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We intend to publish the first phase of this work, the Blue Economy Vision for Scotland, today. This vision sets out the Scottish Government’s long-term ambition for Scotland’s blue economy to 2045, promoting an approach that is consistent with Scotland’s National Performance Framework and our international obligations. It demonstrates how much we value our marine environment and its significance which is captured in the six outcomes that we want to achieve.

The six blue economy outcomes have been identified to respond to major challenges of our time, such as the climate and nature crises, just transition to zero, a blue recovery from Covid-19 and EU withdrawal. The outcomes also recognise our ambition for Scotland to be a global leader in providing healthy, quality and sustainably harvested food. They frame a direction of travel and provide focal points for our long term blue economy aspirations with the overall aim that by 2045, Scotland’s shared stewardship of our marine environment supports ecosystem health, improved livelihoods, economic prosperity, social inclusion and wellbeing.

A blue economy approach will also help us to realise our ambitions for a wellbeing economy in Scotland where the country’s successes are defined and measured beyond economic growth and Gross Domestic Product, and we emphasise the importance of addressing inequality. Human wellbeing is multi-dimensional and nature plays an important part in ensuring a high quality of life for our people. The vision demonstrates the importance of the marine environment and its significance in contributing to Scotland’s economy, well-being climate and biodiversity priorities.

Across the world, there are an increasing number of countries looking to introduce a blue economy approach to better balance their economic, societal and environmental challenges and opportunities in marine environments. This vision puts Scotland at the heart of this international movement to support global ocean governance.

The publication of the Blue Economy Vision for Scotland is consistent with our Programme for Government commitment to develop a Blue Economy Strategy and subsequent delivery plan to support a green recovery and just transition, with sustainable growth of the blue economy underpinned by environmental protection.

The document will be available to view on the Scottish Government website from today:

• The Blue Economy Vision for Scotland: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/978-1-80435-258-8

The next step is to develop the programmes and policies to deliver these outcomes through a Blue Economy Action Plan.

The Scottish Government has been clear that fair work practices sit at the heart of Green Freeports. All applicants are required to set out their strategy for embedding fair work across the Green Freeport area. Any application which does not show a clear commitment to fair work practices will not be supported by the Scottish Government.

The manner in which P&O decisions have been communicated is completely unacceptable. Scottish Ministers expect all businesses to apply fair labour practices and treat their staff with respect. P&O Ferries have fallen well short of that standard.

The Scottish Government has today published its Heat Networks Delivery Plan which can be accessed at http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781804352366 .

This plan fulfils the requirement of section 93 of the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021 to publish and lay before Parliament the first Heat Networks Delivery Plan no later than 1 April 2022. (Laying number SG/2022/46.) The plan outlines how the provisions of the 2021 Act, and any other supporting policies, will contribute to increasing the use of heat networks in Scotland. It sets out the proposed approach that the Scottish Ministers intend to take to increase the use of heat networks in Scotland and how the statutory targets will be met. In addition, it outlines how progress will be measured and the expected contribution that heat networks will make toward meeting the emission reduction targets.

Over this parliamentary term we are investing at least £1.8 billion in heat and energy efficiency in buildings, including investing £400 million to support the development of large-scale heat infrastructure, such as heat networks. Our £300 million Heat Network Fund launched in February 2022 is part of this new suite of delivery schemes. Additionally, our recently announced £1 million Heat in Buildings Development Funding Invitation, which is a forerunner to our Heat Networks Support Unit, provides resource funding to stimulate and accelerate the development of a pipeline of zero emission heat projects for buildings across Scotland.

This plan has developed after taking into consideration views provided during a period of public consultation on the Draft Heat Networks Delivery Plan. Today we are also publishing the analysis of responses to that consultation. The report of the analysis of responses can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781804351918 .

The plan will be reviewed within a 2 year period.

I have also written to the Conveners of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and Local Government, Housing and Planning committees. The Government looks forward to engaging with interested parties on this issue.

As outlined in S6W-03519 answered on 5 October 2021, the Scottish Government will continue to take forward our No One Left Behind approach to employability from 1 April 2022.

No One Left Behind is transforming employment support in Scotland to deliver a system that is more tailored and responsive to the needs of people of all ages who want help and support on their journey towards and into work.

The local governance approach within No One Left Behind funds services through Local Employability Partnership’s (LEPs). LEPs bring together a range of partners including Skills Development Scotland, Department for Work and Pensions, Colleges, NHS, the third sector and other partners to design and deliver services that meet both individual and labour market needs in each local area. This type of partnership and collaboration is crucial if we are to tackle poverty and inequalities that impact too many people in Scotland.

Helping families to increase incomes from employment and earnings is central to a balanced and sustained approach to tackling poverty. The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26: ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’, recognises the value of the No One Left Behind approach and the opportunity to increase investment in services which provide the holistic and connected support parents need to enter and progress in employment.

