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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.

As required by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, the Climate Change Plan will set out proposals and policies regarding the exploitation of fossil fuels.

In addition to setting out those proposals and policies, I intend for the Plan to set out the actions required by the UK Government on reserved matters in order for Scotland to meet its emissions reduction targets.

There will be an Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) census in September 2023 which, as in previous years, will collect information on the number of deferrals but not on the age of the children. The new individual level child census, due to take place for the first time in May 2024, will collect data on children registered for funded ELC, including the date of birth of the child. At that point it will be possible to identify how many children registered for funded ELC were eligible under the change in legislation on deferrals. Some local authorities already provide funded ELC for deferred children regardless of the child’s birthday, so we will not be able to identify if these children would have been registered for funded ELC if the legislation was not changed.

The Scottish Government conducted an Island Communities Impact Assessment into the Deposit Return Scheme which was published on 16 March 2020. You can access it here: Deposit return scheme for Scotland: islands communities impact assessment - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Zero Waste Scotland has calculated that 29 Scottish Local Authorities, including all Island Local Authorities, will incur a net financial benefit from the implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

The Financial Memorandum set out the range of possible costs for the NCS.

The NCS is being developed through a Co-Design approach. We are starting to work with the Lived Experience Experts Panel on larger scale co-design, and will continue to work with a range of organisations and individuals alongside the panel.

We will design and develop the NCS with the real experts, those who rely on social care, unpaid carers and the workforce.

The finances are being constantly monitored and reviewed as new information becomes available. Through the business case process we will continue to provide greater detail and clarity.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with the culture and heritage sectors to build fairer and more inclusive workplaces.

As part of the refresh of our Fair Work Action Plan, the Scottish Government has extended Fair Work criteria to public sector grants and other funding streams and contracts wherever relevant and appropriate to do so. We will take forward work with Creative Scotland on implementing Fair Work First amongst the organisations that they fund; and we have included in the grant letters for the five National Performing Companies conditions regarding Fair Work First. We have worked with Historic Environment Scotland to revaluate their grant framework refresh, including Fair Work First principles, for 2021 onwards.

Creative Scotland commissioned Culture Radar to review Fair Work within the sector in Scotland, on behalf of Scottish Government. This review has now concluded and Scottish Government is currently considering the recommendations. We are also engaged with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence centre on its ‘Good Work Review’, an independent review of working conditions in the creative sector, to ensure the Scottish creative industries context is reflected in its findings.

The Scottish Government is also engaging with public sector stakeholders on the implications of implementing the real Living Wage requirement in public sector grants.

The 433 additional properties to be connected in Dumfries and Galloway as a result of the £6.6 million extension to the R100 South contract are spread across the whole region. This extended build is also fully reflected on our online address checker where individuals can enter their address details to see what the R100 programme will deliver for their property.

Funding decisions relating to Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), which includes implementation of the legislative commitment on deferrals, will be taken through the usual Scottish Government Budget process for 2023-24.

The ELC Finance Working Group, a joint Scottish Government/COSLA group which includes representation from SOLACE, CIPFA Directors of Finance and ADES Resources, plays an important role in informing funding decisions relating to the 1140 programme and deferrals policy.

The Scottish Government does not have the legal power to direct charitable activity. That is a decision for the charity’s trustees, taking advice as appropriate, including from OSCR, and accordingly the Scottish Government is unable to intervene in this matter.

This government is clear that we must never ignore or seek to hide the difficult aspects of our country’s history and we acknowledge Scotland's complex past, including our involvement in the slave trade.

The working group, “Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums: Addressing our Colonial Legacy” has made recommendations about how best to manage, present and protect elements of our contested or hidden heritage. We are carefully considering our response to these recommendations and will be meeting with its members and Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) to discuss the best ways to take this work forward. As an initial step the Scottish Government has provided £68,000 to MGS, as the museums development body in Scotland, so they can begin to support the sector to address these recommendations.

The Race Equality and Anti-Racism in Education Programme is considering how to embed anti-racism in education, including curriculum reform to ensure our historic past is accurately reflected.