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A search of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Research Database (CaRD) carried out by NCRI at the request of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) showed the following allocation for CSO funded site-specific brain tumour research by Common Scientific Outline category

Category 1. Biology - total 4.1% /£22,275

Sub-category 1.5: Resources and Infrastructure - £22,275

Category 2. Aetiology

0

Category 3. Prevention

0

Category 4. Early Detection, Diagnosis and Prognosis - total 59.9% /£325,022

Sub-category 4.1: Technology Development and/or Marker Discovery - £67,767

Sub-category 4.2: Technology and/or Marker Evaluation - £134,305

Sub-category 4.4: Resources and Infrastructure Related to Detection, Diagnosis, or Prognosis - £122,950

Category 5. Treatment - total 35.6% / £192,875

Sub-category 5.3: Systemic Therapies - Discovery and Development - £13,928

Sub-category 5.4: Systemic Therapies - Clinical Applications - £48,685

Sub-category 5.7: Resources and Infrastructure Related to Treatment and the Prevention of Recurrence £130,262

Category 6. Cancer Control, Survivorship, and Outcomes Research - total 0.4% / £2,195

Sub-category 6.2: Surveillance - £2,195

In the June 2021 round of the CSO Translational Clinical Studies Committee, the following research project was funded:

Developing representative models of the blood-tumour barrier to enhance drug development for Glioblastoma

Lead Investigator: Prof. Anthony Chalmers / Univeristy of Glasgow / £296,864 TCS2105.pdf (scot.nhs.uk)

This project will be categorised at the next update of the NCRI CaRD (scheduled Summer 2022)

There is no single programme of monitoring and evaluation for the Winter Support Fund. Evaluations of the £25 million local authority flexible funding and £10 million Fuel Insecurity Fund will be published by summer 2022. We do not intend to publish an overarching evaluation of the funding awarded to third sector organisations.

The £25 million local authority flexible funding will be evaluated on the key activities delivered and key groups supported while the funding issued through the Fuel Insecurity Fund and to third sector organisations will be evaluated against the objectives and/or key performance indicators agreed with individual grant recipients.

I am delighted to announce the publication today (Wednesday 2 March) of the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture which sets out the principles and values we will put at the heart of a robust and coherent framework to underpin Scotland’s future agriculture support regime from 2025 onwards.

We are committed to transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

Scotland will have a support framework that delivers climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and high quality food production. Farming, crofting and land management will continue to play an important role in maintaining thriving rural and island communities, not least through the opportunities that change will create. Land management in Scotland will change as we tackle the twin biodiversity and climate crises which will present challenges and opportunities for farmers and crofters, building on their traditional leadership role in land management and stewardship.

In acknowledgement of the reliance that urban Scotland will have on rural communities and businesses to help deliver on our climate change targets and low carbon, net zero ambitions, we will support this change to ensure farmers, crofters and local communities can capitalise on the benefits and that there is a Just Transition.

The Vision is available at https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804351154 where it sets out the principles, values and objectives. The Vision also outlines the approach to the National Test Programme which is being developed with and alongside members of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB).

The Scottish Government is providing funding of £30 million to support GP practices in Inverclyde and the rest of Scotland to continue providing a high level of care to patients through this winter and into the next financial year.

The funding will help with the provision of existing GP services, including:

• supporting more face-to-face appointments
• extra GP sessions, practice nurse time and non-core hours covering all appointments
• more administrative time and practice manager time
• organised cover for reflection, learning and innovation
• external GP locum sessions

The Scottish Government has also allocated £155 million this year to health boards to expand teams within GP practices including increased:

• pharmacy support for repeat prescriptions and medication reviews
• nursing support for routine tests and wound treatment
• access to physiotherapy services

£2.5 million has been allocated to Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership from this fund. These measures will ensure patients can see the right healthcare expert at the right time while giving GPs more time with patients most in need of their skills and allowing doctors to focus on complex diagnosis, such as suspected cancer cases.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the test phase of this programme which will help establish eligibility. In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to test how best to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models which will then be independently evaluated to help inform a national rollout.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the test phase of this programme which will help establish eligibility. In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models to help inform a national rollout. Sustrans are running a pilot in Dumfries & Galloway, Cycling Scotland are running a pilot in Midlothian and Scottish Cycling are running a pilot in North Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and Scottish Borders. To date, there have been 238 bikes issued in Dumfries & Galloway. We do not have figures for the bikes in the remaining four local authorities as they are accessed through a non-ownership model linked to training.

The number of vacant posts in each NHS Board that have remained unfilled for (a) more than six months can be found on the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) website on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence.

The information requested on how many vacant posts there are in each NHS board that have remained unfilled for (b) more than 12 months is not centrally available.

Recent advice from our statutory advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), states that “sustainable bioenergy is essential for reaching net zero”. Given resource supply limitations, it must be used in those applications with the highest greenhouse gas savings (those with CO2 sequestration and/or displacement of high carbon alternatives).

The Committee recommends that the preferred use for bioenergy will be with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in electricity, hydrogen and biojet applications.

Overall the Scottish Government’s aim is to see bioenergy used where it has the greatest value in reducing emissions, however this decision is also dependent on which sectors will make the best use of the bioenergy feedstocks that we can grow sustainably or produce domestically in comparison with those we may need to import.

We will publish a Bioenergy Action Plan in 2023 which will set out a strategic framework for the use of bioenergy.

In the near term our programmes which support decarbonisation of heat are promoting those technologies which have a clear long-term role.

The 2021 consultation on the draft Heat in Buildings Strategy included 7 consultation workshops, which were open to all interested participants. Of the 156 attendees, 147 identified themselves as representing an organisation. Workshop attendees were not asked to register their personal circumstances, so information on how many were off-grid householders was not recorded.