We are committed to continuing to work collaboratively with our partners in local government, the third sector, the private sector and others to tackle poverty and secure better outcomes for people, employers and communities across Scotland.

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 with Scotland’s seven cities established the City Centre Recovery Task Force in 2021 to identify innovative actions for city centre recovery. I am pleased to confirm that the Task Force has published its report today, and sets out the areas and the actions that the Task Force has jointly agreed to prioritise.

The Scottish Government has this financial year allocated £6m to our City Centre Recovery Fund, to enable local authorities to take forward local priorities in line with those identified by the Task Force.

Our cities are economic drivers for Scotland and play a key role in our vision of a wellbeing economy. As we focus on recovery from the pandemic, we all want to encourage even more people to return and safely enjoy all that our city centres offer.

As the answer to question S6W-06722 set out, we consider that any switching away from glass containers as a result of our Deposit Return Scheme would not be extensive given the range of factors affecting formatting decisions.

Across the 4 year period to 2020-21, Scotland has seen an annual average of 15.6 affordable homes delivered per 10,000 population. This is 62% more than the 9.6 homes per 10,000 in England, and 71% more than the 9.1 homes per 10,000 in Wales. Over the same time frame the annual supply of social rented housing per head of population in Scotland has averaged 10.8 homes per 10,000 population, over nine times the 1.1 homes per 10,000 population in England.

Comparator figures for the current financial year 2021-22 are not available yet. The Scottish figures for 2021-22 will be published in June this year but the other UK financial year figures might not be published until later in the year, and as some of these are financial year rather than quarterly, it is not possible to calculate within-year comparisons.

I can confirm that at present 48 schools have registered for access to ESAS materials and resources. While some of these schools are very active and have undertaken many ESAS activities, others are planning to begin the work next academic year and so are not yet “active” ESAS schools.

During the ESAS design and pilot stages (2016-2020), the University of Glasgow carried out formative evaluation research with staff and students. This type of evaluation seeks to test acceptability and feasibility with a view to improving the intervention. The research team also used ‘systems thinking’ to map sexual harassment within school systems (drivers, occurrence of, and responses to); understand ‘what counts’ as sexual harassment). Learning from the formative stage can be found at: https://www.equallysafeatschool.org.uk/research/ .

Alongside the roll out of ESAS, the research team has designed a ‘real-world’ evaluation study (2022-2024) that will aim to 1] assess whether the ESAS intervention improves ‘whole-school’ culture in relation to preventing and addressing gender-based violence; and 2] to understand what works, how, for whom and under what circumstances. We plan to follow up 30 schools, randomised to immediate start and delayed start (one year later). Schools will have option to opt into the evaluation. Students and school staff will have the opportunity of providing direct feedback on ESAS activities in various ways including during group interviews.

In line with the duty set out in section 24(4) of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020, the Scottish Ministers have laid two six-monthly progress reports before the Scottish Parliament on establishing a pilot of mandatory meetings on alternatives to court.

The first such report was laid in April 2021 and covered the period from 1 October 2020 to 1 April 2021 - Children (Scotland) Act 2020 - alternatives to court and funding of alternative dispute resolution pilots: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The second such report was laid in November 2021 and covered the period from 1 April to 30 September 2021 - Pilot of mandatory meetings on alternatives to court - Children (Scotland) Act 2020 - section 23(1) and section 24(1): second report on the Scottish Ministers’ duties - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The next progress report on the pilot scheme is due to cover the period from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 and will be laid before the Parliament in due course.

We have convened a Scottish Government-led implementation and monitoring group to oversee the delivery of the recommendations within the report . This group will have its third meeting in May 2022. Members have agreed a work plan covering a two year period and identified where responsibilities for recommendations lie.

Progress has been made against a number of the 27 recommendations:

• We established a governance and engagement advisory board in September 2021 to support the development and implementation of the new Human Rights Bill and included a representative with gender expertise.
• To help ensure our homelessness strategy meets the needs of diverse groups of women, we refreshed the membership of our Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group in 2020/21 to include members with gender expertise and have provided gender competency training to policy makers in the Scottish Government’s homelessness unit.
• A number of local authorities, including East Lothian and Dundee, are developing Housing First for women experiencing domestic abuse in partnership with women’s organisations.
• We are preparing draft statutory guidance for landlords on the new provisions in the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act and we intend to invite input from stakeholders with gender expertise.
• The temporary accommodation standards working group is currently developing recommendations that are gender responsive and will take account of the different needs and priorities of all those who require temporary accommodation.
• We published guidance on the application of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order in January 2021 to help guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or who are experiencing homelessness, including victims-survivors of domestic abuse.
• We aim to have a proposal for Universal Credit split payments policy implementation by early summer 2022, which will be sent to the Department for Work and Pensions to action.