is yet to be established pending a review of policy plans following the outcome of the 2022-23 Emergency Budget Review.

The calculation of the average water charge in Scotland for 2022-23 was done prior to the start of the current financial year (in February 2022), and is therefore a forecast, which was based on the expected average charges for 2021-22, uprated by the 2022-23 charge increase (4.2%).

The relevant figures that were used to calculate the forecast average charges for 2022-23 were:

? water revenue - net of applicable discounts, exemptions and reductions - £442.7m arising from 2.53m household water properties giving an average water charge of £175.05 and

? wastewater revenue – net of applicable discounts, exemptions and reductions - £486.4m arising from 2.43m household wastewater customers giving an average wastewater charge of £200.40.

Each of these averages was increased by the 4.2% increase in household charges to arrive at an average charge for a household with both water and wastewater services of £391.20 in 2022-23.

The total value of household discounts, exemptions and reductions in 2021-22 was £182m.

The national standardised assessments are designed to be age and stage appropriate, and as inclusive as possible: there is no time limit for their completion; learners can undertake the assessments in more than one session; the system is compatible with a range of devices and assistive technologies; and teachers have the flexibility to decide how and when assessments are administered. As such, we expect most primary one learners to undertake the assessments, as has been the case in previous years*. As always, teachers’ presentation decisions should be made after considering the individual needs and wellbeing of children, the diagnostic purpose of national standardised assessment and the way in which teachers and schools intend to use information.

* 2019/20 exception, due to COVID-19 related school closures.

The Scottish Government remains committed to achieving elimination of Hepatitis C across the whole of Scotland by 2024.

This includes the prison population. However, we know that the health needs of those in prison can be complex and may need more targeted intervention.

Opt-out testing for blood borne viruses, including hepatitis C, is recommended in prisons and PHS published “Guidance to Support Opt-Out Blood Borne Virus (BBV) Testing in Scottish Prisons” in 2019. This guidance recommends that BBV testing should be offered to everyone within 7 days of entering custody. The guidance is due to be reviewed later this year and that review, in combination with the work underway to re-invigorate progress towards the wider elimination target, will ensure there remains a focus on eliminating hepatitis C in Scottish prisons.

Scottish Government officials are in regular communications with public partners including SEPA, South Ayrshire Council, and The King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer.

In addition to the regular communication, officials from Scottish Government have met representatives from SEPA, and South Ayrshire Council on the following occasions: 1 July 2020, 8 December 2020, 4 February 2021, 22 March 2021, 28 January 2022, 15 February 2022, 3 March 2022 and 29 June 2022. Further meetings will also be held shortly.