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Energy markets are reserved to the UK Government. As part of our response to the rising cost of energy, the Scottish Government has raised concerns that many consumers who are not registered directly with a licenced energy supplier may not receive a £400 energy rebate. Although no solution is currently in place, the UK Government has advised that, this Autumn, it intends to widen support to include those consumers who are not currently reached through the Energy Bills Support Scheme such as park home residents.

The Scottish Government published an update to the 2018 Climate Change Plan in 2020, including over 200 policies and proposals which will drive our delivery of emissions reduction between 2020 and 2032.

The Scottish Government is currently in the process of developing the next climate change plan which covers the period from 2025 to 2040. The Scottish Government has committed to fully costing the next Climate Change Plan as set out in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019.

Our focus now is on delivering the existing plan as well as the polices that have been developed since to achieve our climate objectives. The challenging nature of delivering these targets will depend on a national endeavour, with action from all sectors of society. The updated plan sends a clear market signal which should give businesses the confidence to act, invest and achieve our climate targets, driving new green jobs, growing a thriving sustainable and fair economy.

All these actions require co-operation from the UK Government to maximise action in reserved actions. Our updated Plan set out the main asks of the UK Government and calls on them to match Scotland’s climate ambition in a credible way. As we develop our next plan and the vision for 2040, we will be required to go further and require reductions in currently reserved areas to achieve the 90% reduction by 2040.

The National Audiology Review Group convened on 3 May 2022 and on 28 June 2022. Review Group members were invited to share their key priorities for development of the Terms of Reference to help shape the future of audiology services in Scotland.

The Terms of Reference were agreed by the Group on 7 July 2022 and will be published on the Scottish Government’s website alongside minutes and a current membership list. Independent Review of Audiology Services in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Following the publication of the review findings in December 2021, NHS Lothian has had extensive interactions with a wide range of professionals who work with children and young people to highlight the key findings in the report and this has included Speech and Language Therapists, Health Visitors, General Practice, Ear Nose and Throat clinicians, Community Paediatricians and teaching staff, with further communication to the Director of Education. This has involved individual meetings with professionals as well as the development of a staff briefing document, which was widely circulated across key networks. As part of this process, those working with children who had any concerns about a child's hearing were encouraged to contact the Audiology department directly or to refer the child through the normal referral route (e.g. Health Visitor, Speech and Language, GPs).

The Scottish Government supports the principles underpinning the green taxonomy, especially the need to establish criteria for sustainable economic activity, to give investors certainty on the sustainability of projects, and to combat greenwashing, and we look forward to continuing to work internationally with our partners in the European Union and its Member States to combat climate change.

The Scottish Government position on nuclear power is clear – we do not support the building of new nuclear power stations in Scotland under current technologies. Given that new nuclear power will take years, if not decades, to become operational and will be expensive, we do not believe classifying nuclear as sustainable or transitional should be our focus.

The best pathway to net zero is through increased investment in renewables, storage, hydrogen and carbon capture. Concentrating growth in these technologies is better for both energy security and the climate. As the UK taxonomy is a reserved matter, we are working with UK government to ensure the forthcoming UK taxonomy reflects the level of climate ambition the Scottish Government has set. We will be publishing our Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan later this year, including energy scenarios that will set out how Scotland can achieve our climate targets and meets our energy needs in a sustainable manner by 2050, and will provide a long term basis for investment in energy generation in Scotland.

All territorial NHS Boards were invited to submit proposals to the Strategic Network on managing the long term effects of COVID-19 for how they intended to utilise long COVID Support Funding across 2022-23. Returns were received from 13 Health Boards.

Following review by the Network’s Strategic Oversight Board, the funding allocations outlined in the table below were confirmed to these Boards on 19 May 2022 to support the delivery of activities identified within their proposals.

The Scottish Government welcomes any activity that can lead to a positive impact on the health of our veteran community.

As the armed forces are subject to the reserved responsibility of the UK Government, the Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund is open to applications from Scottish projects as well as projects from the rest of the UK.

It is a one-off fund being administered by the Defence and Security Accelerator on behalf of UK Office of Veterans’ Affairs and is open to projects – including in Scotland – that will drive forward innovation in techniques and pathways for meeting veterans’ physical and mental health needs. It aims to ensure treatment is informed by the latest research and developments in clinical care.

The Scottish Government is a member of the fund’s steering board. The steering Board will determine which projects are successful against set criteria and be put forward for UKG ministerial approval.

Local authorities can claim a general tariff of £10,500 per Ukrainian Displaced Person (UDP) arriving on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Local authorities will also receive additional education funding for Ukrainian Children and Young People under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. The education tariff depends on the age of the child, to align with providing ELC, primary or secondary education. The agreed annual rates for this funding are as follows:

• early years (ages 2 to 4) - £3,000

• primary (ages 5 -11) - £6,580

• secondary (ages 11-18) - £8,755

These tariffs include support for children with Additional Support Needs. Both the general and education funding streams should be used to help ensure Ukrainian families are supported as they settle into a new area, and can help meet specific needs that arise in relation to accessing education, including having English as an Additional Language.

This education tariff funding is to be provided by the UK Government. The details of how this funding will be transferred to local authorities is still being resolved with UK Government and we are working intensively with them to release this funding as soon as possible.

Hospital at Home services have been developing in Scotland for a number of years, with the first service established in Lanarkshire in 2011, followed by Fife in 2012 and the Lothian Partnerships between 2013 and 2016, and Dundee in 2018.

To further support development the Scottish Government commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to develop the Hospital at Home Guiding Principles, which were subsequently published in January 2020 ( https://ihub.scot/project-toolkits/hospital-at-home/hospital-at-home/ ). In April 2020 HIS began providing improvement support to partnerships developing a Hospital at Home service, supported by Scottish Government funding. To date, this support has increased the number of partnerships in Scotland providing a Hospital at Home service to 20.

The following table provides details of the number of patients supported by a Hospital at Home service, by Financial Year and Health Board between 2014-15 and 2021-22.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission published its latest set of benefit forecasts in May 2022 where they estimated, based on outturn information, that in 2020-21 there were around 103,000 people in receipt of Adult Disability Living Allowance in Scotland, forecasting that in 2021-22 there could be around 95,000 people.