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The Scottish Government will be providing a £150 cost of living award to all households in council tax bands A to D, including those who are not receiving a reduction under the Council Tax Reduction scheme. Local authorities will also be provided with funds from which to make £150 payments to certain categories of low income households which are exempt from council tax, including those accessing housing support services or living in temporary accommodation. In addition, we are providing an extra £10m to continue our Fuel Insecurity Fund to help households at risk of self-disconnection, or self-rationing energy use.

The Scottish Government recognises the threat that bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear can pose to our iconic marine life. We therefore welcome the Scottish Entanglement Alliance project which improves understanding of entanglement of sensitive marine species in Scottish waters, and will consider its findings as we explore what further work may be required in terms of the development and testing of mitigation measures. This aligns with actions within the developing UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy and the Future Fisheries Management Strategy.

The Marine Fund Scotland will shortly set out its priorities for funding 2022-23 and we would encourage exploration of these opportunities by the creel sector.

The Scottish National Investment Bank has provided the following information about who it consulted with and the feedback received during development of its gender equality strategy:

“In developing its Equality Strategy, the Bank sought input from a wide range of organisations. This was facilitated through written feedback and direct discussion. Organisations consulted included:

Women on Boards

Women’s Enterprise Scotland

Abrdn

Engender

Close the Gap

IoD

Black Professionals Scotland

British Business Bank.

Feedback from respondents was considered and incorporated where appropriate.”

The Routes and Services Methodology (RSM) used in the Ferries Plan has been reviewed and updated to support the preparation of the Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP). In addition to refreshing data sources it will also consider: reliability and resilience; capacity and connectivity; and wider socio-economic needs and alignment with the National Transport Strategy and the National Islands Plan.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00553 on 1 March 2022. Answers to Topical Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report .

The list of organisations that were met with ahead of the consultation on the draft Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill are included in the published consultation document .

Since the consultation on the draft Bill was published in December 2019 meetings have been held with the following organisations:

Bayswater Support Group

Office of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner

Engender

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Equality Network and Scottish Trans

Fair Play for Women

Faith and Belief Representatives Group

For Women Scotland

Frontline Feminists Scotland

LGB Alliance

LGBT Health and Wellbeing

LGBT Youth Scotland

Murray Blackburn Mackenzie

National Records of Scotland

Scottish Civil Justice Council

Scottish Human Rights Commission

Scottish Women’s Aid

Stonewall Scotland

Transgender Trend

Woman’s Place UK

Women and Girls in Scotland

Women’s Declaration International, Scotland

Women Speak Scotland

Women Voting With Our Feet

Currently, meetings have been scheduled but are yet to take place with the following organisations:

Free Church of Scotland

Scottish Feminist Network

The ChargePlace Scotland Single Framework Agreement between Transport Scotland and SWARCO eVolt Ltd will be published by the end of March 2022. All personal data and commercially sensitive information will be removed prior to publication.

Our initial estimate of £31m is still relevant. However, this will be revised in the next couple of months as further detail becomes available on Local Government staffing costs.

Over the course of this parliament the Scottish Government has committed £100 million to support further investment in residential rehabilitation and associated aftercare. We aim to increase the number of publicly funded placements by more than 300 per cent over the five years of the programme so that, by 2026, at least 1,000 people every year are publicly funded for their rehab placement.

In order to facilitate this increase we are working to increase capacity by 50% which is an increase from 425 beds to 650 beds. As well as increasing funding to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships allocated for residential rehab and developing more standardised commissioning processes we have made national investment in expanding capacity through the Recovery Fund.

The Scottish Government has provided the funding needed to increase capacity for residential rehab, however we cannot allocate beds to any specific individual or age group. This is the responsibility of Alcohol and Drug Partnerships and residential rehabilitation providers, who have the necessary expertise for deciding referrals, assessments of suitability and admissions to their facilities on a case by case basis.

We have set up a multi-agency working group focused specifically on improving services for young people. This group will engage with a range of young people to better understand their alcohol/drug use and their preferences for support, and their work will shape how we improve the provision and access to age appropriate treatment and support services in Scotland.

The Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce funded a project through Stirling University to research and develop the key components required to implement Drug Checking facilities. Research began in January 2021 and will conclude with an evaluation report in January 2023.

Home office licenses must be granted before project teams can implement Drug Checking facilities.

The project team from Glasgow plan to submit their license to the Home Office by the end of April 2022.

The project team from NHS Grampian plan to submit their license for a drug checking facility in Aberdeen to the Home Office by the end of June 2022.