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Blood stocks in Scotland are assessed as adequate to meet current clinical demand, but will continue to be monitored. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has no plans at present to resume providing blood donation sessions in the Western Isles, due to the cost and logistical difficulties associated with doing so. However, that does not in any way affect the availability of blood components to patients in the Western Isles.

Section 34 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 is now in force, providing wider powers for local transport authorities to run their own buses. Additionally, secondary legislation to commence Section 35 (Bus Service Improvement Partnerships) is scheduled to be introduced before the end of 2023, alongside franchising powers. These powers will complement and continue to build on the service improvements supported through the Bus Partnership Fund.

As with many aspects of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, the provisions in Part 3 empower local transport authorities with the flexible tools they need to respond to their own transport challenges. We will continue to work with local authorities as they explore the full range of options set out in the 2019 Act, including local authority-run bus services and Bus Service Improvement Partnerships.

A further £6.6 million of Project Gigabit funding is being invested in the R100 South contract to reach an additional 1,149 properties. This includes 433 properties in the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area. The online checker at www.scotlandsuperfast.com has been updated to reflect the remodelled build plan.

The Scottish Government is in the final stages of preparing a Carers Strategy which will set out our long-term approach to unpaid carers’ social and financial inclusion. This will apply to different caring situations, including unpaid older carers of adults with a learning disability. The strategy will include a focus on support made available through social security policies, the Scottish Welfare Fund and action taken by the Scottish Government on fuel poverty, employment and education. This will help support carers who are likely to be disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis.

We are using all the powers and resources available to us to support families with cost of living and have already invested almost £3 billion in a range of measures for households. That includes supporting energy bills, childcare, health and travel, as well as social security payments that are either not available anywhere else in the UK or are more generous, such as the Scottish Child Payment and Bridging Payment.

In addition, we uprated 8 Scottish benefits by 6% in April. Eligible carers in Scotland receive the Carer’s Allowance Supplement, funded from the Scottish Government budget and paying up to £491.40 this year on top of Carer’s Allowance. We will double our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23, to help households at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing energy use and to ensure support continues to protect people affected by rising energy costs.

We know that the current situation is causing anxiety for many households – and that many people may be missing out on support that is available to them. To help people understand the significant range of support that they may be able to access, we have also launched a Scottish Government “cost of living” website: https://www.gov.scot/cost-of-living-support/ . The website will help people find out what support may be available depending on their own personal circumstances, for example, unpaid carers of adults with a learning disability.

Falkirk Council took the difficult decision to close Falkirk Town Hall theatre following recommendations that funding the modernisation of the building did not represent best value in the current challenging financial environment.

While disappointing for many people, this decision is entirely a matter for the Falkirk Council as they have responsibility for managing local resources.

The Scottish Government is increasing funding for Falkirk Council by an additional £28.9 million in 2022-23 compared to 2021-22.

The Scottish Government has also agreed to contribute £40 million to the Falkirk Growth Deal to support local projects. This figure includes £3 million towards the planned new Falkirk Arts Centre, which intends to feature a 550-seat auditorium, workshop, studios and other facilities. A further £3 million has also been committed towards developing an Outdoor Art Park along the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal. Timescales for both projects are being developed by the local partners.

The outer boundary maps of the successful Green Freeport bidders will be published in due course.

Since the Scottish Government's £50m Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund was launched on 22 September 2022, there has been two successful applications:

Aberdeen City Council has been awarded up to £6.150m for up to 500 void properties on 28 October 2022.

North Ayrshire Council has been awarded up to £0.486m for up to 30 void properties on 6 October 2022

This follows on from a pilot project, where we awarded £5m to North Lanarkshire Council for the refurbishment of up to 200 homes on 6 July 2022.

My officials are continuing to work closely with Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords as they come forward with other proposed projects.

The Scottish Government supports our healthcare support workers (HCSWs) to train to become registered nurses while remaining in the workforce in their local NHS Board area. The Open University offer this pathway and Scottish Government provides £10,000 backfill funding to NHS Boards per student for each of the three years of study. For the 2022-23 academic year, the Scottish Government has increased the target number of Open University places by 12% to 123 places.

The Scottish Government also provides support to enable HCSWs to undertake a HNC Healthcare Practice programme by providing £8,000 in backfill funding to NHS Boards per student per year. Completion of the HNC programme can lead students to progress to nursing or allied health pre-registration degree programmes, on which there may also be the opportunity for advance entry to year 2.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, and as part of their review of career pathways, NHS Education for Scotland have produced a Development and Education Framework for Bands 2-4 nursing, midwifery and allied health professional HCSWs. The framework is available at the following link: https://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/our-work/health-and-care-support-worker-development-programme/

This ongoing work has focused on a national framework as a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach which outlines the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to enable HCSWs to deliver safe, effective and person centred care. The framework also provides information on how to progress into a registered practitioner role, including as a nurse.