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The Scottish Government is committed to improving Mental Health services and the Programme for Government commits to ensuring that by the end of this Parliament, a minimum 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health, with at least 1% going towards child and adolescent mental health services.

We also remain committed to meet the standard that 90% of children and young people begin treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We have allocated nearly £40m additional funding in 2021-22 to NHS Boards to improve CAMHS from our £120m Recovery and Renewal fund. £4.25m of that allocation is directly focussed on offering treatment to those already on CAMHS waiting lists, with a view to clearing all backlogs by March 2023.

We are closely monitoring those NHS Boards with significant performance challenges and supporting the continuous development of their detailed local improvement plans. The creation of these plans is further supported with direct enhanced support from subject matter experts and the sharing of best practice. This support is centred around and supported by the implementation of the CAMHS national service specification which outlines the expectations of the quality of care that families can expect.

NHS Boards who are receiving this enhanced support have provided trajectories to meet the 90% waiting times standard and we are using these to monitor and drive improvements within CAMHS.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of mobile and broadband connectivity for almost all aspects of everyday life which is why we are working closely with BT, Ofcom, UK Government and other network operators to ensure the migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital based services is as seamless as possible.

It is important to note that resilience of the Communications Sector, which includes telecommunications and internet, is reserved and therefore the responsibility of the UK Government

It is also important to note that the move to digital based services is an industry-led decision and process. This decision to upgrade the legacy PSTN network is driven by the increased difficulty in maintaining the current network, due to reduced availability of replacement parts and the reduction of expertise in aging analogue systems.

The telecoms regulator (Ofcom) have imposed a regulatory obligation on communications providers in General Condition A3 to take all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency organisations for their customers.

Through the Scottish 4G Infill programme, we are investing £28.75 million in future-proofed infrastructure to improve access to 4G services for some of Scotland’s rural and island communities. The programme is targeting total notspots, areas where there is no outdoor coverage on any 4G network.

At present, the Scottish 4G Infill Programme is providing future-proofed, 4G mobile infrastructure at 25 locations across Scotland, from New Luce in Dumfries and Galloway to Reawick on Shetland. Up to 55 sites will be live and providing service by the end of the programme in 2023.

During Storm Arwen, telecoms operators were quick to respond, deploying emergency response teams that provided mitigating measures such as backup generators to affected sites.

Local Resilience Partnerships also provided welfare centres and offered Wi-Fi and mobile phone charging facilities where possible.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a Review into the response to Storm Arwen which aims to learn lessons and improve the response to power outages and associated impacts like those experienced in November 2021.

We will continue to press the UK Government and the regulator (Ofcom) for assurance that increasing resilience of the telecoms network in Scotland is a priority.

The main consideration was the suitability of a candidate for the role of Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Rail Holdings, including relevant previous senior level experience of the UK rail industry and the mobilisation of Government controlled rail operations.

The Scottish Government and TATA Steel do not have any claim on the land upon which the Dalzell steelworks are situated.

Steel production in Scotland had effectively ceased at the time. Our intervention enabled production to recommence and to get skilled Steel workers back to work.

The Scottish Government owned the Dalzell and Clydebridge steelworks momentarily in 2016 before the same were immediately sold to Liberty House.

The Scottish Government has not carried out an overarching assessment of the typical environmental remediation costs for sites of former steelworks in Scotland. Due to Scotland’s long history of iron and steel making such activity has taken place in a range of locations and circumstances over differing time periods and has involved many different processes and scales of production. Hence land remediation costs at any particular former steelworks site will depend on a multitude of site-specific factors and the owners’ planned future uses of the land.

A soil and groundwater contamination liability assessment covering the Lanarkshire steelworks was prepared for the Scottish Government in 2016.

A copy of the report with redactions in line with FOISA exemptions is available from the Scottish Government website here:

( https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/foi-eir-release/2021/07/foi-202100216003/documents/foi202100216003---information-released-2/foi202100216003---information-released-2/govscot%3Adocument/FOI202100216003%2B-%2BInformation%2Breleased%2B2.pdf ).

The ‘’wider group’’ referred to by the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise is Liberty Steel Dalzell Limited's parent company.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people are able to access the right support for their mental health as early as possible, without stigma. We encourage children and young people to speak to their GP or school/college/university in the first instance to discuss any concerns about their mental health and wellbeing and enable their referral to any additional services or support required.

We are committed to improving access to community mental health and wellbeing support, and to an approach based on prevention and early intervention. This year, we have provided local authorities with an additional £15 million to fund over 230 new and enhanced supports and services for children and young people. These include digital and text services, play and art-based therapies, single points of access, family support and counselling services for those experiencing emotional distress. Establishing these services is a significant step forward in supporting the mental health of our children and young people, making sure they receive the help they need, when they need it.

In 2022-23, we will issue a further £15 million to local authorities to fund the continuation of these services. In addition, the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party shared policy programme commits to doubling the budget for community-based mental wellbeing services for children and young people to £30 million per annum by the end of this parliament.

We continue to invest in a range of pre-emptive measures to support children and young people in looking after their own mental health and wellbeing. This includes providing enhanced digital resources on mental health and wellbeing available via the ‘Aye Feel’ website and social marketing campaigns, managed by Young Scot and support for parents via the Parent Club website.

Furthermore, we have delivered on our commitment for all secondary schools in Scotland to have access to a mental health counsellor, investing £16 million per annum to ensure children and young people have the support they need at the earliest possible stage.