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Arjowiggins has in the past received SE loans totalling £12m, equity investment of £100,000 and grant funding totalling £163,400.

Breakdown of funding:

£ 12m loans and £100,000 equity* :

• £7m loan/equity in July 2019 to support the management buy-out of the company (comprised of £6.9m loan and £100,000 equity investment)
• £3.5m loan in July 2020 as gap funding required due to Covid-19 impacts
• £1.6m loan in January 2022 to help the company mitigate numerous cost pressures (material costs, energy costs and Covid-19 impacts)
• *PLUS £4,000.091 accrued interest to date (as of September 2022)
• £163,400 in grants (all conditions met so not eligible for claw-back):
• £125,000 environmental aid for predevelopment work on Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant replacement projects
• £16,000 towards an energy efficiency audit
• £5,000 Financial Readiness grant (pre MBO) to help fund financial projections and investment appraisals for a combined heat and power energy plant on the site.
• £14,808 Workplace Innovation grant (pre MBO) to assist the company with the introduction of a management development programme following a senior management team restructure.
• £2,592 consultancy support (pre-MBO) to explore succession options and explore the feasibility of employee ownership

There has been no change to the programme timeline.

The average number of FTE staff employed by the Scottish Information Commissioner in the last five years broken down into the total number of staff employed and those employed for the purpose of handling FOI request appeals is set out in the table below.

(1) The figures include all members of the Commissioner’s Enforcement Team which handle FOI request appeals made to the Commissioner.  The Enforcement Team consists of the Head of Enforcement, Deputy Heads of Enforcement, Freedom of Information Officers (Investigators), Validation Officers, and the Enforcement Team Support Assistant. 

The budget allocated to the Scottish Information Commissioner in the last five years is set out in the table below.

The content of the Cancer Strategy is still being developed, however, a Breast Screening Modernisation Programme has been established which will drive forward work around the 17 recommendations that were included in the Major Review of the Breast Screening Programme, published May 2022 – Scottish Breast Screening Programme: major review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

A Breast Screening Modernisation Programme Board has also been established with an independent chair – Dr Marzi Davies. The work of this Board will strengthen the breast screening programme and address inequalities, including additional support and equal access for all.

As part of the response to the cost crisis, the Scottish Government has engaged closely with business organisations, industry groups and individual businesses to hear their concerns during this significantly challenging time.

As noted in the Emergency Budget Statement on 2 October, this crisis is unprecedented; since the advent of devolution Scotland has not faced a situation that has combined the significant reduction in the Scottish Government's spending power with the massive impact of the cost crisis on households, businesses, public services and the third sector. We are constrained by both the limitations on our powers and on our budgets. This is why the Scottish Government has consistently called for more support from the UK Government to businesses.

Nevertheless, we committed to looking at what we do have devolved competence over, such as devolved regulation. That is why the Deputy First Minister announced that we will be establishing a Joint Regulatory Taskforce with COSLA, local authorities, regulatory agencies and businesses. This will support and drive early progress towards meeting our commitments in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation to review and improve the process of developing, implementing and reviewing regulation to meet our economic and societal aims. Reviewing regulatory burdens on business will be a critical component of this work and we will seek to balance the essential role that regulation plays on driving innovation and achieving economic, societal and environmental goals with the concerns that businesses have expressed about the impact of new regulations during the cost crisis. The intention is to bring members together as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of the year.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally as it is a matter for Regional Screening Centres.

Self-referral appointments have begun in a careful, phased manner. At present, women aged 71 to 74 (up to their 75 th birthday), and women over 75 with a history of breast cancer, who have completed their hospital follow-up, can ask for a screening appointment.

The screening programme recognises the desire for clarity around when eligibility will be widened. However, it is essential to understand the impact the initial re-instatement is having on both programme capacity and overall wait times before any decisions on additional eligibility are taken. The programme is monitoring impact on an on-going basis, and I will provide an update to Parliament once any further decisions on expansion are possible.

This information is not collected by Scottish Government.

We do collect information for the number of people accommodated on the MS Victoria. This is published in our monthly statistics on our website. The latest publication was on 20 October 2022 and can be found via: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/pages/welcome-accommodation/

The procedure for handling complaints by civil servants about a current or former minister’s behaviour will be updated to improve transparency. The Deputy First Minister will discuss the updates to the procedure and the Ministerial Code with the Finance and Public Administration Committee on 22 November 2022.

In future, where the outcome is upheld or partially upheld, Ministers will be named and the outcome of the complaint published, together with an appropriately redacted version of the decision report.

The privacy and confidentiality of complainants and witnesses remain fundamental to the process. Any information that could lead to their identity being disclosed will be redacted.

The procedure applies to all Scottish Government staff and civil servants working in the Scottish Government’s executive agencies. Information on the number of formal complaints will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website every six months.

In cases where a complaint is not upheld, the Minister's name and the outcome will be published for a period of six months.

Changes to the Ministerial complaints procedure will come into effect by the end of the year.

The Scottish Ministerial Code is being updated to take account of the updated procedure and will be published in due course.

The Childsmile Programme is designed to help improve the oral health of children in Scotland and is delivered through a range of measures. The Childsmile Core Programme is available throughout Scotland and is introduced to families by their Health Visitor. Every child in Scotland is provided with a dental pack containing a toothbrush and toothpaste on at least six occasions by the age of five and can receive twice-yearly applications of fluoride varnish from the age of 2.

Childsmile School and Nursery ensures that all 3 and 4 year old children attending nursery are offered free, daily, supervised toothbrushing. Those children in the 20 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland are also able to receive an additional twice-yearly fluoride varnish applications by Childsmile dental teams in nurseries and schools until at least primary 4.

More information on the Childsmile programme can be found at: https://www.child-smile.org.uk/index.aspx .