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We are committed to reducing the impact of inequalities on health outcomes for people living with diabetes, and equity of access is highlighted as a key priority in our Diabetes Improvement Plan refresh, published in February 2021.

We are working with key partners including NHS Boards, Health & Social Care Partnerships, Diabetes Scotland and people living with diabetes to ensure that evolving care models address existing health inequalities by integrating pathways with existing services and resources such as social work, mental health services, education and third sector.

As diabetes services evolve and include more virtual offerings, we will work to ensure that those people with diabetes who are unable to access services digitally are not disadvantaged as a result of digital exclusion.

The Scottish Government is committed to using public procurement to address the Climate Emergency. This work is framed in terms of the Sustainable Procurement Duty of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, which requires public bodies to consider how they can improve the environmental, as well as social and economic, wellbeing of the authority’s area, and act in a way to secure improvements identified. Public bodies routinely report on the environmental benefits generated through their procurement activity in their Annual Procurement Reports.

In response to the Climate Emergency the Scottish Government established the Climate and Procurement Forum with representative bodies of key sectors, to provide leadership and direction to enable traction on climate change.

Examples of actions leading from the Forum include publishing a procurement policy note to clarify expectations with respect to climate and circular economy considerations; Ministers writing to local leaders stressing their role in enabling sustainable outcomes through procurement, and producing Climate Literacy eLearning to assist public bodies to take account of climate and circular economy through procurement. To support environmentally-friendly buying options, our national frameworks are available to the wider public sector and charities, for example our Non Domestic Energy Efficiency Frameworks supports the transition to a low carbon economy across sectors. Additionally, we host the latest current guidance on training on the Sustainable Procurement Tools platform.

We announced £375m of business support to tackle Omicron and provided details on how £276m of this will be allocated.

Decisions on the allocation of the remaining funds will be confirmed following further consultation with affected sectors on how it can best be targeted.

The Scottish Government and NHS recognise the importance of ensuring cervical screening is accessible. Every sample taker is therefore required to undertake training provided by NHS Education for Scotland, and guidance is provided to account for each screening participants needs. This guidance includes making the appropriate adjustments, including those required for disabled women, to ensure that samples can be taken from all eligible women invited for screening. As part of our on-going commitment to providing the best service, in the coming months, the screening programme will explore additional steps to improve the experience for disabled women.

SEPA maintains a robust programme structure to plan, track, and deliver the regulator function for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), including delivery of a producer registration system. SEPA is making good progress in establishing this system in time to meet the January 2023 milestone that the Scottish Government published in December 2021.

A statutory public inquiry has been established to examine the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. The inquiry will undertake scrutiny of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland as a whole and identify lessons and implications for the future.

Audit Scotland will publish its report on Scotland's financial response to COVID-19 in May 2022. This audit is a review of the public sector’s financial response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole. It will consider the financial management, governance and oversight arrangements in place for public bodies to quickly distribute funding to those that need it.

In addition, the Scottish Government continues to review on an ongoing basis the support provided to the social care sector to ensure that it remains appropriate. This is undertaken on a collaborative basis with partners across the sector to ensure understanding of the impact of decision making on providers and those receiving care.

A short life working group, comprising of key public bodies and third sector representatives, has been established to consider the fundamental principles which will underpin a model for Scotland to effectively tackle and challenge men’s demand for prostitution. These principles will embed equality, human rights and support our efforts to tackle men’s violence against women. Draft principles will be consulted upon later this year.

As part of this work, the group are considering a range of issues which includes support services and how this will be reflected within the model’s principles.

A key aim of this work is to reduce stigma and criminalisation experienced by women involved in prostitution and improve access to services at local and national levels.

The Scottish Government does not intend to stop payments to people receiving Adult Disability Payment (ADP) once they reach state pension age.

An individual, over state pension age, will continue to receive payment of Adult Disability Payment until either they report a change in circumstance or their next light touch review by Social Security Scotland indicates that their needs have changed.

Scotland House London is clearly not an overseas office, but is a hub in a crucial city for Scotland. The facility provides a platform to develop trade and investment links, strengthen government to government relations and facilitate collaboration on economic, academic and innovation projects. Through Scotland House we are enhancing the range and depth of engagement with international partners across areas of shared ambition and common challenge, in order to inform and support the delivery of the Scottish Government policy agenda. Scotland House London is a unique collaboration between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise (including Scottish Development International), VisitScotland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The Scottish Government believes that listening to as broad a range as possible of people affected by these practices will help us to understand what support and action may be needed.

That is why we published a dedicated webpage and questionnaire on 26 January, to invite views from women and families affected by historical adoption practices, who may also wish to take the opportunity to shape next steps. The information we receive will help us to continue to explore how those affected can best be supported with a view to continuing a collaborative approach as we progress with this matter.

We have also introduced a dedicated helpline in collaboration with Health in Mind for individuals who would like to be supported to make their contribution.