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The Scottish Government has allocated budget of £1,345,000 for the prevention of the destruction of the marine environment and allocated budget of £26,228,000 for efforts to police marine protection, including by vessels operated by (i) Marine Scotland and (ii) any other authorities.

The Scottish Government is working with partners to identifying suitable long term sustainable accommodation so we can continue to support displaced people whilst they are in Scotland.

On 22 September, we introduced a new fund with up to £50m to bring void council and Registered Social Landlord properties into use and to increase available housing supply. We are working closely with Local Government resettlement teams across the country to support those currently in hotel and ship accommodation transition into longer term accommodation and host offers.

We are currently in the process of evaluating minimum unit pricing (MUP) as a whole over its first five years of operation. Public Health Scotland will be producing a final report on MUP in 2023, which will inform our evaluation report which will be laid in Parliament and published in 2023.

Work on reviewing the level of MUP has started as part of our overall evaluation, as the impact of MUP is connected to the unit price. We are evaluating the impact of MUP at the current price of 50 pence per unit and will assess what level MUP should be set at going forward, if MUP is to continue. It is important that we have a robust evidence base to support any decision on a change in the level of MUP.

Part of this work includes a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment which will look at the likely costs, benefits and risk of any proposed legislation. This will include how any changes to MUP will interact with any potential changes to excise duty.

We welcome the recommendations made within the recent Scottish stakeholder review of the ME/CFS NICE guideline and are working with stakeholders on how best to implement these. The report was produced independently by Blake Stevenson Ltd to present the views gathered during a stakeholder engagement exercise commissioned by the Scottish Government.

We are committed to broadening the range of people represented in Scotland’s public places, in particular the contribution of women and ethnic minorities. We will work with Creative Scotland, whose remit includes public art, on what form a fund would take and how a fund might best be deployed within available resources. The effects of the pandemic and the current cost crisis facing the culture sector, along with the challenging outlook for public expenditure, mean that we do not have a confirmed timeframe for when this will be in place.

The Scottish Government has no functions concerning the legal protections in place to protect disabled people from disability discrimination during the employment-seeking process. These functions are reserved to the UK Parliament, as set out in Section 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. More information is available on the Scottish Parliaments website( https://www.parliament.scot/about/how-parliament-works/devolved-and-reserved-powers )

We are currently in initial stages of scoping a ‘Percentage for the Arts’ scheme, which would channel a small percentage of spending on all new public buildings and spaces into support for arts and culture. This work will require significant engagement and consultation with the culture, creative and heritage sectors, local authorities, and across Government, to put in place assessments of the legal, analytical, regulatory, and financial issues. Consideration must also be given to the environmental and equalities impacts of the scheme.

Education Scotland are currently learning more about the evidence-based Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme and a related screening tool, Language Screen, which assesses four components of oral language skills. However, it is for individual schools and local authorities to decide if specific literacy screening tools and interventions such as NELI and Language Screen meet their strategic aims.

The Scottish Government does not fund the costs of private dental treatment. The budget for NHS General Dental Services is entirely for NHS dentistry.

Private dental care was subject to the same infection prevention controls that reduced access to dental services during the pandemic period.

NHS Boards do not fund the costs of private dental treatment. The budget for NHS General Dental Services is entirely for NHS dentistry.

Private dental care was subject to the same infection prevention controls that reduced access to dental services during the pandemic period.