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Arrangements have been made so that the settlement of these costs will not affect the operational effectiveness of COPFS, and will not require to be met from the COPFS resource budget allocation.

Any overall funding changes required to support expenditure come from careful budget management across the Scottish Government budget. Budget transfers are reported to Parliament as part of the Autumn and Spring Budget revisions.

Creative Scotland provide a wide variety of support, both regular and project funding, to theatres of all types.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic the Scottish Government distributed emergency funds through two rounds of the Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund and the Cultural Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund. These funds were administered on behalf of the Scottish Government by Creative Scotland The details of all individual awards are published on Creative Scotland’s website ( Further £17million emergency funding reaches Culture Organisations and Performing Arts Venues | Creative Scotland )

Creative Scotland’s funding programmes adhere to criteria which are widely published and, subject to eligibility, are open to any organisation. Decisions are based on how well any applicant meets the criteria. The decision making process also ensures a spread of scale, purpose and location.

Public funding support for theatres covers commercial organisations as well as those with charitable or other not-for-profit status. The context for commercial organisations would always be that the funded activity was not profit generating and meets the public value purpose of Creative Scotland’s funding.

Creative Scotland are currently reviewing the way that they fund organisations and this will include how they fund theatres.

They will be finalising a refreshed funding framework for implementation from
‎ 2023-24 onwards.

We are in daily contact with Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), and are monitoring the situation closely, including in Fife HSCP. Health Boards and HSCPs have provided assurances that people in need of the most urgent care will continue receiving care during this challenging period.

We are working with local partners to address these pressures at a local and national level, including putting in place measures to support recruitment and multi-disciplinary working. Some of the immediate actions we have taken include: funding support to advertise vacant posts on a dedicated social care webpage; and targeted communication with Further and Higher Education nursing students and Social Work students, to encourage applications to join the workforce.

Further, we have allocated an additional £380 million to Health Boards to help with costs arising from the pandemic. This comes on top of the £1.7 billion already provided to Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships last year.

The Scottish Government publishes information on the initial (3 months after leaving school) and follow-up (9 months after leaving school) destinations of school leavers from publicly funded schools.

Initial destination: School education statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Follow-up destination: School education statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Note that this does not directly identify the proportion who have gone to university but does identify those who have went in to Higher Education. Within these statistics Higher Education is defined based on the qualification being studied rather than the place of study. It covers those following a course of study at a level higher than the standard of the National Qualifications, i.e. above SCQF level 7. This includes degree courses, courses for the education and training of teachers, higher level courses for professional qualification and Higher National Certificate / Diploma or equivalent. This will include those studying such courses at University but also in other settings such as a Higher Education Institutions or Colleges.

The latest follow-up destinations data on the proportion of publicly funded school leavers who were in Higher Education is provided below. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the percentage of independent school leavers who have gone to university or Higher Education.

Proportion of school leavers from publicly funded schools with Higher Education follow-up destination

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the 2021 grade results broken down by state and independent school.

The SQA plan to publish information on 2021 results broken down by centre type on their website ( Statistics 2021 - SQA ) on 21 September 2021. This will provide information on the percentage of entries which resulted in a grade A, B, C etc.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the 2021 grade results broken down by state and independent school.

The SQA plan to publish information on results be centre type - Attainment Statistics for every National Qualification in 2021, tabulated by Centre Type (Education Authority Schools, Independent Schools, Colleges) - on their website ( Statistics 2021 - SQA ) on 21 September 2021.

The Scottish Government remains committed both to a public inquiry to be set up this year to consider matters in relation to Scotland’s handling of the pandemic, and to placing bereaved families at the heart of our work to establish an inquiry including in the development of Terms of Reference.

During the first 100 Days of the new administration, the Government has held discussions with the UK Government on its plans for a public inquiry, as well as with stakeholders including representatives of bereaved families. To ensure that lessons are learned, we will now proceed to establish a Scottish public inquiry. The inquiry will be established by the end of this year.

As the beginning of a process of engagement with stakeholders and others with an interest, and to inform development of the Terms of Reference, the Scottish Government has today published a set of draft aims and principles for an independent COVID-19 public inquiry in Scotland under the Inquiries Act 2005: www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-inquiry-establishment. This document will form the basis of a process which will allow us to listen to the views of those affected by COVID-19, including the bereaved families, on what they wish for a public inquiry to focus on, and marks an important step in the progress of its establishment. Discussions are underway with the Lord President to identify and appoint a chair for the Scottish Covid inquiry, in line with our previous commitment that we would wish it to be led by a judge.

In considering the Terms of Reference for the inquiry, and to ensure that all the areas that need to be considered are covered in a way that gives confidence to bereaved families and others, the Scottish Government will continue discussions with the UK Government on the planned UK inquiry.

As the member will be aware, capital investment is funded from the Scottish Government’s capital budget and its limited borrowing powers.

The annual Medium Term Financial Strategy which was last published alongside the Scottish Budget on 28 January, details the Scottish Government’s borrowing policies, including the source of capital borrowing. The National Loans Fund is the preferred source of capital borrowing because it remains the most cost effective approach to maximising the limitations of the fiscal framework restrictions.

If the Scottish Government had the same borrowing powers as local authorities, alternative sources of borrowing, including bonds, would become a more attractive option.

At 31 March 2021, Scottish Water reported leakage at 463 Megalitres per day – a reduction of over 55% since 2006. Scottish Water continues to invest to maintain and replace assets to further drive down leakage.

Part 7 of the Water Resources (Scotland) Act 2013 allows Scottish Water to make a water shortage order if it believes there is a serious deficiency of water supplies in an area. Scottish Water also encourages customers to use water efficiently year-round and has information on its website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Save-Water/Water-Saving-Advice. In addition, Licensed Providers, such as Business Stream, work with non-domestic customers to promote efficient water use to generate environmental and financial savings. In the last year alone, Business Stream has helped its customers save over £14 million through water efficiency savings. Business stream has also recently launched a £100k water efficiency fund to help public sector bodies deliver water efficiency projects.

The vision of our National Transport Strategy is that we will have a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system, helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors. The Strategy embeds the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy into decision making, by prioritising walking, wheeling, cycling and public and shared transport options in preference to single occupancy private car use.

It also confirms that future transport investment decisions will be made in line with the Sustainable Investment Hierarchy, ensuring that transport options that focus on the need to travel sustainably and reduce inequalities are prioritised.

I can confirm that Sustrans notified Transport Scotland of its decision to pause applications to the Places for Everyone (PfE) fund for all new projects, due to the fund currently being oversubscribed. Funds continue to be available for the delivery of existing PfE projects. Sustrans will review this position again in September 2021.