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The Scottish Government is pleased to announce that as of 1 December 2022 Andrew Miller will be appointed as the new Chair of the Board FMPG.

Andrew brings a wealth of experience from previous senior positions, including Chair of the Board of Prestwick Airport, and is clear on the strategic and commercial issues for the yard. I am confident his experience will help to deliver Ministerial priorities.

The Supreme Court has today handed down its judgment on the reference by the Lord Advocate. The Scottish Government will take time to reflect carefully on the Supreme Court’s judgment and our response to its contents.

The Supreme Court judgment can be accessed at: REFERENCE by the Lord Advocate of devolution issues under paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998 (supremecourt.uk)

Investing in our innovative businesses is a key priority of the Scottish Government and we are committed to becoming a world leading, innovation nation, to increasing productivity, growing our economy and creating sustainable, green jobs.

That is why this winter we will publish a new National Innovation Strategy for Scotland, that will set out our 10 year vision for Scotland to become one of the most innovative small nations in the world by 2032.

As investing in our innovative businesses is key to productivity growth, the strategy will introduce a comprehensive and joined up package of investment support.

We will build on the support already available to businesses through our Enterprise Agencies, who since 2017 have distributed around £600m directly to businesses to build their capacity and capability to innovate, and initiatives such as the Digital Development Grant, which since September 2020 has invested almost £50m to over 5,600 SMEs to help them utilise digital technologies and enhance workforce skills.

This will ensure that all of our businesses, people and institutions are ready and able to meet the global economic challenges and opportunities we face over the next ten years.

The Scottish Government’s drive to boost productivity and innovation is set out in the third programme of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) . Our approach to expanding international opportunities is set out in NSET’s fifth programme “New Markets”, which is in turn driven by our Trade and Investment plans, Shaping Scotland's Economy: inward investment plan and A Trading Nation: a plan for growing Scotland's exports .

The inward investment plan, which was published in October 2020, takes a targeted approach to attract high quality inward investment into nine opportunity areas where Scotland’s strengths meet international demand, that fall within the overarching areas of Net Zero, Digital and High Value Manufacturing. The export plan refocuses the enterprise agencies’ export support activities to the markets with the international opportunities that best match our strengths, and to support the companies most able to service these opportunities.

Evidence suggests that foreign owned firms make a disproportionate impact to our economic performance and productivity. Just 3% of business in Scotland are foreign owned but account for over a third of jobs, almost half of GVA, just under two thirds of business research & development spending and three quarters of exports.

Progress to date on both the export growth and inward investment plans was set out in detail in A Trading Nation: progress review 2022 and Shaping Scotland's Economy - progress report 2022 .

Local authorities are responsible for school enrolments in their area, including providing information for parents and carers who may wish to defer their child’s primary school start. We have written to local authorities to encourage them to update the communications they share with parents to reflect the change in legislation. The Scottish Government provides information about deferrals on the Parent Club website .

The Island Communities Impact Assessment ( Deposit return scheme for Scotland: islands communities impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) that we published in March 2020 confirms that the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme will not increase the amount of waste that will arise in island communities. Since most waste is currently transported off the islands it is unlikely that there will be any significant increase in number of journeys made by waste hauliers. No further modelling has been undertaken.

Parents and carers are encouraged to talk to their ELC setting about their child’s needs, and this may involve wider discussions with health professionals. We have written to local authorities to encourage them to review local processes and communications to reflect the change in legislation. Parents and carers already have the legal right to defer their child’s entry to primary school if they are not yet 5 years old at the beginning of the school year and this is not affected by the upcoming change in legislation.

The Scottish Government recognised the unprecedented nature of the changes required in the Emergency Budget Review and also published analysis of the equality and fairness impacts of the most substantive in-year adjustments. Given the exceptional circumstances and time constraints under which the Review was undertaken, the summary evidence was necessarily presented at a high level and focused on the most substantial changes.

In the case of the £116m reduction in Covid-related spending, this covers a range of actions on vaccinations, test and protect, PPE and additional capacity to drive down additional costs. It is important to note that the spending reduction is a consequence of reduced prevalence and hospitalisation rates resulted in evidence-based easing of infection prevention and control measures.

However, the impact on inequalities continues to be a focus, and includes measures to ensure uptake rates and activity aimed at reducing vaccine inequalities are not negatively affected.

We will continue to develop equality evidence, as well as mitigations wherever possible for negative impacts, including building on the evidence on inequalities in relation to COVID vaccination, testing and surveillance, for example as set out in the equality impact assessment for the Coronavirus (COVID-19): Strategic Framework update (February 2022).

Health and Social care settings are expected to follow the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual when caring for individuals who have been diagnosed with or suspected of having COVID-19.

Guidance on infection control measures across health and social care settings is determined by, and kept under constant review in light of, new and emerging evidence. While reduced prevalence of the virus and hospitalisation rates has resulted in an easing of the previous infection and prevention control (IPC) measures, and a consequent reduction in costs, various mitigations remain in place.

These includeongoing symptomatic testing for staff working in face-to-face roles with patients and service users in health and social care settings and extended use of face masks and face coverings in hospitals, primary care and wider community healthcare. As well as ongoing support measures including the Social Care Staff Support Fund (supporting staff whilst they self-isolate), financial support arrangements relating to testing in care homes and staff vaccinations, and PPE Hubs remaining available in case of emergency PPE being required and for unpaid carers and personal assistants.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with NHS Boards and Integration Authorities to manage Covid expenditure within the 2022-23 budget and is considering the on-going cost of measures as part of the 2023-24 budget process.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme (SSIP) Lead conducts an annual review process on behalf of the Scottish Government, meeting all NHS boards to appraise their provision of stroke services and create a local action plan to improve performance where needed. Annual reviews of NHS boards’ stroke services will now include a requirement to demonstrate adequate provision of psychological support, including detection and treatment of the psychological consequences of stroke and evidence of a clear referral pathway for accessing psychological services.