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No appointments were cancelled as a result of the de-prioritisation of the flu programme. Appointments for co-administration of vaccines were then repurposed as the COVID-19 vaccine was still being offered. All scheduled flu appointments, especially those for the protection of more at risk individuals were administered.

An independent consultation analysis by Optimal Economics was published on 17 January 2022 which can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/analysis-responses-building-standards-fire-safety-consultation-external-wall-systems/

Minutes of the third meeting of the Fire Safety Review Panel will be ratified at the fourth review panel meeting on 24 January 2022 and published shortly thereafter.

The next fire safety review panel meeting on 24 January 2022 will be the final panel meeting, subject to any new evidence emerging from the Grenfell Inquiry. The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 are expected to be laid in the Scottish Parliament by the end of March with supporting guidance published in the Spring. The new regulations and guidance are planned to come into force on 1 October 2022.

Parties involved in planning cases are expected to meet their own costs. The Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) of the Scottish Government will meet the costs of the reporter and administrative staff; advertisement of the case and the cost of the inquiry venue if necessary; and the general administrative costs of the case. DPEA deal with a wide range of casework and reporters and administrative staff normally deal with a number of different case types at the same time. The cost of an individual case can vary depending on a number of factors including the complexity of the case and whether an inquiry is necessary. DPEA do not record the cost of dealing with wind farm appeals or Section 36 wind farm applications.

Wind farm applications under 50MW are considered under planning legislation whilst proposals over 50MW are dealt with under the Electricity Act.

Planning legislation cases

Information on the approval rate of wind farm applications in each local authority area, not determined by Scottish Ministers, is not held centrally. The Scottish Government publishes figures on the approval rate of all planning applications determined by Planning Authorities for different types of development in Scotland. Over the past 5 years the approval rate has been consistently over 93.7% (this includes the development type Electricity Generation, which includes wind farm applications). The information is available on the following website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/

Scottish Ministers have called-in two planning applications from Orkney Islands Council and issued decisions in 2021 granting consent for both applications.

The following table confirms the position in relation to planning appeals. All bar two of these appeals were decided by reporters from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government. The two appeals not decided by reporters were in the Argyll and Bute Council area, one in 2017 and one in 2019, and were both allowed by Scottish Ministers.

The Core Scottish Government has 18 owned buildings. Solar panels are installed at 4 buildings; Victoria Quay Edinburgh, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) Edinburgh, St Andrews House Edinburgh and Cameron House Oban. 22% of owned buildings have solar panels.

It has not been possible to install solar panels on all owned buildings due to the availability of useable roof space, roof orientation and shading, roof structure and other technical constraints.

Transport Scotland does not hold the level of staffing detail as requested however, information provided by ScotRail taken from their current reporting systems on staffing levels has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib, number 63099) as a table with supporting information.

This information is related to the current Franchise term.

NHS Scotland will contact eligible individuals about their flu vaccination appointments. The flu vaccine is the safest and most effective way to help protect against flu. NHS Inform will be updated with further information pertaining to the current groups eligible to receive the offer of the flu vaccine.

The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Gregor Smith, wrote to health boards on 15 December regarding the COVID-19 vaccination programme and the de-prioritisation of the flu vaccination programme.

To summarise, on the basis that data from Public Health Scotland (PHS) suggests that the vast majority of those in high risk groups have already been offered the flu vaccine, and that uptake rates were already higher than the entirety of last years’ programme, health boards should cease co-administration of the flu vaccine alongside the COVID-19 vaccine programme within community COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

Health boards continue to offer the flu vaccine to those at risk who were routinely offered it prior to the pandemic. Flu vaccinations for these individuals should be offered through community pharmacies, midwives, GP practices as appropriate and opportunistically through domiciliary care and/or care home settings as appropriate.

The full contents of the letter can be viewed at: CMO(2021)37 - COVID-19 vaccination programme: supporting further acceleration of the booster programme (scot.nhs.uk) .

The Gateway Review into Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which was published on 14 December 2021, gives a preparedness estimate of 12-24 months for individual stakeholders including retailers. This informed their judgement that a full implementation date of July-September 2023 was possible albeit with significant risk.

The Gateway Review does not give a breakdown of preparedness estimates for individual businesses. Businesses interviewed separately by SG typically gave ranges of preparedness estimates, which broadly aligned with the findings of the Gateway Review, rather than an exact time.