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Temporary accommodation offers an important safety net for anyone who finds themselves homeless. However, it should only ever be temporary. Our commitment to invest £50 million over this parliamentary term to end homelessness builds on the £37.5 million we have already provided to local authorities to implement plans for rapid rehousing and Housing First and prioritise settled accommodation for all.

Both the pandemic and Brexit have created challenges for social landlords in repair, maintenance and allocation of stock which is leading to longer waits for new permanent homes. My officials are in regular contact with Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership who are working hard to address these challenges and move people as quickly as possible into appropriate settled accommodation.

We have established a working group to develop a legally enforceable temporary accommodation standards framework. The group will bring forward concrete proposals in 2022 which will help ensure that temporary accommodation is of a good standard and well regulated, and that time spent in it is limited.

As we set out in the answer to question S6W-04354 on 30 November 2021 there is a £13 million difference between the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecast for Scottish Child Payment expenditure from their January 2021 and August 2021 publications. This does not represent an underspend, it is simply a refinement of their previous forecast.

Scottish Child Payment is a completely new and demand led-benefit, which makes forecasting expenditure more difficult. The Commission revised their forecast once more data became available which suggested a lower number of eligible children.

As we set out in the answer to question S6W-04352 on 30 November 2021, we currently expect Scottish Child Payment expenditure to be in line with the updated forecasts.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

To date, the following organisations have been awarded funding from the £6 million funding available through the Winter Support Fund for the third sector:

The following table provides statistics for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the NHS Tayside area. It is possible that children were seen within Psychological Therapy (PT) in addition to this however it is not possible at present to disaggregate child data from the wider adult PT data return.

2021 is not complete at present, therefore a partial 2021 has been presented including activity from Jan 2021 to Sep 2021, compared to the whole of 2020 (Jan – Dec).

Table 1 - NHS Tayside

The following table provides statistics for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the NHS Grampian area. It is possible that children were seen within Psychological Therapy in addition to this however it is not possible at present to disaggregate child data from the wider adult PT data return.

2021 is not complete at present, therefore a partial 2021 has been presented including activity from Jan 2021 to Sep 2021, compared to the whole of 2020 (Jan – Dec).

Table 1 - NHS Grampian

People who participate in performing arts, including community choirs should follow general Covid-19 guidance ( Coronavirus in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This encourages people to get vaccinated, take regular lateral flow tests, wear face coverings, self-isolate and book a PCR test at the onset of symptoms of Covid-19, keep good hygiene and hand-washing practices, open windows indoors, keep distance from people outwith their immediate group, and use the Covid Status, Protection Scotland, and Check In Scotland apps.

In addition to this, community choirs should also follow the Coronavirus (COVID-19): reopening of cultural performances and events guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) which contains further information including on face coverings for rehearsals and performances.

The Scottish Government’s commitment to train 500 Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) by 2021 was met by August 2021. As of September 2021, 536 nurses had completed their Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing Practice (PG Dip ANP).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04734 on 13 December 2021 . All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

As previously set out, we are working with industry, local government and environmental groups to develop a route map to deliver our waste and recycling targets for 2025. This work will be critical in determining how the waste and resources sector, including local government, will contribute towards lower carbon emissions in the period to 2030 and beyond, including the approach to evaluating progress against our goal to reduce emissions.

Table 1 shows the total number of patients seen for first treatment following referral to CAMH Services, and the number of patients seen who waited more than 18 weeks between referral and first treatment appointment in CAMH Services for each year between January 2015 and up to the latest published data for quarter ending September 2021.

The Scottish Government national standard is that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

Table 1: Total number of patients seen and waiting times from referral to treatment, NHS Scotland