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As part of the response to the cost crisis, the Scottish Government has engaged closely with business organisations, industry groups and individual businesses to hear their concerns during this significantly challenging time.

As noted in the Emergency Budget Statement on 2 October, this crisis is unprecedented; since the advent of devolution Scotland has not faced a situation that has combined the significant reduction in the Scottish Government's spending power with the massive impact of the cost crisis on households, businesses, public services and the third sector. We are constrained by both the limitations on our powers and on our budgets. This is why the Scottish Government has consistently called for more support from the UK Government to businesses.

Nevertheless, we committed to looking at what we do have devolved competence over, such as devolved regulation. That is why the Deputy First Minister announced that we will be establishing a Joint Regulatory Taskforce with COSLA, local authorities, regulatory agencies and businesses. This will support and drive early progress towards meeting our commitments in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation to review and improve the process of developing, implementing and reviewing regulation to meet our economic and societal aims. Reviewing regulatory burdens on business will be a critical component of this work and we will seek to balance the essential role that regulation plays on driving innovation and achieving economic, societal and environmental goals with the concerns that businesses have expressed about the impact of new regulations during the cost crisis. The intention is to bring members together as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of the year.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally as it is a matter for Regional Screening Centres.

Self-referral appointments have begun in a careful, phased manner. At present, women aged 71 to 74 (up to their 75 th birthday), and women over 75 with a history of breast cancer, who have completed their hospital follow-up, can ask for a screening appointment.

The screening programme recognises the desire for clarity around when eligibility will be widened. However, it is essential to understand the impact the initial re-instatement is having on both programme capacity and overall wait times before any decisions on additional eligibility are taken. The programme is monitoring impact on an on-going basis, and I will provide an update to Parliament once any further decisions on expansion are possible.

This information is not collected by Scottish Government.

We do collect information for the number of people accommodated on the MS Victoria. This is published in our monthly statistics on our website. The latest publication was on 20 October 2022 and can be found via: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/pages/welcome-accommodation/

The procedure for handling complaints by civil servants about a current or former minister’s behaviour will be updated to improve transparency. The Deputy First Minister will discuss the updates to the procedure and the Ministerial Code with the Finance and Public Administration Committee on 22 November 2022.

In future, where the outcome is upheld or partially upheld, Ministers will be named and the outcome of the complaint published, together with an appropriately redacted version of the decision report.

The privacy and confidentiality of complainants and witnesses remain fundamental to the process. Any information that could lead to their identity being disclosed will be redacted.

The procedure applies to all Scottish Government staff and civil servants working in the Scottish Government’s executive agencies. Information on the number of formal complaints will be proactively published on the Scottish Government website every six months.

In cases where a complaint is not upheld, the Minister's name and the outcome will be published for a period of six months.

Changes to the Ministerial complaints procedure will come into effect by the end of the year.

The Scottish Ministerial Code is being updated to take account of the updated procedure and will be published in due course.

The Childsmile Programme is designed to help improve the oral health of children in Scotland and is delivered through a range of measures. The Childsmile Core Programme is available throughout Scotland and is introduced to families by their Health Visitor. Every child in Scotland is provided with a dental pack containing a toothbrush and toothpaste on at least six occasions by the age of five and can receive twice-yearly applications of fluoride varnish from the age of 2.

Childsmile School and Nursery ensures that all 3 and 4 year old children attending nursery are offered free, daily, supervised toothbrushing. Those children in the 20 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland are also able to receive an additional twice-yearly fluoride varnish applications by Childsmile dental teams in nurseries and schools until at least primary 4.

More information on the Childsmile programme can be found at: https://www.child-smile.org.uk/index.aspx .

This information is not collected by Scottish Government.

We do collect information for the number of people accommodated on the MS Ambition. This is published in our monthly statistics on our website. The latest publication was on 20 October 2022 and can be found via: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/pages/welcome-accommodation/

We regularly review our temporary accommodation in order to provide the best support to our Ukrainian guests and do not want people spending any longer than necessary in temporary accommodation. Disclosing this information may result in a significant risk to the health and safety of the individuals staying in these hotels. Therefore, we currently have no plans to disclose this information.

The Scottish Government publish regular Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine. The latest data, published, 20 October 2022, can be found on our website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-statistics-october-2022/pages/welcome-accommodation/

It is a priority to ensure that all patients are able to access NHS dental care.

We have provided over £150 million of financial support to date to maintain the capacity and capability of NHS dentistry and agreed further funding into the new year to address the cost of living crisis. From April 2022 we have re-introduced a system of fee per item payments that incentivises NHS dental teams to see patients. Additionally, from February 2022 we have also introduced an enhanced examination fee for both adults and children.

NHS registration is significantly higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK, with more than 95% of the population registered with a NHS dentist. Information on registering with a dentist can be found at: https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/nhs-services/dental/receiving-nhs-dental-treatment-in-scotland .

The value of the shared equity investment stakes is revalued annually using the Nationwide House Price index for Scotland. The following table shows the original capital invested together with the current valuation.

The Scottish Government has created a web page for the Ministerial Industry Advisory Group for rest of UK Talent Attraction; Industry Advisory Group for rUK Talent Attraction - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Content will be updated regularly and a note of all meetings to date will be published by 1 December 2022.