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The Scottish Government intends to allocate up to £5.1m per annum to cover the costs of the advocacy provision over a four year period. All of the funding is provided for the establishment and operation of the new service. However, this is a demand-led service and until it has been operational over a period of time it will not be possible to develop a detailed breakdown of when funding will be drawn down.

To ensure continuous improvement of the service, and to inform the next procurement exercise, we will monitor demand and review expenditure over the contract period. Subsequently, the contract value will be updated in the Public Contracts Register ahead of any extension or retendering for this contract.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05411 on 24 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As I outlined yesterday at General Questions, in response to question S6O-00653, we intend to bring forward a ban on glue traps in Scotland.

My full answer can be found here .

The Scottish Government has today announced an Independent Chair is to be appointed to oversee a Review of Audiology Services in Scotland.

The appointee will provide leadership to a National Audiology Review Group established to examine hearing services provided to both children and adults in Health Boards across Scotland.

As I have previously stated to Parliament, it is vital that we are confident in the quality and effectiveness of our audiology service in Scotland. To do this, we need to identify any potential wider issues and what recommendations need to be taken forward across NHS Scotland to ensure our audiology service is fit for purpose and support our commitment to the needs of children and people living with a sensory impairment.

The group will provide recommendations for a national plan for improvement.

The Scottish Government will provide a further update to Parliament detailing the remit of the review, its membership and timetable for reporting once an appointment has been made.

The First Minister announced on 17 December that funding will be made available to businesses in the food and drink chain supply chain, including food and drink wholesalers, who were affected by hospitality cancellations as a result of the additional public health measures introduced in December.

We are in the process of developing funding criteria and guidance in collaboration with the Scottish Wholesale Association, and we will ensure this information is publicised widely as soon as we can so that businesses can consider whether they may be eligible to apply.

As Alasdair Allan is aware, since becoming Transport Minister, I have been determined to ensure the views, knowledge and experience of island residents informs the delivery of ferry and other relevant transport services. I am clear that I would very much favour an island-based presence on the boards of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd and David MacBrayne Ltd. I understand the disappointment that the most recent round of appointments did not address such concerns therefore I have tasked the new Chair of the David MacBrayne board with exploring how we might achieve this, as one of his first priorities.

This information is not currently available. Our Charity partners were given a deadline of 17 January to return their reports on ScotSpirit Activity processed up until the end of the year (2021). We are still waiting for a few partners to return their data and this is being actively followed up.

I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib 63108)

sport scotland’s budget for 2022-23 is currently in development and is subject to financial arrangements for 2022-23 agreed between Scottish Government and sport scotland.

However, at this stage sport scotland does not expect to have any expenditure against a tennis facility at Park of Keir in 2021-22. Consequently, sport scotland intends to retain the same budget allocation for a tennis facility at Park of Keir in 2022-23 as in 2021-22 (as outlined in response to S6W-05651 on 20 January 2022).

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, Youth Employment and Training met with Amazon on 2 September 2021. In his previous role as Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills he met Amazon on several occasions to discuss Fair Work issues, emphasising the benefits of Fair Work for both Amazon staff and the organisation.

The Scottish Government remains committed to promoting Fair Work across the economy and encourages all employers to adopt fair work practices, including paying workers at least the real Living Wage and providing appropriate channels for effective voice, such as trade union recognition.

The recommendation that fertility treatment for unvaccinated patients be deferred at the current time was made on the grounds of safety. There is robust published evidence of increased risks of morbidity, risk of severe illness and poorer outcomes from COVID-19 for unvaccinated pregnant women and their babies (including preterm birth and stillbirth), increasing virus incidence and uncertainties about the Omicron variant on pregnant women. The lead Clinicians in the NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland had also raised their concerns.

All patients currently having treatment temporarily deferred will have the deferral time added back on to their treatment journey to ensure that no patient loses out on treatment. We recognise this is particularly important for women who are approaching the upper end of the age limit for IVF treatment.

With the exception of a short period of time at the beginning of the pandemic when, on the instruction of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA - the UK fertility regulator), fertility treatment was ‘paused’ in all NHS and private facilities across the UK as a precautionary measure, all four NHS Assisted Conception Units in Scotland have remained open throughout the pandemic. All patients on the waiting list while treatment was paused had an additional 6 months added to their treatment journey. This ensured that women close to the upper age limit for NHS IVF treatment were not disadvantaged.