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The role of the Scottish Government, since the three approved schemes began operating in July 2012, is to monitor each scheme for compliance with the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 . This includes being satisfied that SDS and the other tenancy deposit schemes have clear and substantial processes in place that meet the requirements laid out in the regulations.

As part of this monitoring, the three schemes quarterly performance reports were analysed and measured against the key performance indicators to ensure these were adhered to. These include response times to customer enquiries and complaints, return of undisputed deposits and dispute resolution. The latest quarterly performance reports indicate all KPIs have been met.

The table below shows a percentage average, of instances in which performance is achieved, for each financial year for KPI 5 - Return of deposit following notification of dispute resolution decision.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Royal College of Anaesthetists, to discuss areas of mutual interest.

The Scottish Government has not requested a progress update from the Scottish Civil Justice Council on its review of court rules in relation to Protective Expenses Orders. The Scottish Civil Justice Council is an independent body. Publicly available minutes of meetings of the Costs and Funding Committee on 26 May 2022 and 31 October 2022 record that detailed discussions took place about the court rules governing Protective Expenses Orders and drafting instructions were to be issued.

Work is ongoing across government to develop a Scottish Government aviation strategy.

An online public consultation on developing the strategy concluded last year and we published an independent analysis of the responses.

The consultation covered growing international connectivity and airfreight; the transition to low and zero-emission aviation; domestic connectivity; and governance arrangements in the Highlands and Islands.

The transition to low and zero-emission aviation is also relevant to preparation of the Government’s 2023 Climate Change Plan and Just Transition Plan, and it is essential that this work be fully joined up. The aviation strategy is also being developed at the same time as the Islands Connectivity Plan, and coherence here will also be vital.

The dualling of the A77 was not recommended as an outcome of the South West Transport Scotland Study published in January 2020. Instead, options for targeted improvements and road safety measures were recommended and these were subsequently appraised and formed the basis of Recommendation #40 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review published in December 2022.

We welcome the focus on perinatal support in the report from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. Development of perinatal mental health services is a key priority for the Scottish Government to improve the wellbeing and experiences of women, infants and families.

Since 2019, our investment of over £26 million has delivered a substantial increase in statutory and third sector services across Scotland leading to:

o 11 new and 3 expanded Community Perinatal Mental Health Teams

o 10 new and 4 in development Infant Mental Health Services

o 9 new and 1 expanded Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention Services

During this period of significant expansion, some NHS Boards have understandably experienced a number of challenges including around recruitment. The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Development Adviser is regularly in contact with identified NHS leads to help identify and tackle such issues; and we continue to work closely with the Network to look at additional ways to put support in place.

The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to work with NHS boards to support them in managing their allocations and the successful implementation of perinatal and infant mental health services.

Curriculum for Excellence is a flexible curriculum with defined experiences and outcomes that allow for teaching and learning of a very wide range of topics. This ensures that schools are able to deliver a curriculum that is best suited to their learners in their circumstances and local context.

Learning for Sustainability, which is an entitlement for all learners, provides the general curricular theme on sustainable development education, social justice, climate change, global citizenship, children’s rights, equality and outdoor learning.

There are experiences and outcomes across the curriculum that cover learning on material extraction and end product use such us: Sciences SCN 4-04b: “Through investigation I can explain the formation and use of fossil fuels and contribute to discussions on the responsible use and conservation of finite resources”; Social Studies SOC 4-08a: “I can discuss the sustainability of key natural resources and analyse the possible implications for human activity”; and Technology TCH 2-06a “I can analyse how lifestyles can impact on the environment and Earth’s resources and can make suggestions about how to live in a more sustainable way”.

The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Programme Board concluded as planned in March 2023, having overseen the development of a range of high quality statutory services and increase in third sector provision across Scotland.

Implementation continues with an interim Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Advisory Group supporting further development of services in a sustainable manner, working alongside the Perinatal Mental Health Network Scotland.

New oversight arrangements are under development and will be announced in due course. We will ensure that the voices and experiences of women, infants and their families remain at the heart of this work.

Public Health Scotland publish Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information which shows the number of available staffed beds and percentage occupancy (Table 4) by financial year (2012-13 to 2021-22) and by quarter (2020 Q2 to 2022 Q1), by NHS Board and hospital location. In addition, PHS produce a quarterly publication which provides similar beds information up to and including the quarter ending 30 September 2022. Data for the quarter ending 31 December 2022 was published on 30 May 2023. The PHS statistics do not provide specific information on COVID beds. NHS Boards reconfigured parts of hospitals during the pandemic, with, in particular, significant increases in critical care capacity, and this should be taken in to account when interpreting the annual bed statistics.

Public Health Scotland also publish statistics on the number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 which is available in the Weekly national respiratory infection and COVID-19 statistical report with Health Board level data available through the Open Data Platform: COVID-19 Statistical Data in Scotland - Daily Case Trends by Health Board - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data (nhs.scot) . Until 7 May 2023, this also included the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICU.

As stated in the answer to question S6W-17851 on 31 May 2023 the Scottish Government has no role in setting the levels or assessing the impact on individuals of registration fees for the regulated health professions. These functions are within the statutory authority of the governing councils of the independent UK regulators, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

The Scottish Government recognises the unwelcome additional burden that higher fees will place on registrants, especially during the current financial climate. However, we acknowledge that the HCPC - as a registrant-funded independent regulator - is facing the same cost pressures as other organisations, including other regulators that have also raised their fees.

Occupational Therapy is one of the professions included in the Scottish Government's Agenda for Change (AfC). Following acceptance by all Unions, the 2023-24 Pay Deal was implemented, with both uplift and additional payment, in the April pay run. This pay deal came after Agenda for Change took difficult decisions to find this money within the health budget, confirming its commitment to supporting AfC staff, particularly during a cost of living crisis.

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