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The purpose of the consultation document, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation, is to seek views on a range of proposals for land-related reforms, including specific measures that could be included in the next Land Reform Bill. As part of that, views are sought on criteria that could be used to classify landholdings as 'large-scale'.

The criteria put forward for consultation in the document are based on the principle of proportionality. They are:

a. A fixed threshold of 3000 hectares

b. Land that accounts for more than a fixed percentage of a data zone (or adjacent data zones) or local authority ward(s) designated as an Accessible Rural Area or Remote Rural Area, through our six-fold urban/rural classification scheme

c. Land that accounts for more than a specified minimum proportion of a permanently inhabited island.

Meeting one or more of these criteria would mean that a landholding would be considered 'large-scale'.

The proposal to set the fixed threshold at 3000 hectares reflects a suggestion made by the Scottish Land Commission that the 'aim should be to establish a threshold that would ensure that family farms and small businesses would not fall in scope, but that modest estates that could pose risks [of harm to the public interest] would.'

As set out in the consultation document, the proposed threshold of 3000 hectares has been informed by data held on land and property titles by the Registers of Scotland, and the Scottish Government's Integrated Administration and Control System (which records data on all businesses with agricultural and non-agricultural land in Scotland that receive public subsidies.) Based on this data we consider that setting the threshold of 3000 hectares would be proportionate, in that it would bring into the scope of measures proposed for the Bill a substantial proportion of land in Scotland, while affecting a very small proportion of landowners, few of whom would be considered 'family farms'.

No local authority has submitted a request seeking an extension to the deadline of 1 October for establishing short-term let licensing schemes in their area. Officials remain in regular dialogue with local authorities in the lead up to schemes opening.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collects and analyses data relating to the provision of further and higher education in Scotland. Table 1 below highlights data from SFC showing both the recommended and actual intakes to pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes, broken down by year from 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Nursing and Midwifery at the Open University in Scotland (OUiS) were funded through the SFC for the first time in 2021-22. As such figures for the SFC Early Statistics Collection are only available in 2021-22 and have been provided separately in Table 2.

Table 1

The water and sewerage charges exemption scheme is open to charities which have an income of less than £300,000. Eligibility is assessed based on gross income information as obtained from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and there are no disregards in respect of capital grants or restricted income. This position was agreed in light of a public consultation and reflects the fact that in many cases restricted income/capital grants are not clearly set out in annual accounts.

In recognition that restricted income such as grants or asset disposals would elevate, temporarily, a charity’s income, the income threshold for eligibility was increased from £65,000 to £200,000 for full exemption and £300,000 for partial exemption. Setting a higher income threshold ensures that the administrative costs of the scheme are kept to a minimum as there is no need for individual assessments to be made in relation to the nature of the restricted income. Furthermore, as charities are required to submit annual applications, this means that if an organisation does not qualify in one financial year, it will not be prevented from applying in future years should it meet the criteria of the scheme.

Scottish Ministers determine windfarm proposals exceeding 50 megawatts under the Electricity Act (1989) which is reserved to UK Government.

Local planning authorities are statutory consultees under the Electricity Act and their capacity to scrutinise large scale windfarm proposals varies across planning authorities. The Scottish Government is working with planning authorities to understand where capacity needs to be bolstered and is supporting planning authorities to increase capacity where it is needed most. As such, there has been no formal analysis of capacity across all planning authorities.

As the First Minister noted in her statement to the Scottish Parliament on the Programme for Government on 6 September 2022, the Scottish Government’s commitment to the full-parliament plans set out in last year’s Programme for Government - and in the Bute House Agreement - stands.

Under the Bute House Agreement, Ministers and Scottish Green Group portfolio holders hold regular liaison meetings as well as regular stocktake meetings with me, in my capacity as Deputy First Minister, and the wider Green Group of MSPs.

In line with the commitment in the Cooperation Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group, Patrick Harvie MSP and Lorna Slater MSP both attended Cabinet meetings on 26 April 2022 and 16 August 2022 where the Bute House Agreement was discussed.

I have recently written to local authority Housing Conveners and Chief Executives to remind them of their duty to establish short-term let licensing schemes by 1 October 2022, and we continue to work with local authorities on implementation matters as they prepare to open licence schemes in their areas by this date.

The University of Strathclyde has been commissioned to undertake critical evaluation of early adopter sites to inform wider roll-out, ensuring learnings from the first three Services are embedded, working towards equitable access across NHS Scotland, as set out in the NHS Recovery Plan.

In the meantime, officials are working with Boards to open additional early adopter sites.

Recruitment will be undertaken by the host Board, and will be dependent on their locally agreed pathway and resourcing requirements.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting and growing our nursing and midwifery workforce. That is why student nurses and midwives entering Scottish Government funded degree programmes will increase by 8.7% in 2022-23, to a total recommended target intake of 4837 nursing and midwifery students.

Universities are continuing their recruitment for programmes commencing in the 2022-23 academic year. Final data on the number of placed applicants on nursing and midwifery programmes commencing in the 2022-23 academic year will not be available until January 2023.

Three Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) – formerly known as Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC) – have been opened in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Fife. An interim report on the rollout of RCDC's is expected shortly and are actively considering further rollout of Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services.

All Boards have recruited both medical and non-medical staff to manage the new referral pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms, including navigators who support patients from the point of referral.

Recruitment for clinical services is the responsibility of individual Boards and it is therefore for them to provide specific details.