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The Scottish Government understands how difficult ongoing restrictions at funeral services are for those who are bereaved and wish to pay their final respects to a loved one.

We continue to review all of the funeral restrictions on a regular basis taking into account the stage of the pandemic, the public health risks and the impact on bereaved families.

The conclusion of the physical distancing review is expected shortly, which will consider the implications of 2 metre physical distancing at funeral services.

Zero Waste Scotland is continuing to work with Keep Scotland Beautiful, Association for Public Service Excellence, Local Authorities, the Improvement Service and SOLACE to implement a new Litter Monitoring System.

Zero Waste Scotland have been have been providing support to Keep Scotland Beautiful to trial the litter monitoring system. Training will begin over the next few months and will allow Local Authorities to use the system. The Local Environment Audit and Management System will continue to be used during this transition and it is expected to be fully replaced by the Litter Monitoring System for 2022-23.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) and its predecessor Forest Enterprise Scotland have acquired the following under the New Woodland Investment Programme (2017 - 2021) / Repositioning Programme (2007 – 2016):

The Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football was commissioned by the Scottish FA Board in late 2016 and began work in the first quarter of 2017. In summary the terms of reference (developed in conjunction with some survivors) were to examine what was known at the time of the abuse in Scottish Football, who knew and what action was taken as a result.

The purpose of the Review was not to find fault or to attribute blame but rather was about learning from the experiences of the past with a view to improving the way that Scottish football assures the safety, rights and wellbeing of children involved in the game today where necessary. This is set out at para 1.2 of the full report when it says “the Review is not concerned with attributing culpability or liability” and further “Attributing blame and engaging in a finger-pointing exercise is not helpful and is almost always unproductive, detracting from ensuring that the right change takes place with the commitment of us all” and “the narrative of ‘failure’ and ‘blame’ is one which the Review is keen to resist in order to focus on learning and improvement which is of more productive value.”

The Review accepts that knowledge and practices were markedly different in the past than they are now, and recognises the recent efforts of the Scottish FA and its members to put in place a Child Protection and Wellbeing Strategy. It makes clear that continued culture change is imperative – this includes continuing to work closely with survivors to improve processes, challenging distorted thinking about sexual conduct or violence and creating positive attitudes to mental health. The Scottish Government fully support those aims.

We welcome this report and will review its findings in detail. We are absolutely committed to working with local government to support the realisation of the right to adequate housing.

In March 2021, the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership published its recommendations for a new human rights framework in Scotland that brings internationally recognised human rights into domestic law. The report contains 30 progressive and ambitious recommendations for a new human rights framework that will ensure the human rights of every member of Scottish society are protected.

The Scottish Government has accepted the recommendations and a Human Rights Bill will be introduced to parliament during this parliamentary session. The involvement of the public and further consultation with stakeholders will be crucial in developing this framework. An executive board will be established comprising of senior decision makers from public authorities to ensure there is capacity across the public sector to implement the Bill.

We are also committed to introducing a new housing standard for all homes in Scotland which will include improved energy efficiency requirements. It will go beyond traditional models of fitness for human habitation to a new model that meets expectations for housing as a human right and delivers homes that underpin health and wellbeing. We will consult on the new standard this year, publish a draft standard in 2023 and introduce legislation in 2024/25, for phased introduction from 2025 to 2030.

I welcome the OECD’s report and can confirm that the Scottish Government is accepting the OECD’s 12 recommendations in full.

Recommendation 3.2 of the OECD’s report identifies the need to simplify and better align the institutional structures that support our education system. I therefore intend to replace the SQA with a new, specialist agency and I am minded to make this new body responsible for both curriculum and assessment, to ensure clarity, coherence and alignment as recommended by the OECD. I would like to thank teachers and all SQA staff for all their ongoing efforts to deliver qualifications in challenging circumstances this year.

The report found that having the inspectorate as part of an organisation that is also responsible for supporting school leaders, curriculum design and support, teacher professional learning and a range of other initiatives is an “unusual configuration”.

It is therefore my intention to move the inspection function out of Education Scotland.

During my statement to Parliament tomorrow, I will provide more details on how this will be taken forward, along with our overall response to the report and the other recommendations. I can give an assurance that we will engage widely and will consult on plans for implementation.

I understand that some learners continue to feel dissatisfied with the result of the 2020 national qualifications appeals process.

Teachers exercised their best professional judgement in deciding grades for learners in the very challenging circumstances resulting from the pandemic. Following the Deputy First Minister’s intervention, learners were awarded the grades that their teachers judged reflected their attainment.

Having carefully considered the position, we have concluded that there is no way to reopen the appeals process in a fair and equitable manner to all learners.

However, recognising the strength of feeling of some about the 2020 appeals process, it has been agreed with the SQA that any learner who considers they still have grounds for an appeal in respect of an award made in 2020, within the criteria set for 2020 appeals, can talk to their centre and the centre can come forward and have that appeal considered by the SQA, even at this late stage, to address those concerns.

Scottish Government, along with the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), met with Benchmark in 2019 and 2020 to describe the regulatory requirements for any proposal which may come forward to use or release imidacloprid based treatments in the marine environment. No applications have subsequently been made for imidacloprid use or release.

The Scottish Government utilises a vaccination management tool at the point of vaccination, the data forms used have built in validation to ensure the data entered are accurate. A new vaccination record is transferred to the National Clinical Data Store (NCDS) after 60 minutes. The layers of recording are updated from NCDS to the reporting dashboards, these are refreshed every two hours to ensure accurate recording.

 Provisional monthly data on landings (liveweight tonnes) by UK and foreign vessels into Scottish ports, January-May 2020 and January to April 2021