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With the statutory procedures completed, Transport Scotland is progressing through the necessary governance approval procedures that require to be completed before any procurement process for the A737 Improvements at Beith project could begin. Once this process is complete, The Transport Minister will write to the member with an update on plans for delivery of the project.

Later this year we will consult on our Low Income Winter Heating Assistance which we plan to introduce next winter.

We want people to have benefits they can rely on so this new £50 benefit will replace the unstable Cold Weather Payment provided by the DWP. The payment will bring stability and security for around 400,000 low income households who will now be able to rely on getting help with their fuel bills every winter and not rely on it being cold enough for long enough to get a payment.

This benefit is a clear example of where we are using our limited powers over social security to improve the lives of people and increase their incomes.

I have agreed a joint statement with the BMA on face to face appointments that will be published later today.

As they have for many years, face-to-face appointments form part of a hybrid model also including video and telephone consultations. While we all aspire to return to greater availability of face-to-face, many patients will also wish to continue with telephone or video consultations. In joint communication with the BMA I have set out my expectation that recent changes to guidance should result in an increase in GP face-to-face appointments.

Rather than setting an arbitrary return date, what is most important is that appointments are agreed through shared decision making, balancing patient choice and clinical judgement.

By the end of 2021, we will have allocated over £1 billion since 2009 to tackling fuel poverty and improving energy efficiency, including £114 million this year alone.

We continue to invest in our Warmer Homes Scotland and Area-Based Schemes (ABS). This year we have increased funding for both schemes to a record £50 million for Warmer Homes Scotland (an increase from £32 million in 2020-21) and £64 million for our local authority led Area Based Schemes (an increase of £9m compared with 20-21).

Area Based Schemes (ABS) are designed and delivered by local councils targeting areas with higher levels of fuel poverty. Since starting in 2013 our ABS programme has primarily funded insulation improvements to over 100,000 harder to treat properties (complex cavity and solid wall construction). Since April 2021 our Area Based Schemes have included additional funding to provide low carbon and micro-generation measures as part of a whole house approach.

Our national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland, is designed to help those living in, or at risk of, fuel poverty through installing insulation and heating measures to individual homes. The scheme recommends low-carbon measures first, alongside a package of fabric measures, to increase the energy efficiency of the property and decrease carbon emissions. The scheme is being delivered on a regional basis by Warmworks (including a separate Islands region) to ensure that all households in Scotland receive the same level of service. Grant levels within the scheme have been increased to encourage the installation of air source heat pumps and external wall insulation together to cover the cost of these high cost measures.

We also continue to fund Home Energy Scotland to provide free and impartial advice on how to reduce bills and make homes warmer and cheaper to heat.

Home Energy Scotland Loans are available to homeowners who live in the property they own and to self-builders.. Loans are available for both energy efficiency measures and renewables measures with up to 40% and 75% cashback grants respectively.

Transport Scotland officials are in regular contact with the Department for Transport regarding bus service provision and issues impacting on bus driver numbers. Discussions, which are ongoing, seek to identify and address issues delaying licence applications and driver testing to ensure timely recruitment and training processes. Officials will remain closely engaged with Department for Transport officials as this work progresses.

Since June 2020 the Scottish Government has made up to £210 million in additional financial support available to enable bus operators to continue to run services during the pandemic. It is for individual operators to lead dialogue with trade unions and to determine pay arrangements with their employees. Scottish Government funding is provided on a not for profit basis and any pay increases for staff would need to be funded by bus operators through efficiencies or any reserves they may have accrued prior to the pandemic.

Our Commitment to Childminding , published in January 2021, sets out how the Scottish Government will continue to work with partners to promote childminding as a positive career choice and as a choice for parents and carers when they decide the most appropriate childcare option for their family.

This includes promoting childminding careers by working with employability bodies, including the Department of Work and Pensions and Skills Development Scotland, and exploring the opportunities to ensure that Early Learning and Childcare students are exposed to the career options of childminding within student placements during the course of their study.

The Scottish Government will continue to monitor trends in the number of childminding services and to ensure that our approach reflects the evidence obtained from the recently published Financial Sustainability Health Check . We also want to ensure that childminders continue to play a vital role in ongoing delivery of the 1140 programme and in how we implement our new Programme for Government Commitments for one and two year olds over the course of this Parliament.

The Care Inspectorate for Scotland are responsible for setting and reviewing the ratios for all childcare setting in Scotland. Usually, childminders can care for a maximum of eight children at any one time under the age of 16 years, of whom a maximum of six children will be under 12 years, no more than three children will be under primary school age, and only one child will be under one year old.

The number of children cared for at any one time includes the childminder’s own children or family members, whether or not they are present in the service. Evidence indicates that these ratios provide good outcomes for children.

In discussion with a setting, The Care Inspectorate may vary the adult to child ratios to take account of special circumstances that support the best outcomes for children, such as the presence of siblings under the age of one, the presence of children with additional support needs or the layout of the premises being used. Ratios will also be varied where more than one childminder works from the premises, or the childminder employs an assistant.

Guidance was last published on these ratios in 2018. It was last reviewed in 2019.

The next round of allocations will be confirmed and dispersed to local authority areas this Autumn.

Households eligible for assistance under Warmer Homes Scotland will be offered low-carbon alternatives, where these are technically appropriate for the property. These include High Heat Retention Heating Systems, Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Micro-hydro, Micro-wind and Micro-CHP systems (Micro-CHP systems are not suitable for off gas grid properties). Some of these measures may be of particular benefit to households living in rural and island areas that are not served by the gas grid. Warmer Homes Scotland operates a national pricing mechanism, meaning that rural and island homes aren’t disproportionately affected.

Since April 2021 our Area Based Schemes have included additional funding to provide low carbon and micro-generation measures as part of a whole house approach. Local councils are encouraged to offer these measures to households living in or at risk of fuel poverty, where this is technically feasible and will result in lower energy bills. We also provide additional funding and support for remote rural and island communities to reflect the delivery challenges in these locations, including higher installation costs.

The shared policy programme also commits to provide additional support for rural and islands homes which require bespoke and targeted advice.