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The priority for the new National Public Energy Agency will be to accelerate the transformational change in how we heat and use energy in homes and buildings in Scotland. We need to see the decarbonisation of heating systems of 1 million homes and 50,000 non-domestic premises between now and 2030.

We remain supportive of the future potential for a public energy company in Scotland - and, through the Agency, will support others with an interest in exploring options to take this forward, including those with a local focus.

Development of the agency will be a collective effort, requiring input from a range of stakeholders across the public, private and third sectors. We will continue working collaboratively with local authorities as part of this process, given their key role in supporting local heat and energy efficiency measures. This will facilitate existing shared ambitions to further empower local communities and to develop new zero carbon heating solutions to be rolled out through both national support, and regional and local approaches.

The £10m Tenant Grant Fund is part of a package of measures available to local authorities to prevent homelessness, alongside other support such as Discretionary Housing Payments and advice on maximising income. The grant will co-exist alongside the £10 million Tenant Hardship Loan Fund and be open to eligible private and social tenants.

As there is no one single solution, both the loan and grant can provide support to different people in different circumstances, to assist them during the pandemic recovery period.

The Grant is available for local authorities, who can consider all the circumstances and support available, to pay rent arrears for those most in need with the aim of preventing homelessness and creating sustainable tenancies.

In comparison, the Loan fund will continue to offer loans responsibly to applicants who can demonstrate that they can afford to make future loan repayments spread over a number of years. The loan is not suitable for all but, where it is, the interest free terms and long repayment period can help tenants who are struggling but not necessarily at risk of losing their tenancy, to get back on their feet.

We want people to access the most appropriate form of support for them and encourage tenants in difficulty to seek advice and assistance on their housing circumstances as soon as possible.

Any decisions to scale back elective activity, including decisions to cancel consultant clinics, are being taken on an evidence basis and where the need to support COVID-19 patients and provide urgent care exceeds capacity for elective care.

However, the NHS in Scotland continues to work to deliver appointments in new and innovative ways to avoid as many cancellations as possible. For example, Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT), which is being supported within NHS Scotland via the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, enables Senior Clinicians to triage patients to the most appropriate pathway for their individual needs. For example, some patients will receive written clinical information outlining treatment options, including self-care and the option to ‘opt in’ for a face-to-face discussion if required (e.g. EQuIP pathway for Inguinal Hernia). Other patients, where appropriate, will be offered a virtual consultation or may be sent straight onto a diagnostic test. By embedding the ACRT process within routine care, it will support clinical prioritisation and enable services to provide patients with the optimum pathway to meet their needs, and lead to fewer appointments being cancelled.

Importantly, ACRT also facilitates the continuous monitoring of patients awaiting review e.g. Endoscopy Services continue to validate both new and routine waiting lists using a 3-stage validation and clinical guidelines where appropriate.

The Net Zero Technology Centre has not provided any funding directly for the benefit of any of the three Operators in question.

The Net Zero Technology Centre model provides funding for developers with a prerequisite that the project has industry support in order to provide match funding, industry engagement and access to the facilities and expertise that is required to prove the technology. This is in line with the Business Case approved as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal, in which joint Government funding of £180m over ten years was to be matched by industry and academia to a target amount of £174.1m.

No date has been set to close the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund (THLF) to new applicants. The THLF will continue to be part of the range of support available for tenants, alongside the Tenant Grant Fund, to help those struggling to pay their rent due to the pandemic.

We are taking forward a number of recommendations made by the Short Life Working Group on Ventilation in order to improve airflow in settings where transmission of Covid-19 is most likely to occur. As the First Minister stated when she announced this £25 million package of funding, the support will focus on the hospitality and leisure sectors although the specific sectors and premises that will be eligible for financial support through this fund is still being determined and community halls are being actively considered as part of this process.

The Scottish Government’s draft Heat in Buildings Strategy proposed that any regulations requiring the installation of zero emissions heating systems would be phased in, with all building owners being required to comply by 2045.

The draft Strategy specified that it may be appropriate to require earlier compliance from, for example, those using high emissions fuels like heating oil or coal (which are more prevalent in off-gas grid areas).

The draft Strategy was subject to consultation from 5 February to 30 April 2021, and questions 48 and 49 specifically asked for views on the regulatory actions and timescales proposed.

An analysis of the consultation responses can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802014464 .

As set out in our final Heat in Buildings Strategy, published on 7 October 2021, the Scottish Government will consult in further detail on our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating systems during 2022.

The NHS Recovery Plan, launched on 25 August and backed by over £1 billion of additional investment, strives to recover NHS performance over the 5 years of this Parliament in order to ensure Treatment Time Guarantees and other waiting time standards can be met by every Health Board across Scotland.

Dealing with the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic has resulted in the most significant challenge in 73 year existence of the NHS.

While it is not possible to anticipate when NHS Scotland will begin meeting the TTG in all instances, we know that it will take time and a series of targeted actions to build back capacity and redesign patient pathways to bring waiting times back within targets.

The National Services Division (NSD) in NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) have commissioning responsibility for the Scottish Genetic Laboratories. NSD are currently conducting a review of NHS Scotland’s genomics services which will include reviewing the Scottish genomic test directory and genomics infrastructure. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the 2021–2022 financial year.

The outcomes from the review will be considered by the Scottish Genomics Leadership Group, chaired jointly by Professor David Crossman, the Chief Scientist for Health for the Scottish Government, and Susan Buchanan, NSD Director, who are supporting the Scottish Government in ensuring appropriate planning and robust decision-making processes are in place for genetic testing availability in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has met all four Rail unions on a number of occasions recently, but union representatives have not chosen to use those meetings to discuss ScotRail’s Fit for the Future document.