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Scottish Government does not centrally hold data for all hospital acquired infection deaths by Health Board, due to patient identifiable information.

2000 to 2020 data for registered deaths due to Clostridioides difficile infection and MRSA is available from National Records of Scotland (NRS) can be found here and here .

However, it should be noted that although publically available details also broken down by Health Board, the data does not make the distinction between hospital acquired or community acquired infection.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. National Procurement Scotland are responsible for the service level agreement with stoma manufacturers.

The additional funding to deliver the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults in 2021-22 has been identified as part of the £120 million Mental Health Recovery & Renewal (MH R&R) Fund to ensure the delivery of commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan.

The new Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults was launched in October 2021 with £15 million of funding from the Mental Health Recovery & Renewal budget. The Fund aims to support grassroots community-based initiatives across Scotland which promote good mental health and wellbeing and early intervention for those in distress and tackle the impact of social isolation, loneliness and the mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic. The Fund is managed locally by Third Sector Interface (TSI) bodies and is designed to support the development of an integrated culture of mental wellbeing and prevention within local communities.

Following a very positive response to the Fund from communities across Scotland, the additional £6 million funding for 2021-22 announced in February has been provided to TSIs to meet the demand for local mental health and wellbeing projects, bringing total funding to £21 million in 2021-22.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07334 on 25 March 2022. 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 .

The Scottish Government has not had any discussions to date, relating to the introduction of a national garden waste tax.

Decisions on local service provision and charges are for local authorities to make. However we want to make sure that the best choice for the environment is also the easy choice for households and will be consulting in May on a new set of measures to achieve our waste and recycling targets to 2025 and beyond.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing and evidencing housing need and demand, and setting out through local housing strategies and local development plans the housing requirements for their area. The Scottish Government continues to collaborate with a wide range of housing delivery partners to ensure the delivery of more high quality homes to meet the need of communities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of reported incidents of door-to-door scams. Some information is available from a 2018-19 study into police recorded fraud in Scotland, the findings of which were presented within the Recorded crime in Scotland 2018-19 National Statistics .

This study suggested that ‘fraudulent selling’ accounts for approximately 12% of fraud crimes, equivalent to 1,160 crimes. This typically relates to where a victim has paid for a service or product (either in person or through the internet) that the perpetrator has no intention of providing. This could include through online transactions, or payments to bogus workmen. Further analysis of this group suggests that an estimated 270 crimes of recorded fraud (or 3% of all fraud) involved a perpetrator knocking on the victim’s door, taking money and not providing a service.

Once again, I want to thank our health and care staff for their magnificent work to date. The last few months have been enormously difficult and our health and care services are continuing to deal with a challenging combination of issues.

As we are now moving out of what has been a challenging winter period, the system remains under significant pressure. The number of new Covid-19 cases are at a high and continue to increase as well as currently having a record high number of Covid patients in hospital. Therefore, we must continue with a measured and consistent approach to the recovery and renewal of the vital service that we all rely upon. This will require balancing the capacity of the NHS and the wellbeing of our workforce to respond to increasing demands of emergency and urgent care, whilst reducing the backlog of planned care.

As we move through the next phase of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to support our NHS Boards to deliver against commitments in the NHS Recovery Plan and associated Delivery Plans to enable our NHS to plan and prepare the future delivery of health and social care services to our communities. We are confident that we have continued to build on lessons learned and that NHS Boards will be able to respond appropriately to any further challenges which lie ahead.

However, with that in mind, I have decided that the NHS will remain on emergency footing until at least 30 April 2022.

As the First Minister set out on 17th March we have a testing transition plan which will ensure that Scotland continues to have a proportionate and effective testing response as we learn to live with covid.

Where the Government recommends that testing should continue to take place these tests will be provided free of charge.

In February 2021 the Scottish Government proposed combining the Warm Home Discount (WHD) and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) together as a single, flexible fuel poverty scheme in Scotland. This was among our formal asks of the UK Government when we consulted about our Heat in Buildings Strategy.

In May the UK Government wrote to Scottish Ministers noting our proposal for a single scheme and their intention to use their reserved powers, as their planned reforms in England and Wales would require a separate scheme for Scotland. The UK Government proposed apportionment of funding for a separate Scottish WHD scheme based upon national shares of electricity and gas meter points.

Scottish Ministers replied in June highlighting our concerns about this approach and formally proposing a new single scheme. In July the UK Government requested further details from us and officials provided information about the legislative, administrative and targeting options being considered by Scottish Ministers.

In October, we asked for a response based upon this information and noting that a continuation of the current scheme could only be approved by the Secretary of State. Scottish Ministers wrote again in December seeking a decision or confirmation that the UK Government would extend the current scheme. In January 2022 UK Ministers gave their preferred option as being a continued GB scheme for ECO. They did not provide an indication as to whether any of our proposals would be agreed or not.

Despite having been asked three times, the UK Government has been unable or unwilling to provide a straight answer to our proposal of a single scheme.

Scottish Ministers cannot exercise relevant powers without the agreement of the Secretary of State. Therefore on 8 February we requested urgent confirmation that the UK Government would extend the current WHD scheme in Scotland to provide certainty for vulnerable households and energy suppliers.

Despite having asked how the current WHD scheme will be extended in Scotland on three occasions, we have still not received a response from the UK Government.