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We recognise that globally, as well as here in Scotland, the aviation industry faces one of the longest recovery periods given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on route networks, which is why we have extended the 100% non-domestic rates relief for the aviation sector for another year (2021-22). We are also funding a skeleton service to the Islands until at least the end of June to ensure that essential connectivity is maintained and have provided training development support to help provide training for staff in the aviation sector to support job retention.

The Scottish Government is working with airports on route recovery, to help rebuild connectivity for business and inbound tourism once we are able to safely lift travel restrictions. Transport Scotland, working in partnership with VisitScotland and Scottish Development International, has a well-established process in place to help Scotland’s airports recover routes lost as well as help secure new ones. In addition to our work with the airports, the Scottish Government also has regular engagement with airlines. Most recently this included productive discussions held in April with 19 airlines, all of which are important to Scotland’s international connectivity. Given the commercial nature of these discussions I am unable to share specific details.

Now more than ever it is essential that we are well connected to the rest of Europe and the rest of the World and our ambition is to help airports restore 2019 levels of connectivity as quickly as possible.

The Scottish Government greatly values the work of those working on the national helpline. The national helpline is available 7 days a week between 8am and 8pm as an alternative channel for those patients who are not able to access content or services digitally. On average the helpline answers 23,000 calls on a weekday and around 14,000 calls are answered on each day over the weekend. There are between 200 to 400 people who staff the national helpline, dependent on demand patterns.

The average time taken to answer a call to the helpline, was less than a minute. There has been an increase in calls since 17 May 2021 which has meant people have been place in a queue on weekdays.

Having identified the increase in demand over the last two weeks, additional resources are being mobilised from the week, starting 31 May 2021 to reduce call wait times.

There is no externally assessed and marked examination diet this year. However, it is necessary for learners to be assessed to provide evidence to demonstrate their level of attainment and to allow teachers and lecturers to use their professional judgement to determine each learner’s provisional results.

The timing and nature of the assessments has been decided by local authorities, individual schools and colleges, providing flexibility to assess individual learners at different times and in different ways. This allows teachers and lecturers to take account of the variable disruption to learning that their pupils have experienced as a result of the pandemic.

Consideration of options for extending the Borders Railway continues to be undertaken through the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2). This is a national appraisal of strategic transport interventions and will conclude later this year.

As detailed in the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, STPR2 will create the evidence base for future transport investment decisions by the Scottish Government. Depending on the outcome of STPR2, feasibility work would then progress on the basis of, and informed by, findings from this appraisal work.

The former Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills met with SQA on a number of occasions and I have had an early discussion with the SQA Chief Executive on matters relating to the delivery of SQA’s functions.

The Scottish Government is a member of the National Qualifications 2021 Group which was established to co-produce the Alternative Certification Model and oversee implementation. This, together with an associated working group, has met weekly since it was established in October 2020.

The National Qualifications 2021 Group was established in October 2020 with members from across the education system. The group is comprised of representatives of teachers, lecturers, learners and parents, working alongside Local Authorities, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Scottish Government. The organisations on the National Qualifications Group agreed the model for this year, which has been co-produced by them, and is the fairest possible approach for our young people in the challenging circumstances resulting from the pandemic.

SQA carried out a public consultation on proposed modification to the assessment of National Courses. They received over 20,000 responses and as a result introduced reductions to the assessment of all National Courses to take account of learning disruption, whilst still maintaining the credibility of the qualifications for learners and end users. Within that context, SQA has provided subject-specific guidance documents for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. These documents support teachers and lecturers in gathering key assessment evidence as the basis for provisional results. The documents also give guidance on the modifications that were made to courses, after public consultation, to streamline requirements to support teachers and learners and mitigate the impact of disruption.

The unavoidable second period of remote learning due to the pandemic has unfortunately meant that assessments are taking place over a shorter period than was first anticipated.

To help address this, the framework allows for a significant degree of local flexibility in which assessment tools are used in ways and at times which suit local circumstances and the specific needs of learners.

The deadline for submission of provisional grades has been extended to 25 June 2021 to allow for teaching and learning to be completed and to provide a longer opportunity for the gathering of assessment evidence.

The National Qualifications 2021 Group has been very clear that certification must be based on demonstrated attainment.

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing all of the recommendations of Baroness Cumberlege’s Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, entitled First Do No Harm, where they relate to the responsibilities of the Scottish Government. The steps being taken to achieve this are set out in the Scottish Government’s Delivery Plan - published on 24 March..

The Delivery Plan describes a programme of work based on a multi-layered approach to rapidly reduce, and eventually eradicate, harm associated with mesh, sodium valproate and Primidos applicable and relevant to the Scottish context. To do this, the Scottish Government will work collaboratively with colleagues across the NHS and representative groups to agree and implement this work programme across Scotland.

In relation to sodium valproate specifically, through implementation of the Neurological Care and Support Framework , the Scottish Government is funding the development of an epilepsy register in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Tayside and NHS Lanarkshire, with a view to roll out across all NHS Boards in Scotland. Initial discussions have been held regarding the potential to link with UK-wide data sets facilitated by MHRA, in order to ensure alignment with a UK-wide valproate registry.

Our commitment to tackling the climate emergency and transitioning to a net-zero society by 2045 is unwavering. In 2019, the whole-life carbon impact of Scotland’s household waste reached its lowest level since official recording began.

To help achieve this, building Scotland’s circular economy and reducing, recycling and reusing resources is vital. With this and our world leading climate change targets in mind, the Scottish Government have committed to review the role that incineration plays in Scotland’s waste hierarchy and will update Parliament on plans for this in due course.

To further accelerate progress, Scottish Ministers are fully committed to ending the practice of sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill by 2025. This is in line with recommendations made by the Committee on Climate Change.

We still need capacity to dispose of residual waste, which cannot be reused or recycled, while we make the transition to a circular economy in Scotland.

It is worth nothing, responsibility for dealing with any planning applications rests, in the first instance, with the local council as planning authority.

The Scottish Government granted local authorities the autonomy to introduce local reliefs schemes through the Community Empowerment Act 2015. The Scottish Government continues to encourage local authorities to use these powers where they may deem it appropriate. Local Authorities are independent bodies, democratically elected and accountable to their local electorate, and the administering of all reliefs under these powers is a matter for them.

The following table sets out spend on local reliefs from 2016-17 to 2019-20:

Plans on the assessment approach for National courses in 2021-2022 are being considered by the National Qualifications 2021 Group based on the latest public health advice. SQA has also been engaging on assessment modifications for next year with teachers through its National Qualifications Support Teams for each subject. Contingency arrangements will be considered to allow for any further disruption to learning that may occur.

A decision will be made in time to allow schools and colleges to plan for delivery from the start of the 2021-2022 academic session.