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The Scottish Government is planning to provide an update on the leasing and planning process and associated timescales for the sectoral marine plan for innovation and decarbonisation in summer 2021. This planning exercise will be in addition to the sectoral marine plan for offshore wind energy published last October but will be based upon the findings therein.

It is for local authorities to process an application to withdraw a child from school, and the home education guidance advises local authorities to note that home education is a key aspect of parental choice, and that consent to withdraw a child from school should not be unreasonably withheld.

The review of the home education guidance will emphasise the importance of all parties working together to develop mutual trust and respect, and a positive relationship that functions in the best interest of the child. This is inclusive of the process around requests to withdraw a child from school.

The data requested is published by HESA in their Open Data Student release available here: HE Student Data | HESA

Following agreement with the Improvement Service, the National Entitlement Card Programme Office and Young Scot, who are responsible for handling applications for and issuing the National Entitlement Cards on which the national concessionary travel schemes depend, we plan that young people should be able to travel under the new Young Persons Free Bus Scheme from 31 January 2022.

We have previously announced our intention to extend the scope of the scheme to include 19-21 year olds and committed to making as much progress on this as possible this financial year. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the legislation required to amend the age eligibility for the scheme, when the new scheme goes live it will do so for young people up to and including the age of 21.

The Scottish Government is guided by the best available scientific evidence in our response to the global climate emergency. That evidence is absolutely clear, climate change is one of the greatest threats facing the world’s population.

The latest independent expert assessment of the impacts of climate change, published by the UK Climate Change Committee on 16 June 2021, identifies key areas of both risk and opportunity for Scotland. The inclusion of potential opportunities in this assessment reflects the fact that the impacts of climate change are inherently complex and vary across both space and time. Also, if we consider the mitigation - as well as adaptation - aspects of the response to the climate emergency then there will be significant economic opportunities for those, like Scotland, who are leading the transition to a global net-zero economy.

Nonetheless, the balance of the impacts set out in the Committee’s independent assessment is clear – with 53 of the 61 identified areas being classified as risks (entirely or partly). The Committee’s overall advice is that the overall landscape is one of a “worsening reality of climate risk” and all of its recommended areas for priority action relate to managing specific risks, rather than exploring potential opportunities.

‎The Scottish Government is committed to building resilience to the impacts of climate change as part of Scotland's just transition to a net-zero economy and society. We will be responding to the Committee’s updated risk assessment through the development of a new statutory adaptation programme, which is due for publication in 2024.

We have agreed with Health Boards and Higher and Further Education Institutions to appoint Single Points of Contacts in universities and colleges who will support the delivery of the vaccination to students across Scotland, including through the use of on-campus vaccination clinics.

University and College students will be vaccinated in line with the timetable for rest of the population.

Individuals can book their vaccination appointment by calling the Covid-19 Helpline on 0800 030 8013 or by visiting their nearest vaccination drop in clinic.

We are working with the with local Health Boards and Higher and Further Education Institutes to ensure that vaccines are accessible for all students.

The information requested regarding the number of NHS staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 at a hospital level is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Public Health Scotland publishes Health Care Worker Data by NHS Board, this information can be accessed here:

Dashboard - COVID-19 Statistical Report - 14 July 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

The Homelessness in Scotland statistics series reports data from the HL1 (homelessness applications), HL2 (snapshot temporary accommodation) and HL3 (placement level temporary accommodation) data collections.

Information on the number of children within the household applying for homelessness support and in temporary accommodation is currently collected and reported on through the HL1 and HL2 collections respectively.

Data is published in the Homelessness in Scotland statistics series. Data is published on a 6-monthly basis, with the most recent publication relating to the annual data for 2020-21. Table 15 of the latest publication reports the number of children in homelessness applications and Table 27 reports the number of children in temporary accommodation as at the end of a quarter. A link to the latest publication can be found here:

Homelessness in Scotland: 2020 to 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

An additional question was added to the HL3 data collection in 2019 to gather information on the number of children living in temporary accommodation placements. However, not all local authorities have so far been able to provide this information as there is a lead in time required to update local authority management information systems and data extraction processes. Scottish Government are continuing to work closely with local authorities to assist with the provision of this data and understand timescales for when this can be made available.

The HySeas III project is the third development stage of the research programme and will build on the first two stages by demonstrating that hydrogen fuel cells can be successfully integrated with a marine hybrid electric drive system (electric propulsion, control gear, batteries, etc.), along with the associated hydrogen storage and bunkering arrangements.

The project recently took a step forward with the award of a commercial contract to develop a design concept for the innovative vessel in June 2021. The contract has been awarded to Aqualisbraemar LOC Group by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), one of the partners in the programme.

As a concept proof project it does not include either vessel build or infrastructure development on the public ferry network at this time and therefore no timescales for these are available.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the Scottish Government does not collect information on the number of people sleeping rough in each local authority area.

The Scottish Government does collect data from local authorities on the number of homeless applications where at least one member of the household reported sleeping rough the night before making an application, and within the three months preceding an application. These statistics are published annually and the information can be found in Tables 2a & b and Tables 3a & b of the Main Tables (June 2021) spreadsheet on the Scottish Government’s Homelessness in Scotland: 2020 to 2021 statistics publication page: Homelessness in Scotland: 2020 to 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government aims to develop a national case management system to enable relevant information to be made available to organisations supporting people experiencing homelessness. We aim to begin a pilot of this system in 2021.