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We have worked with local authorities when developing the exemption process for events to ensure it is proportionate and workable in practice and we will continue to engage closely with them on the process going forward.

Scotland’s councils have been allocated an additional £1.5 billion in direct support through the local government finance settlement and councils have also been granted additional financial flexibilities to address the financial pressures caused by COVID-19.

The 2021-22 Local Government Settlement of almost £11.7 billion provides a cash increase in local government day to day spending for local revenue services of £375.6 million or 3.5 per cent.

It is the responsibility of individual councils to manage their own budgets and to allocate the financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The CYPFEI & ALEC Fund aims to support activities which build opportunities and improve outcomes for children, young people and their families.

The key components of the CYPFEI Fund are:

• Promote the GIRFEC wellbeing indicators and the implementation of the UNCRC.
• Delivery of prevention and early intervention activities.
• Improving parenting capacity and family support.

As part of the initial assessment process, applicants to the fund were asked to list up to 4 key national performance indicators that their organisation would contribute to improving. As part of the ongoing monitoring and evaluation process, all recipients of the CYPFEI and ALEC Fund are also asked to submit a 6-monthly monitoring report, outlining progress made against each of their identified outcomes.

The 5 outcomes which Scottish Youth Parliament have reported progress against are:

• Young people in Scotland influence, inform and contribute to policy making and practice.
• Young people who face inequality or barriers to participation are actively engaged in Scottish Youth Parliament.
• MSYPs have the skills, confidence, support and opportunities to carry out their role effectively.
• Young people in Scotland are aware of their rights are encouraged to participate and are seen as valuable contributors to a democratic society.
• Scottish Youth Parliament is an efficient and effective youth-led organisation, responsive to its MSYPs, young people other key stakeholders, and is robustly resourced in a sustainable way.

The Scottish Youth Parliament are provided with core funding through the Scottish Government’s Children Young People and Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) Fund. This fund is administered by the CORRA Foundation on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

There has been no increase to the funding allocated from the Scottish Government’s Children Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) Fund to the Scottish Youth Parliament in 2021-22.

The Scottish Government has been supporting bioenergy development in Scotland for over a decade. Our current policy continues to promote biomass (wood fuel) systems which achieve the greatest possible energy efficiencies and deliver the highest possible carbon savings. We have assembled a Scottish Government working group to understand the extent to which bioenergy should be used in each of our sectors to ensure bioenergy is deployed where it has the greatest value in reducing emissions. By 2023, in time to inform the next Climate Change Plan, and to take account of decisions that are reserved to the UK Government, we will publish a Bioenergy Action Plan.

The Scottish Government has allocated almost £1.6 billion to support the accelerated deployment of renewable heat and energy efficiency measures in homes and buildings across Scotland. Over the next 5 years, this investment will help to cut emissions, create jobs, strengthen supply chains, and tackle fuel poverty.

As part of this investment, we will build upon and improve existing advice and support programmes to accelerate deployment. The SME loan scheme, run by Energy Saving Trust for the Scottish Government, has already provided over £63 million in loans and cashback to Scottish small and medium enterprises (SME), funding more than 1300 projects to install renewable heating and energy efficiency measures. We propose to continue to run our SME loan cashback schemes until at least 2023.

The Sustainable Energy Supply Chain programme, funded by the Scottish Government and administered by Energy Saving Trust, has provided support and assistance for businesses in Scotland since 2013. To augment this programme, we will develop an action plan, specifically focussed on strengthening the broad supply chains needed to deliver zero emissions heat and energy efficiency in buildings. Additional advice and support tailored for SME businesses can be accessed via our Energy Efficiency Business Support service.

The Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues has concluded that the previous position on self-isolation for children and young people as contacts was not commensurate with the risk going forward and should be revised to exempt all children and young people from isolation as close contacts unless they are symptomatic or have a positive test. The sub-group concluded that, when a COVID-positive case is identified, school-aged close contacts should be advised to book a PCR test as soon as possible, and only end self-isolation and return to school if/when they receive a negative PCR test result. Further details of the sub-group’s conclusions can be found in their recently published advice .

Updated guidance on reducing the risks in schools published on 3 August details changes to self-isolation for schools in line with sub-group advice, which apply from 9 August onwards.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge Programme, including the Pupil Equity Fund, has a vital role to play in building upon the progress being made to close the poverty related attainment gap.

In 2021 to 2022, over £215 million of targeted funding will be invested to help close the poverty related attainment gap. It marks the first year of record investment in an expanded £1 billion Attainment Scotland Fund which will be provided over the new Parliamentary term after an investment of over £750 million in the previous Parliamentary term.

As a part of this, in 2021-22 Headteachers will receive almost £147 million of Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) which they will decide how best to invest to support disadvantaged pupils. This includes a top up PEF Premium payment of up to £20 million, recognising the new and additional challenges schools face as a result of the pandemic.

Closing the poverty-related attainment gap and ensuring every young person has the chance to fulfil their potential remains central to this Government’s work. Our ambition is a long-term one and we know that the challenges presented by the pandemic mean our efforts to deliver equity in education are more vital than ever.

Under the current Forestry Grant Scheme (2014 - 2024), Scottish Forestry estimate that 160 million trees have been planted.

Of these, 93.6 million were non-native conifers (predominantly Sitka spruce, Douglas fir and other species), and 10.4 million were native conifers (mainly Scots pine). A further 52.5 million were native broadleaves (typically oak, alder, ash, birch, hazel and hawthorn) and 3.5 million were non-native broadleaves (sycamore, beech etc).

The Scottish Government does not offer any tax incentives to support woodland creation through any devolved taxes.

The Scottish Government continues to promote testing in its communications and public messaging. To raise awareness of how individuals can access testing at walk-through test centres and mobile testing units, the Scottish Government has:

• supported local authorities and health boards to promote new sites by creating a communications toolkit, which includes templates for news releases, social media content and signage,
• engaged with local authorities and health boards to inform them of upcoming Test and Protect communications campaigns and new site openings, and,
• promoted new sites online with the public and health journalists, broadcasters and bloggers with a Ministerial quote and UK Government news release.

Requirements for entering Scotland are currently aligned on a Four Nations basis and differ depending on whether the individual arrives from a red, amber or green listed country.

All arrivals are required to provide a negative Covid-19 test in the three days prior to travel, they are then required to undertake the following actions:

• Red – studying in the UK is currently one of the allowable reasons for entering Scotland from a red-list country. International students over 18 years old arriving from a country on this list, or who have been in a red list country in the 10 days prior, are required to enter managed quarantine for 10 days.
• Amber – International students arriving from amber-list countries, or who have been in an Amber list country in the 10 days prior, are required to isolate in their place of residence for 10 days, additionally they are required to take a Covid-19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8 of their 10 day isolation.
• Green – International students arriving from green-list countries are not required to isolate unless the result of a COVID-19 test taken on day 2 after arriving back in Scotland is positive.