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Official Modern Apprenticeship statistics are published by Skills Development Scotland quarterly, including the number of starts. The Modern Apprenticeship 2021-22 Q4 (Year End) statistics is expected to be published in May 2022. Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeship statistics are published on an annual basis.

The annual Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) statistics are:

? Cohort 4 (2019) – 3,450 (SCQF Level 6) and 442 (SCQF Level4/5) FA Starts

? Cohort 5 (2020) – 2,975 (SCQF Level 6) and 1,265 (SCQF Level4/5) FA Starts

The annual Modern Apprenticeship (MA) statistics are:

? 2019-20 – 27,875 MA Starts

? 2020-21 – 18,655 MA Starts

? 2021-22 Q2 – 11,104 MA Starts

The annual Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) statistics are:

? 2019-20 – 1,157 GA Starts

? 2020-21 – 1,158 GA Starts

The Quarter 2 statistics, published on 9 November 2021, show a positive increase in Modern Apprenticeship starts in comparison to the same time last year but are still lower than at the same point pre-pandemic, reflecting the ongoing impact from COVID-19.

The following table below provides a breakdown of the quarterly Modern Apprenticeship Starts since 2019/20 which are cumulative throughout the year.

We have committed to increase multi-year funding for the third sector and where possible we will do so. However, our ability to fulfil our devolved responsibilities remains hampered by a centralised UK budgeting approach that gives little fiscal flexibility.

Spending plans were contained in the Scottish Budget published on 9 December 2021. As set out in Programme for Government we will double investment in sport and active living to £100 million a year by the end of the Parliament ensuring more people can enjoy active lives as we recover, improving physical, mental and social health. We are working with the National Agency for Sport, sports cotland and other partners to consider how that money can best be invested to deliver against our priorities.

The funding associated with the Health and Social Care Levy is estimated to be around £1 billion per annum on average across the UK Spending Review period; however HM Treasury has not specifically quantified this funding within our overall settlement. All frontline Health and Social Care consequentials are being passed on.

In the summer of 2020, the Scottish Government undertook a Capital Spending Review of its capital budgets against the backdrop of Covid-19, which necessitated a review of rail enhancements priorities.

Following the 2020 review, amid significant financial pressures on the available rail enhancements capital budget, the North Hanover Street development was deferred. Against a backdrop of rising costs and pressures on the rail enhancements budget, Network Rail was instructed to return to Transport Scotland with a proposal to progress the development, with options for alternative funding.

Transport Scotland await a revised proposal from Network Rail. Officials continue to remain engaged in regular meetings with key stakeholders such as Glasgow City Council, Network Rail and Scottish Futures Trust aimed at keeping each other updated in respect of developments in and around the Queen Street station area.

We recognise the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers make to our communities and know that the pandemic has added significant additional pressures. We are committed to giving a strong voice to unpaid carers, listening to their needs and acting on what they tell us.

We will develop and publish a stand-alone Carers Strategy with a focus on recovery and improving carer support in a meaningful and sustainable way. The strategy will focus on carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.

We will engage with unpaid carers about the strategy’s scope and purpose in the coming months, and this will inform its development. Our approach to the development of the strategy will be both a collaborative and an iterative one which will draw on the knowledge and lived experience of unpaid carers so that the strategy is shaped by those who best understand the many challenges faced. We will seek to publish the strategy as soon as possible to provide a clear vision for how we will respond to the challenges faced by so many carers.

Local authorities were issued with non-statutory guidance to support them in their administration of the Tenant Grant Fund on 17 September 2021. A copy of this guidance can be found here .

We know some local authorities are already delivering Tenant Grant Fund payments at pace. For example, Dundee City Council has already paid out over £36,000 in grants, providing vital support to tenants in financial need caused by the pandemic.

All 32 local authorities are required to submit their first quarterly report by the end of December 2021, which will set out the number and level of grants issued (broken down by tenure); how many of these grants paid off the rent arrears in full or partially; and how many tenancies were sustained, at that time, as a direct result of the grant being paid.

Following observations on a small number of patients with long COVID symptoms who received an experimental drug called BC 007 at the Universittsklinikum Erlangen in Germany, a trial of this drug as a potential therapy for long COVID is reportedly being planned by this research institute.

Applications from the Scottish clinical research community for research projects on possible treatments for long COVID can be submitted to the independent research funding committees operated by the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office ( Response Mode Funding Schemes – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk) ). Applications are assessed through independent expert peer review and funded based on the recommendations of the funding committees. No applications to trial BC 007 have been received for consideration.

The Forestry Grant Scheme, delivered through the Scottish Rural Development Programme and Scottish Forestry, will provide £307,759 of support specifically for capercaillie between 2016 and 2025. Prior to this, the Scottish Government paid out £781,452 through the Rural Priority (RP) Scheme’s Capercaillie Package between 2008 and 2019.

NatureScot, (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage), made payments of £544,705 towards the research and conservation of capercaillie in Scotland during the period December 2011 – December 2021.

Other Scottish Government funding in support of habitat management is likely to have benefited capercaillie but where not specifically provided for this species no breakdown is available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04874 on
‎ 20 December 2021. 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

Decisions on local staffing requirements and recruitment are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards. However, Scottish Government officials are continually engaging with NHS Boards to identify particular areas of concern.

NHS Highland advise that they, like all NHS Scotland boards, are experiencing sustained pressures on their services and a shortage of registered professionals to fill posts. NHS Highland recognises that staff across the organisation are feeling tired and concerned about their ability to provide the high standards of care that they wish to, and are doing all they can to support them.

NHS Highland has been actively managing the situation in partnership with staffside colleagues to understand the greatest areas of pressures and to address these.

This dialogue will continue over winter months, allowing local healthcare providers and Scottish Government to anticipate emerging pressures and implement targeted responses where necessary.

Although NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are at a record high, following nine years of consecutive growth, we are fully aware of the difficult circumstances that Boards and frontline staff are working in. That is why we have announced a record £300 million of investment to support Health Boards and their staff over the coming months.

As part of this investment, NHS Highland is receiving additional in-year and recurring finance to support international recruitment of registered nurses and additional Healthcare Support Workers for acute services. The Board has also received a share of in-year investment to provide additional support to its recruitment team and to recruit an international recruitment lead.