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Despite continued UK Government real terms cuts to Scotland resource budget we have continued to treat local government very fairly. In 2019-20, councils will receive a real terms increase in funding for public services.

As the vast majority of revenue funding, including for winter maintenance, is provided to local authorities by means of a block grant, it is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

Scottish Ministers can also activate the Bellwin Scheme which can provide additional revenue support to local authorities to assist with the immediate and unforeseen costs in dealing with the aftermath of emergency incidents. It is a discretionary scheme which exists to give special financial assistance to local authorities who would otherwise be faced with an undue financial burden as a result of providing relief and carrying out immediate work due to large-scale emergencies such as extreme winter weather.

Arrangements for this lifeline service will be announced to, all stakeholders shortly.

The extent to which an aligned intervention scheme will be required is entirely dependent upon the outcome of the on-going R100 procurement exercise. If required, the scheme would be targeted on any premises that won’t have superfast access delivered via the main procurement. Further information will be made available as soon as possible next year, once contracts have been awarded.

It has always been our intention to publish timescales for R100, when contracts have been awarded and high level deployment plans are in place during 2019.

CalMac Ferries Ltd has confirmed to the Scottish Government that there have been no changes to the insurance for the MV Loch Seaforth.

The R100 Open Market Review took place between November 2016 and January 2017 to identify those premises that did not have access to superfast broadband at the time, and those for which there were no commercial delivery plans over the following three year period. This is a necessary precursor to public sector investment in broadband infrastructure and ensures that we do not overbuild commercial suppliers.

This information was used to form the basis of a draft ‘intervention area’, which was subsequently tested through a State Aid Public Consultation in June 2017. In choosing to exclude urban premises from the main procurement, we have placed the onus for delivering solutions in these areas onto commercial suppliers. I have been encouraged by discussions with the suppliers around their plans for doing so with recent announcements of investment by CityFibre being one such example of progress outwith the R100 intervention area.

We published our digital strategy - Realising Scotland's full potential in a digital world - last year. This sets out our vision for Scotland as a vibrant, inclusive, open and outward looking digital nation, and sets the context for our digital investment programmes.

We will continue to monitor commercial delivery of superfast broadband in the context of the R100 programme and the detail of the associated roll-out will become clear when contractors are appointed in the first half of 2019. However, given the reserved nature of telecoms, the Scottish Government does not have the powers to co-ordinate or oversee wider commercial activity, albeit we maintain good communications with commercial operators regarding their own investment plans.

We remain committed to working with the UK Government, Ofcom and wider industry to ensure that future public investment in digital connectivity, working alongside regulation, is targeted where it is most needed.

Citronella collars are one of the many different types of electronic training aid and their use was consulted on as part of the Scottish Government’s consultation on potential controls or prohibition of electronic training aids in Scotland. These electronic collars use sprayed citronella oil as the aversive stimulus. The results of the consultation highlighted a number of potential welfare concerns, not least due to the lingering nature of the oil and the prolonged harm this can cause, which brings into doubt its usefulness as a stimulus for use in dog training.

There are no plans to consult on the use of prong collars or any other non-electronic training aids. However, the use of all aversive training aids is covered by the Scottish Government Guidance on Dog Training Aids, regardless of whether they are specifically mentioned.

Dog trainers and owners that contact the Scottish Government for advice are being referred to the published Guidance at: https://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/10/1535 .

We understand that following consultation the UK Government now proposes to bring forward secondary legislation under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to ban the use of hand-held remote controlled e-collar devices for dogs and cats. The UK Government does not propose to ban the use of anti-bark collars and invisible fencing containment systems; however, it does propose to update relevant codes of practice in relation to invisible fencing containment systems for cats and dogs to emphasize that these should be installed by professionals, that appropriate training should be provided, and that these should be used as a last resort. This is an alternative approach to a complex issue; we will consider the outcome and impact of this approach with interest in due course.