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The Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 19 March 2020. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have provided an update from their live system and confirm that there have been no charges prosecuted under the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 since that date.

The Scottish Government has not made representations to the management at Liberty Steel Dalzell in Motherwell following the resignation of its parent company's auditors.

The appointment of auditors is an operational matter for the GFG parent company and the issue was raised in a recent Ministerial meeting at that level.

The Young Patients Family Fund is available to families of all young inpatients aged under 18 - no matter their diagnosis. Posters and leaflets to promote the Fund are available in all Health Boards and we continue to work with Health Boards to best ensure families are aware of the Fund.

The Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer is currently reviewing its web content and has confirmed that it will be signposting to the YPFF in its update.

The Scottish Government is taking forward a wide range of support for all bereaved people, including unpaid carers. This comprises our new Mind to Mind website set up in partnership with NHS Inform which includes a dedicated section on grief and bereavement with information and signposting; the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund which includes a priority for people who are bereaved; funding for the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care which develops resources and information to support people affected by bereavement, including Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief and End of Life Aid Skills for Everyone (EASE), a course which is available to anyone; and funding for CRUSE who support people affected by bereavement including specialist support to children, young people and their families.

Under the Carers (Scotland) Act, all unpaid carers have the right to a personalised plan to identify what is important to them which may include counselling and emotional support. Future needs for bereavement support can be considered as part of the process and any eligible needs for support must be met.

Local authorities must also have a carer information and advice service, usually delivered via local carer centres, to help unpaid carers access support in their area. This must include information and advice on counselling and bereavement support available to carers. In addition to information and advice services, many local carer centres provide their own counselling and support services which can include bereavement support.

We have invested an additional £20.4m for local carer support in 2022-23 via the local government settlement, bringing total investment in the Carers Act to £88.4m per year.

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme was developed from the start to include glass, as well as PET plastic and metal containers. This position has not changed.

The Scottish Government has supported the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) in the production of Edinburgh International Film Festival through our Festival EXPO fund since the fund’s inception in 2007. The amounts awarded are as follows:

2008-09 - £60,000

2009-10 - £110,000

2010-11 - £180,000

2011-12 - £100,000

2012-13 - £150,000

2013-14 - £110,000

2014-15 - £125,000

2015-16 - £115,000

2016-17 - £110,000

2017-18 - £110,000

2018-19 - £104,000

2019-20 - £100,000

2020-21 - £75,000

2021-22 - £50,000

2022-23 - £110,000

Artists are a significant part of Scotland's culture sector and the Scottish Government is committed to seeing them thrive.

Since April 2021, Creative Scotland has distributed 491 awards to individuals through the Open Fund, totalling £6.2m.

They also distributed 3,923 awards to individuals through the Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers, to the value of £7.5m in the same period.

Further information on the delivery of SG emergency Covid19 funds by Creative Scotland is available in the Evaluation of Creative Scotland COVID-19 Emergency Funding Programmes | Creative Scotland which covers the 2020-21 emergency funding. A further report on the delivery of SG’s emergency funding by Creative Scotland from late 2021-2022 is currently in preparation.

Creative Scotland is also working on a new approach to funding organisations over multiple years as set out in their Future Funding Review. This aims to offer organisations greater certainty in planning which will improve opportunities for the many freelance artists that are pivotal to their work and who make up over half of the workforce in the arts sector.

The Scottish Government is continuing to work closely with the culture sector, to understand the impacts that the current cost crisis, and wider pressures, are having on the sector. Due to the dynamic situation we are still assessing multi-year settlements for core funded cultural organisations. For non-core funded cultural organisations Creative Scotland is working on a new approach to funding Regularly Funded Organisations as set out in their Future Funding Review.

There are more than 1,200 social care providers across Scotland, with local authorities responsible for providing or commissioning services. Local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships will wish to ensure that, in providing a range of services, their workforce planning arrangements take full account of the need to have safe and sustainable numbers of staff.

To maximise capacity to meet demand, and maintain integrated health and social care services throughout autumn and winter, our winter plan highlights the additional funding of £528 million allocated directly to Health and Social Care Partnerships for 2022 23. This funding was aimed at the following social care measures:

• £124 million to enhance care at home

• £144 million to support the December 2021 uplift to £10.02, as well as a   further -

• £200 million to increase the minimum hourly rate of pay in adult social care

• £20 million to support interim care arrangements

• £40 million to enhance multi-disciplinary teams

• Waiving fees for mandatory PVG checks for new entrants to social care

• Extension of the Social Care Staff Support Fund to 31 March 2023, to ensure   that social care workers absent with Covid-19 receive their full pay

Alongside this, SG have established a social care winter planning working group, to consider a number of potential/feasible options to ease the current pressures in the Adult Social Care Sector in advance of the winter period 2022-23. Local government are among those represented on this group.

To help alleviate the current pressures in social care, we are working with partners to scope out and design localised support with recruitment for the winter period. This will include marketing assets which can be adapted to meet local needs, and providing more in-depth support with recruitment where capacity to recruit is a barrier. This work is being taken forward in collaboration with key stakeholders representing the sector.

The Scottish Government will carry out the review required by section 41 of the EU Withdrawal from the EU (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021. This Act requires Ministers to review and consult on the effectiveness of the governance arrangements introduced by the Act, access to justice on environmental matters and whether the establishment of an environmental court could enhance the environmental governance arrangements. The report has to be presented to the Parliament within six months of Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) adopting its first full strategy.

The ESS strategy has recently been laid in the Parliament and is expected to be published shortly, subject to the Parliamentary process. The review is planned to be published and the subsequent consultation to be launched in spring 2023.

The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a new right to a healthy environment as a part of the planned Human Rights Bill.