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This government has seen a 87.7% increase in the consultant oncologist workforce (from 69.5 WTE in September 2006 to 130.6 WTE in June 2021).

While information on numbers of oncologists according to specialist cancer fields is not centrally held, the numbers of Clinical and Medical Oncology Consultants currently employed in each NHS Board, by Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) and headcount can be found in the medical and Dental dashboard on the NES website available here: Medical and Dental | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot)

Details of the vessels in fleet operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd (CFL), including age, can be found on both the CFL website The Fleet | CalMac Ferries and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) website CMAL Caledonian Maritime Assets LtdFerries - CMAL Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (cmassets.co.uk)

The Scottish Government published the National Marine Plan in 2015, which sets out the marine planning and policy framework for Scottish inshore waters (out to 12 nautical miles) and offshore waters (12 to 200 nautical miles). This plan was delivered in accordance with the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, an Act of the Scottish Parliament, and by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, an Act of the UK Parliament, respectively.

The Scottish Government undertakes regular reviews of the National Marine Plan. The most recent review was published in March 2021. Additionally, the Scottish Government carries out sectoral marine planning and supports Marine Planning Partnerships to undertake marine planning at a regional level, allowing more local ownership and decision making about specific issues within their area. All of these planning processes are subject to plan-level strategic assessments to ensure impacts are fairly measured and assessed.

The number of households in each local authority that are experiencing fuel poverty is published annually in the Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) local authority tables.

The latest published set of tables for 2017-2019 is available at:

Scottish House Condition Survey: Local Authority Analysis 2017-2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Local Authority figures are based on a 3-year pooled sample to allow sufficient sample sizes to produce results on each local authority. The figures in the table below show number of fuel poor households, and the fuel poverty rate, based on the last 10 years for North Ayrshire and Inverclyde.

The Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) published in December 2020 sets the Scottish Government’s approach to ensuring our workforce has the skills to support Scotland’s transition to net zero. This approach includes raising awareness amongst employers of all sizes of the need to change behaviours and workplace practices to contribute to the transition to net zero and of the options available for upskilling and retraining.

The implementation of the CESAP requires a collaborative approach to action and investment across employers, local and national government, and its skills agencies.

The Scottish Government does not however hold information on the number of businesses that have undertaken training developed by Keep Scotland Beautiful.

The following table provides information on how many applications to the Forestry Grant Scheme have been rejected, in how many cases the applicant formally requested a review of the approval decision, how many reviews have been upheld and how many are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

The following table provides information on how many applications to the Forestry Grant Scheme there have been, how many have been approved and how many are awaiting a decision, in each year since 2015.

The costs and benefits of delivering Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) are set out in the Full Business Case (FBC) Addendum, published on 16 March 2020, which sets out the clear economic case for DRS. It is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-full-business-case-addendum/documents/ .

We are aware that some in industry have been exploring alternative values for some of the assumptions set out in the FBC Addendum. We have not had the opportunity to assess the evidence for these alternative assumptions in detail. However, where the figures appear credible we are analysing them and will respond in due course.

In line with the principle of producer responsibility, the operating costs of DRS will be borne by the drinks producers who supply the Scottish market.

The payment of sustainable rates to providers in the private, third and childminding sector to deliver funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is a key aspect of Funding Follows the Child. To support this the landmark multi-year funding agreement reached by Scottish Government and COSLA in April 2018 to fully fund the expansion to 1140 hours includes funding to enable local authorities to pay sustainable rates to providers delivering funded ELC.

In August 2021 alongside the Financial Sustainability Health Check the Scottish Government published updated information ( Overview of local authority funding and support for early learning and childcare providers ) on the sustainable rates that services currently receive from their local authorities. In light of this report and the findings from the Health Check we are working with COSLA and local authorities to progress the actions set out in the Health Check to strengthen the processes by which local authorities set local sustainable rates.

During the Scottish Government Debate on ‘Justice and the 16 Days of Action’, I confirmed that after careful consideration we will now move forward with the immediate establishment of a Scottish Government led Governance Group, comprising key stakeholder interests, to enable progress and detailed consideration of the individual and collective recommendations within Lord Justice Clerk’s Review Group report on improving the management of sexual offence cases. That will include the specific issue of a time-limited pilot of single judge trials.