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The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people are able to access the right support for their mental health without stigma, including medication where this is the most appropriate intervention.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the numbers of children and young people aged 19 and under who were prescribed antidepressants in conjunction with psychological therapy in 2019-20.

NICE guideline NG134 sets out the procedures for clinicians treating children and young people who may be experiencing instances of depression. The guidance is clear that psychological therapy and other therapeutic interventions are the first recommended treatments for children and young people experiencing mild to moderate depression. The guidance also makes clear that antidepressant medication should only be offered to a child or young person with moderate to severe depression in combination with a concurrent psychological therapy.

The numbers of children and young people being prescribed with antidepressant medication is extremely small. The latest Public Health Scotland data, shows that in 2019-20, in the 0–19 age category, 1.8% of children and young people in Scotland were prescribed anti-depressants.

We are clear that there is no place for harassment or abuse of any form, whether in the workplace, schools, in the home, or in society. That is why Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, challenges the notion that violence is inevitable or acceptable and prioritises primary prevention.

Education settings have an important role in preventing violence against women before it occurs through teaching children and young adults about healthy relationships and consent. In August 2021, we launched our ‘Equally Safe at School’ initiative which was developed with Rape Crisis Scotland, Zero Tolerance, and the University of Glasgow. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention peer education programme delivered in schools throughout Scotland seeks to enable young people to recognise and speak up against gender based violence, bullying, abusive and violent behaviour, as well as the negative societal attitudes and assumptions which underpin this behaviour.

Over the next two years, the Delivering Equally Safe Fund will invest £817,350 in the continued delivery of the national sexual violence prevention programme and the implementation of the ESAS whole school approach to preventing GBV. Furthermore, the Delivering Equally Safe funds White Ribbon Scotland £150,000 to maintain and develop projects and events which engage with men and boys to end violence against women, particularly in seeking to prevent violence before it happens.

Additionally, all higher education institutions in Scotland are expected to adopt and adapt the trauma informed Equally Safe in Higher Education Tool Kit and factor a gendered analysis into their approach to this issue. We are taking action to improve gender equality in workplaces and improve the attitudes that create the societal conditions for gender based violence to perpetuate through the employer accreditation programme Equally Safe at Work.

In Autumn 2021, Police Scotland launched the 'That Guy' sexual violence campaign across various forms of social media and TV advertisements which urged men to take responsibility and to address their behaviour as well as challenging those of their peers. The campaign stimulated conversations and turned the narrative away from preventative advice to women, towards focusing on men’s behaviour.

The Scottish Government has committed within the Programme for Government to expand the availability of the Caledonian System and increase our investment to £10 million over the next two years. The innovative and internationally recognised Caledonian System programme provides male perpetrators of domestic abuse with specific rehabilitation services to address and challenge their harmful behaviours.

The Area Based Schemes funded by the Scottish Government deliver energy efficiency improvements to fuel poor households. This does not include funding for general energy saving or energy efficiency advice, as Home Energy Scotland is available as a free and impartial service for householders across Scotland.

We require ABS projects to comply with all relevant building regulations, retrofit standards and guarantee requirements. In most cases, householders referred or invited to participate in an ABS project will receive separate technical advice about energy efficiency measures that is specific to their property. The recommendation to install an energy efficiency measure will typically be based upon the findings of a physical survey or inspection; recommendations from any relevant Energy Performance Certificate (EPC); and conform with advice on building standards. Councils will invite householders to agree to works on this basis.

To help ensure the benefit from any measures installed through ABS projects, householders will usually receive an information pack about caring for the energy efficiency improvement to their property; along with relevant product guarantees. Councils must set out the quality assurance and complaints process for their ABS projects. Typically the contracted installer and/or the manufacturer of the measure will also provide a helpline service for follow up enquiries.

During the COVID-19 pandemic we prioritised work on the Short-term lets Licensing Order and Amendment Regulations for short-term let control areas. This enabled the statutory instruments for these to be considered by the Scottish Parliament in this session and meant the review of the tax treatment of short-term lets was deferred.

We intend to recommence the tax treatment review in the coming months to ensure that short-term lets make an appropriate contribution to the communities they operate in.

Segregated waste collected for recycling is sent to either a recycling facility or a materials recovery facility to be sorted before recycling. In some cases, where waste is too contaminated to be recycled or sorted, it may be diverted to incineration or landfill.

Data on the amount packaging within waste that is too contaminated to be recycled or sorted and which is incinerated or landfilled is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme Warmer Homes Scotland offers eligible households High Heat Retention Storage Heating systems where these are technically appropriate for the property. Households may also be offered micro-generation measures, such as Micro-hydro, Micro-wind or Solar PV and/or domestic battery storage systems where these are technically feasible. Local councils can also provide high heat retention storage heaters and microgeneration measures as part of their Area Based Schemes.

Households that are not eligible for help as part of our fuel poverty programmes can apply for a Scottish Government loan via Home Energy Scotland. Help is available with the costs of purchasing and installing an electric heating system (warm air units or high heat retention electric storage heaters). Loans of up to £5,000 are available (£4,600 loan plus £400 cashback). Households can also apply for up to two home renewables systems per home as part of an overall loan package worth up to £17,500.

In addition we offer funding for energy efficiency measures up to £15,000 (including a maximum cashback amount of £6,000). More information about the cashback and loans available from the Scottish Government is published on the Home Energy Scotland website.

The Scottish Government welcomed the recommendations of the Overton Report on Deepening Collaboration on Food and Drink in Scotland, including the recommended physical co-location of key personnel within food and drink industry leadership bodies and the public sector. These recommendations have informed how the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership has evolved over time and helped foster deeper collaboration and integration across the public and private sectors to achieve common goals. Scotland Food and Drink and Seafood Scotland are now co-located at Ratho Park.

While the impacts of COVID have created a demanding operating environment for businesses, home and hybrid working arrangements have also facilitated much closer working between the bodies that make up the Partnership and removed physical location as a barrier to collaboration.

The funding allocation to the E-bike Loan Fund, and unallocated funds for the financial year 2021-22 up until December 2021 is summarised in the following table.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) came into being as a national service on 1 April 2013. In its first year of operation (2013-14) employment statistics were collated by the Scottish Government and in that year SFRS had 7690 FTE employees at 31 March 2014. For reporting year 2014-15 and onwards, SFRS has been responsible for producing these statistics and employment figures are published annually on the SFRS website www.firescotland.gov.uk as part of its Organisational Statistics.

Prior to 2013-14 fire and rescue services were provided by the 8 regional fire and rescue services which formed part of local government. Statistics on the number of employees in these services is not held centrally.

New homes built to a standard which results in lower energy demand and emissions than are achieved under current regulations would make a positive contribution to achieving Scotland's climate targets.

Accordingly, consideration of the performance and processes of Passivhaus and similar standards remains a topic within the ongoing review of Scottish building regulations. We intend to publish revised standards in April, which will apply from October this year. Discussion on further change beyond 2022 will also continue.