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It is not the case that one category of project, under INTOG, may create additional cumulative impact while another may not. All offshore wind projects have the potential to contribute to cumulative impact on our natural environment and other sea users. The INTOG planning process has outlined spatial limitations for the entire INTOG planning process. This includes limitations on where Targeted Oil and Gas projects can be located, and where Innovation projects will be considered. It also includes areas of exclusion to help manage, at the plan level, the potential for negative impact.

The amount of time spent on the physical works for each building retrofit can vary and depends on a range of factors. Some of the factors which influence the time taken are: the building type; the types of work needed to improve the energy efficiency of the building; and the type of zero emissions heating installed.

Our workforce assessment, currently underway, will give insight into the drivers of the range of retrofit times and related workforce and skills needs across relevant sectors. In addition, working with industry, we will co-produce a Heat in Buildings supply chain action plan focussed on ensuring industry can deliver at the pace and scale needed.

Whilst the volume of peat used within the whisky industry is understood to represent around 1% of all peat extracted in Scotland, the Scottish Government does not hold figures for the amount of peat burned annually by the whisky industry to flavour malting barley.

Increasing the number of people living in town centres was one of the themes in the Scottish Government's Town Centre Action Plan (TCAP) and is also one of the recommendations made by the independent review of TCAP 'A New future for Scotland's Town Centres', which was published in February 2021. We are working with COSLA and partners to respond to the review with a revised action plan which will be published later in the spring.

The Draft national Planning Framework 4 contains a new policy, dedicated to town centre living, calling on planning authorities to proactively encourage and support opportunities for town centre living.

Our Housing to 2040 strategy puts ambitions for place at its core, investing in town centres and making it easier for homes to be at the heart of thriving communities by: investing in a rolling programme of demonstrator locations, providing expertise, resources and matched funding to help illustrate what future Town Centre Living and 20 minute neighbourhood models can look like. We will also continue to support partners through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme to deliver affordable housing in town centres where this has been identified as a strategic priority.

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation sets out our vision to make Scotland a world-class entrepreneurial nation that encourages, promotes and celebrates entrepreneurial activity in every sector of our economy. The strategy’s programme for action details how we will make Scotland one of the best countries to start and grow a business.

We will shortly publish a refreshed Town centre Action plan and City Centre Recovery Taskforce report to support action to revitalise town and city centres respectively, and we have provided £80 million Covid Economic Recovery funding to local authorities to consider the needs of local businesses, communities and households and to target support to maximise economic recovery in their areas.

In August we announced the Scotland Loves Local Programme. The aim is to encourage people to support their local businesses and communities, to build wealth in local communities, revitalising town, city and neighbourhood centres and increasing footfall.

We have provided over £1.85 million additional support for Business Improvement Districts since the start of the pandemic, with a further £500,000 for 2021-22.

Psychological Therapies (PT) delivered in any service setting is already included within the 18-week PT waiting time standard and delivery of PT in forensic services should be counted in the PT standard. This is not consistently happening at the moment and to help ensure that services deliver and measure Psychological Therapies across in a more standardised way across Scotland a new national standard for Psychological Services and Therapies is currently under development with a publication date of Summer 2022.

Additionally, in order to ensure consistency in the quality of service delivery across Scotland, Scottish Government has worked with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to produce the Psychological Therapies 'Matrix' - a stepped guide to planning and delivering evidence-based psychological therapies within NHS Boards in Scotland. Matrix - A guide to delivering evidence-based psychological (scot.nhs.uk)

The Matrix is published by NES, in partnership with the Scottish Government and provides a summary of the information on the current evidence base for various therapeutic approaches, guidance on well-functioning psychological therapies services, and advice on important governance issues.

The Independent Review into the delivery of Forensic Mental Health Services in Scotland, published at the end of February 2021, made 67 recommendations for improvements to the delivery of forensic mental health services, including several on community forensic mental health.

The Scottish Government supports the recommendations of the review, agrees that community provision is a crucial component of the forensic mental health system and that forensic community mental health teams are key to supporting mental wellbeing in the community. Recommendations 18 and 19 of the Review recommend that work be undertaken to define the service remit of community forensic mental health teams and to ensure they are appropriately resourced to meet demand. The Forensic Mental Health Services Managed Care Network is gathering information on current provision to establish a baseline to take this work forward.

On 14 October 2021 the Scottish Government published the Fair Start Scotland: Evaluation Report 4 - Year 3 Overview , which provides an overview of evaluation research relating to the third year of service delivery from 1 April 2020 up to 31 March 2021.

The report includes findings from a telephone survey of over 1000 participants; local area case studies, interviews with participants across the country, an economic evaluation and analysis of management information on participants’ outcomes.

Results from the telephone survey show that nine in ten people (90%) were aware the service was voluntary. It also shows that:

? 95% of people feel they were treated with dignity and respect

? 82% of people felt the service took account of their individual needs and circumstances

? 84% of people felt the service offered support to improve their general quality of life and well-being

The full telephone survey was published alongside the Year 3 Evaluation Report and can be found here .

In addition to findings from the survey, interviews with participants were also conducted as part of the evaluation. Findings from these interviews suggest that Fair Start Scotland participants with experience of the DWP Work Programme disliked the compulsory nature of the latter and the risk of sanctions for non-completion or non-participation. Participants also felt that Fair Start Scotland key workers are more supportive and respectful than Work Programme advisers.

Most recent statistics published on 23 February 2022 show that since its launch in April 2018, FSS has supported more than 14,000 people into work.

The statistics show that for participants where data is complete, 37% were supported into work. They also show that the majority of people who get jobs have high levels of sustaining employment:

? 71% of those starting jobs sustained employment for at least 3 months.

? 79% of those who sustained employment for 3 months reached 6 months.

? 77% of those who sustained employment for 6 months reached 12 months.

The Fair Start Scotland: Economic Evaluation , also published on 14 October 2021, found evidence that the jobs achieved by Fair Start Scotland participants are more stable in comparison with other programmes.

Findings from the overall evaluation suggest that the service has a positive impact on the wellbeing of participants, both in terms of the quality of jobs achieved and improved labour market outcomes, as well with regards to their experience of the service as a whole.

The Scottish Government takes seriously the responsibility to ensure those going through the criminal justice system with mental health issues are appropriately supported, treated and cared for, while ensuring their rights are being maintained, especially during these challenging times that may have a significant impact on people’s mental wellbeing.

A new national standard for Psychological Services and Therapies, which will describe what good quality psychological care looks like, is currently under development with a publication date of Summer 2022. This will include describing the provision of care in forensic and prison services. This will help ensure that Psychological Therapy services and therapies are delivered and measured in equitable ways across the prison estate in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has invested £9 million in 2021-22 for Psychological services in Scotland to grow the Applied Psychology, and Psychological Therapies workforce. Further funding will be provided for 2022-23 to support services to provide Psychological care to all clinical areas of care detailed in the Psychological Services and Therapies standard.

During Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022, we welcomed the training offer that Beat, the UK’s eating disorder charity, has developed to ensure that our future workforce feels confident to support anyone who comes forward with concerns about disordered eating. We are pleased to see that all our medical schools in Scotland are in discussions with Beat to deliver eating disorder training, or are already delivering it.

We were also pleased to announce additional funding for Beat which includes Beyond the Symptoms Training for GPs and healthcare professionals, which will support them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder, and confidently intervene early. This training will be available from April.