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Spending plans will be contained in the Scottish Budget due to be published on 9 December 2021. The Scottish Government has a robust sponsorship relationship with sport scotland to ensure oversight and accountability of their funding and will require reporting against investment from any other organisations that are funded directly.

As of August, all councils are offering 1140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children, making high quality early learning and childcare available to families and saving parents up to £4,900 per year for each eligible child. Up to 130,000 children are expected to benefit this year as new children are enrolled.

This is a fantastic achievement that has been achieved in the face of the pandemic by Scottish Government, Local Government and our local delivery partners.

Data returned by local authorities in September 2021 indicates that 90,890 children were accessing funded ELC as of the end of August 2021. Of these, 88,122 children (97%) were accessing more than 600 hours, and 79,262 children (87%) were accessing 1140 hours funded ELC. Providers in the private and voluntary sectors and childminders provide 32% of all funded provision.

Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer the equivalent of 1140 hours to all eligible children regardless of their parents’ working status, putting children first. That includes all 3 and 4 year olds and around a quarter of 2 year olds.

The Scottish Government has been working with local authorities to promote the expanded entitlement, with the aim of helping parents to make informed choices about what works best for them and their children, and that provision reflects local needs.

The information requested is not available. As with any other setting, it is not possible to infer whether a specific setting or an event indicates where the Covid19 transmission took place. This is because cases may have attended multiple settings or events within a short space of time.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the provision of safe and reliable lifeline ferry services for our island economies. We recognise how frustrating delays and cancellations can be for businesses, individual and communities but it should be remembered that they happen for a variety of reasons, often weather related or for reasons outwith Calmac’s control. Our focus is very much on preventing service disruption where that is possible, so we continue to work with CalMac to maximise available capacity across the network.

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 introduced a number of measures ensuring that there is a sustained focus across Government and the public sector to meet the needs of island communities now and in the future.

It is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland to agree and deliver any overseas training programme, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority.

The Chief Constable of Police Scotland announced, at the Scottish Police Authority Board meeting on 24 November 2021, that Police Scotland has made the decision not to undertake any further work in Sri Lanka before their current contract expires in March 2022. Police Scotland has also advised the UK Government that they will not seek to renew their contract in support of the Sri Lanka Police Service.

Any funding provided to organisations by the Scottish Government directly, or through sport scotland, for this purpose, will include arrangements for monitoring of that investment.

Our Transition and Recovery Plan recognised that there can be challenges relating to rural isolation, which may be increasingly felt by those in remote communities as a result of the pandemic. We have committed to working in partnership with the National Rural Mental Health Forum to develop an approach to ensure that these communities have equal and timely access to mental health support and services, including consideration of whether dedicated pathways are needed. We’re keen to support efforts by NHS Boards to promote the use of digital services, in particular to maximise the benefits for rural communities; whilst recognising that this isn’t the solution for everyone.

Our Transition and Recovery Plan is supported by a £120m Recovery and Renewal fund. This year, a total of £9m has been allocated from this fund to address Psychological Therapies waiting times. Phase one funding of £5 million was allocated to Health Boards to address long waits within psychological therapies. Phase two funding of £4 million was recently approved to allow Boards to recruit more staff now, see the longest waits, meet the anticipated winter surge of those being referred for psychological interventions, and support the creation of a more effective digital infrastructure so those in remote and rural communities can be seen whenever and wherever they require care. Phase two funding included a minimum allocation for Island Boards to ensure that they can use the money in the transformational way it is intended.

The dental sector has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and pre-COVID levels of patient volume are not currently achievable with the current infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance. The majority of dental treatments involve the use of aerosol generating procedures which potentially has a higher risk of transmission of the virus. We are working closely with the sector to improve capacity which is why we have provided £5m funding to improve surgery ventilation and a further £7.5m has been allocated to for the purchase of new drills. These measures are intended to increase the productivity of practices, enabling them to see more patients, within the current IPC constraints.

Additionally, funding of £4.7m has been provided to NHS Boards to enable the Public Dental Service (PDS) to improve access to NHS dental care in their area, particularly for people who are unable to register with a dentist at present. Any patients who require dental treatment before they are able to register with a practice should contact the dental helpline in their Board area. Contact details for each Board can be found on the NHS Inform website at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/nhs-services/dental/dental-emergencies .

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, the Scottish Government considers “low and zero emissions heating systems” to be systems that have zero direct greenhouse gas emissions. This includes individual electric heat pumps and connection to heat networks, or electric systems such as storage heaters, and systems that have very low emissions, such as those that use hydrogen.

In line with the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change, we agree that bioenergy - such as biomass, bio-heating oil and bio-propane - should only be used in those applications where its carbon reduction impact is maximised, where alternative options are not available, and where it comes from sustainable sources.

We recognise that, for a small number of homes, bioenergy might offer the only feasible way to reduce emissions from heating to displacing fossil fuels in off-gas-grid areas, especially where electric heating or heat pumps are unsuitable.

We will therefore consider how such homes may be dealt with under any future regulatory system, including through the potential use of limited exemptions, as part of the consultation on our approach to regulating heat in buildings during 2022.

The information requested is not available. As with any other setting, it is not possible to infer whether a specific setting or an event indicates where the Covid19 transmission took place. This is because cases may have attended multiple settings or events within a short space of time.

Local NHS Boards are responsible for putting the appropriate public health measures in place at vaccination centres to help minimise the transmission of Covid19 including physical distancing and the use of face coverings.