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At this point, the Scottish Government have no plans to set a date for the delivery of net zero carbon new buildings.

The 2013 Update to the Low Carbon Building Standards Strategy acknowledged that delivery of net zero carbon new buildings may not be practical, as indicated by research carried out by the Zero Carbon Hub. This aligns with the 2007 Sullivan panel recommendation for “Net zero carbon buildings by 2016-2017, if practical”.

As a consequence, the recommendation within the 2013 Update called for investigation of the potential for ‘Allowable Solutions’ to deliver a ‘net zero carbon standard’ for new development. ‘Allowable Solutions’ – a mechanism by which remaining building emissions could be offset through measures unrelated to the building - will be considered in the forthcoming review of the energy standards in building regulations which will commence in early 2018.

Yes, the Scottish Government will provide an update on the progress made on delivering the recommendations in the Low Carbon Building Standards Strategy for Scotland: 2013 Update. This will be provided after the conclusion of the forthcoming review of energy standards within building regulations programmed to commence in early 2018.

Responsibility for the detailed design of individual elements within the St James Quarter Growth Accelerator agreement, including the design proposals for Picardy Place, is a matter for the City of Edinburgh Council to lead on.

Scottish Ministers set national policy on active travel via the Active Travel Vision and local authorities are encouraged to follow this policy. However, under the terms of the Concordat and Single outcome agreements, implementation of the Active Travel Vision is a matter for the relevant planning authority to implement.

Scottish Government officials engaged with officials from the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Futures Trust to discuss the St James Quarter Growth Accelerator agreement before it was signed in October 2016.

Since then a Growth Accelerator Executive Group consisting of stakeholders, including the City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Futures Trust, and Scottish Government has been established to oversee the Growth Accelerator agreement and which has met on two occasions on 3 March 2017 and 7 June 2017.

However, no discussions have been held about the detail of the proposals to redevelop Picardy Place, for which the City of Edinburgh Council is responsible, seeking the approval of the Growth Accelerator Executive Group if and when required.

Under the current UK Government system I understand that people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance, are reassessed for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if they were under the age of 65 on the 8^th of April 2013 but are now over 65, or will be 65 by the time of their reassessment.

I can fully appreciate the unnecessary confusion and concern this must be causing to those affected. I support previous calls from organisations to end the process of reassessing those who were under 65 on the 8^th of April 2013. These individuals can no longer be considered ‘working age’ in line with the UK Government’s stated purpose of PIP.

We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to halt the roll-out of PIP in Scotland. The roll-out has been beset by delays, many people have had to undergo stressful assessments, and many have lost entitlement including access to the Motability scheme with devastating consequences.

Information (including data sources) on the assessment of conservation status for mountain hare in the second UK report to the European Commission under Article 17 of the EU Habitats Directive is published by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and can be accessed via the following web link: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/Article17/FCS2007-S1334-audit-Final.pdf

Information (including data sources) on the assessment of conservation status for mountain hare in the third UK report to the European Commission under Article 17 of the EU Habitats Directive is published by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and can be accessed via the following web link: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/Article17Consult_20131010/S1334_UK.pdf

Information on the criteria used for the second and third reports is also published by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and can be accessed via the following web links respectively: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-4096 http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/A17_2013_UKApproach.pdf

The Healthy Start Scheme is administered by the Department of Health. Information in the following table was provided by the Healthy Start Issuing Unit (HSIU) and outlines the households entitled and receiving Healthy Start vouchers in Scotland in the financial year 2016-17.

Uptake is variable across Scotland. We are, therefore, supporting a number of areas to run quality improvement projects to increase uptake of the Healthy Start Scheme including Fife, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.

The Scottish Government has received final advice from Food Standards Scotland (FSS) on the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid on a Scotland only basis. This advice is in line with the recommendations made to the FSS Board as follows:

i) Mandatory fortification should not be introduced on a Scotland only basis; and

ii) Mandatory fortification should, in line with previous recommendations, be taken forward on a UK basis.

The rationale for this approach is set out in the FSS Board paper of 16 August 2017 available at: http://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/publications-and-research/board-meeting-16-august-2017-1

The Scottish Government is currently considering this advice and our next steps.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care directorates funds health research to address health and care challenges in Scotland, which includes but is not restricted to research hosted by the NHS or where the NHS is a participant. CSO requires that information from all papers arising from CSO funded research be deposited in a publicly accessible repository (such as Europe PubMed Central) and be made freely available within 6 months. To facilitate this and open access to the research, CSO currently reimburses the research grant holding institution the costs of the open access publication fees that are applied by scientific and medical journals up to a value of £6,000 per CSO grant funded project for papers accepted for publication within 18 months of completion of the project. The reimbursement costs are not collated separately.

It is not possible at this time to predict the outcome of negotiations between the UK and the rest of the European Union, and therefore what the impact will be on the price and availability of medicines as a result of the UK leaving the European Union.

However, the pharmaceutical industry exists in a global market which trades in dollars and euros, and we are already receiving representations from community pharmacy contractors about increases in the procurement costs of some generic medicines as the value of sterling has fallen in recent months.

I am very concerned that some medicines manufacturers will be less attracted to the UK as a market following Brexit in terms of additional costs related to tariffs and other barriers to direct trade. I have already made it clear that there could therefore be a negative impact for patients, and that the UK Government should seriously consider these very real concerns.

I have written to Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health requesting that the Scottish Government is fully involved in discussions and decision-making around these issues, specifically in relation to our continued involvement in the European Medicines Agency (EMA). This will be crucial in maintaining access to medicines and helping to secure and sustain the availability of essential medicines throughout the UK supply chain.