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Under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act (2004), all public bodies in Scotland are required to further the conservation of biodiversity when carrying out their responsibilities. The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act (WANE Act) (2011) introduced a further requirement for all public bodies in Scotland to provide a publicly available report every three years, on the actions which they have taken to meet this biodiversity duty.

Protecting habitats, species and Scotland’s ecosystem services is an integral part of SEPA’s regulatory remit. All SEPA’s regulatory decisions take account of potential effects on biodiversity and opportunities for biodiversity enhancement. SEPA is responsible for setting standards in environmental licences that protect and help improve the state of water, land and air and the services that ecosystems provide. SEPA issues environmental licences under a range of regulations, including the following:

• Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012
• Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011
• Waste Management Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2011

SEPA’s Nature conservation procedure for environmental licensing ensures that its statutory duties to protect designated features in nature conservation sites are incorporated into all environmental licensing regimes in a consistent and auditable manner.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03232 on‎ 4 October 2021 which is 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03232 on‎ 4 October 2021 which is 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 National Care Service proposals are at an early stage and will be subject to consultation until the beginning of November. Following the consultation Ministers will take a view on the scope of the National Care Service and further work will be required to develop legislation for consideration by Parliament.

The Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is an essential component of the delivery of the recommendations of the Independent Care Review for children now known as #keepthepromise. We are committed to delivering this change in the immediate future and will work with key partners to ensure this happens. Any proposed change to the way services are delivered to children and their families will take into account the need to ensure the effective delivery of #keepthepromise for Scotland’s children across all relevant universal and targeted services.

Work is under development that will help identify strategic areas most likely to have access to hydrogen in the future. We plan to publish further evidence in spring 2022. We are also working with stakeholders including from industry, network companies, local authorities and delivery partners to better understand the potential role for hydrogen in decarbonisation of heat.

In addition, we are working in partnership with SGN to explore options for the future of Scotland's gas network.

The Scottish Government has been working with partners including Integration Joint Boards, COSLA and Alzheimer Scotland through the first four months of 2021 and subsequently to review the provision of dementia post-diagnostic services.

This year’s Programme for Government confirmed that we would provide extra resources to help ensure that everyone who is entitled to the service has the option for referral. We will be allocating the annual equivalent of £3.5m for this purpose on a recurring basis.

As the national agency for sport, sport scotland invests Scottish Government and National Lottery resources to help the people of Scotland get the most from the sporting system. sport scotland works in partnerships with Scottish Governing Bodies of sport (SGBs), local authorities, leisure trusts, sports clubs and community organisations, schools, colleges, and universities to provide greater opportunities for all to participate in sport.

sport scotland’s investment in each local authority area, in each year, since 2012-13 can be found from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62729)

This data covers investment by sport scotland, in both the local authority and other organisations in the local authority area, including investment for Active Schools, Community Sport Hubs, Sport Facilities Fund, National and Regional Facilities, Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis Fund, Cycling Facilities Fund, Cashback for Communities, Active Places Fund, National Lottery Awards for All, Direct Club Investment, COVID-19 Ice Rink Funding, COVID Loss of spectator funding, and Get Into Summer.

The following table shows the number of people diagnosed with dementia and referred for post-diagnostic support from a named Link Worker in financial years 2018/19 and 2019/2020. Information on people diagnosed with dementia who are not referred for PDS is not available centrally.

For 2018/19, 8,021 people equates to approximately 43.4 % of those estimated to have been diagnosed with dementia in that year. Of those referred in 2018/19 for post-diagnostic support, 75.1% received a minimum of one year’s support. Full 2019/2020 figures will be published next year.

Table 1: Number of people diagnosed with dementia and referred for post-diagnostic support by financial year of diagnosis: Scotland: 2018/19 to 2019/20

Housing to 2040 is Scotland’s first long-term housing strategy. It sets out the Scottish Government’s vision for housing by 2040, that everyone has access to a safe, warm, affordable and energy efficient home that meets their needs, located in the place they want to be. The strategy needs to be agile and able to respond to future changes, and is in alignment with the Shared Policy Programme agreed with the Scottish Green Party. The updated commitments will be reflected in the governance process and monitoring framework plan for Housing to 2040 that will be established later this year.

Hedgerows can support ecological connectivity by joining up nature rich areas across Scotland, contributing to wider nature networks and helping to address habitat fragmentation, which is one of the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of hedges and their creation and supports the this through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme which has committed £11.6 million since 2015.