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1,806 devices have been distributed by the Council in East Lothian using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020/21.

In addition, information we have from councils indicates that almost 280,000 devices have been, or are in the process of being, rolled out to learners across Scotland. This includes 72,000 provided as a result of Scottish Government funding.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring every school aged child in Scotland has access to a device by the end of this parliament, in 2026.

This is a complex and ambitious commitment, and we are currently undertaking preparatory work, including looking at the available infrastructure in schools. We are taking work forward in partnership with local government colleagues and have convened a joint partnership board with COSLA to oversee the work.

The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to provide the best possible care for those who have experienced a stroke, including thrombolysis where considered clinically appropriate.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme (SSIP) report, published on 28 June and available at: https://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/index.html , notes a clear effect of the waves of COVID-19 on hospitals.

Stroke admission numbers often fell during the early waves of the pandemic, with patients possibly avoiding seeking medical attention due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and this may help explain the increase in stroke admissions between 2020 and 2021. The trend of increased stroke admissions between 2020 and 2021 is not unique to NHS Lothian and was observed across Scotland.

The proportion of patients who received thrombolysis in NHS Lothian in 2021 (8.9%) was broadly in line with the proportion of stroke patients who received thrombolysis across Scotland (9.1%).

The generation, transportation and supply of electricity is reserved to the UK Government with regulatory functions carried out by the independent energy regulator for GB, Ofgem.

My officials are engaging closely with network companies and Ofgem to gather further information on the detail of the determinations which are draft at this stage.

We are dedicated to ensuring value for money for consumers which is a key objective. Our consultation response will consider the risks and impact the Draft Determinations have on achieving net-zero targets.

The Draft Determinations are subject to an eight-week consultation with networks and wider stakeholders and will close on the 25 th of August, after which Ofgem will consider all provided evidence. Ofgem’s Final Determinations are expected to be finalised in December 2022.

The developing Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy will play an important role in identifying effective actions to help optimise the conservation prospects of seabirds in Scotland from existing and emerging threats, including disease threats, such as avian influenza. We aim to consult on the strategy in 2022, and to implement in 2023.

The INTOG Initial Plan Framework has set out a series of geographic areas where no projects will be considered. This primarily affects the Innovation category of projects as Targeted Oil and Gas projects would naturally be located further offshore. These exclusions will help by ensuring projects are not located in areas that are more likely to negatively interact with other projects and on already sensitive receptors and thus delay adoption of the plan. Additionally, the planning and leasing processes have been designed to overlap to allow projects to progress as quickly as possible.

More specifically, all Innovation projects will also be required to deliver Supply Chain Development Statements setting out and committing to investment in supply chain for the project. Like ScotWind, these commitments will be subject to penalties if not met. Applications to Marine Scotland Directorate for relevant consents and licences for INTOG will also benefit from the streamlining work currently underway .

The potential of increased use of offsite construction (also referred to as modern methods of construction or MMC) is viewed as an opportunity for new build housing development with the potential to support industry and Government to deliver more homes, and to help us address challenges including workforce demand and diversity, the need to reduce waste, increase energy efficiency and improve quality while controlling cost pressures.

The Scottish Government already supports delivery of affordable homes across Scotland using a range of offsite methods, from timber frame construction through to fully modular development, and will continue to do so through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme. We are developing a business case for greater use of offsite construction in recognition of the significant opportunity that our ambitious 110,000 target for affordable homes by 2032 brings for social, economic and environmental benefits and the potential impact on funding, housing delivery and the supply chain of any new national approach.

The Scottish Construction Leadership Forum provides a major forum for Scottish Government/Industry interaction and involves our Innovation Centre, Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST). The Skills and Workforce sub-group of the Forum is addressing a variety of upskilling areas, with a particular focus on the younger workforce: supporting apprentices and graduates in the industry and encouraging new entrants from diverse backgrounds to consider construction as a career of choice.

The BE-ST ‘Offsite Ready’ training programme is also helping to grow best practice and skills in offsite construction. Further details are available at www.offsiteready.com

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The particular circumstances and needs in terms of social work input of each Cystic Fibrosis patient and their family can be highly variable. The Scottish Government therefore expects NHS Boards and Local Authority partners delivering care to work together to support Cystic Fibrosis patients according to individual need.

Housing to 2040 sets out the Scottish Government’s strategy to ensure that housing in 2040 will support people to live in affordable homes that meet their accessibility needs as well as net zero targets. This is a long term strategy for new and existing homes, underpinned by the new tenure-neutral Housing Standard for Scotland which is currently under development and which will include elements relating to retrofit. There will be extensive consultation and engagement with stakeholders to ensure that accessibility needs are appropriately considered and that the new standard aligns with Heat in Buildings ambitions for meeting net zero targets.

INTOG is aligned to the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering plan-led opportunities for offshore wind and marine renewables in Scottish waters. INTOG has been designed to facilitate both targeted oil and gas decarbonisation opportunities and provide a plan led approach to allowing smaller innovation type projects to access seabed. Something that is currently unavailable.

Whilst decoupling IN and TOG processes may allow one category of applications to proceed faster, the potential for cumulative impact and the need for plan-level assessments, to ensure negative impacts are appropriately managed, would not be removed and in fact may delay and complicate the assessments unnecessarily. As such, both components of INTOG will remain combined.

The UK is currently experiencing the largest outbreak of avian influenza to date, which has affected commercial and backyard flocks of poultry and other captive birds, as well as wild birds, including our internationally important seabird colonies.

While maintaining high levels of biosecurity among domestic flocks helps protect against disease, addressing the disease among wild birds can pose significant challenges. The Scottish Government is taking the current situation very seriously and continues to work with a range of partner organisations to monitor and respond to the situation where action can be taken, recognising the importance of communication and coordination in preparedness and responses.

As part of the co-ordinated GB response to avian influenza, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on behalf of Defra, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, carries out year-round surveillance, including testing of dead wild birds reported to Defra’s GB-wide national telephone helpline. This helps us capture information on the general location and strains of avian influenza that might be prevalent across Great Britain, as well as species affected.

Dedicated monitoring at key colonies can also assist in the response to the outbreak in wild birds, which is why we welcome the significant work by NatureScot, the National Trust for Scotland, RSPB Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and other partners to collect data on the number of dead wild birds located at key colonies, as well as monitoring apparent population changes.

Working with our partners, the Scottish Government will continue to review its response planning to current and future avian influenza outbreaks, based on the latest scientific advice and existing disease control measures. We will also be identifying with partner organisations whether anything else can be done to respond to the outbreak and improve the resilience of our internationally important seabird populations.