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The Scottish Government is committed to developing a new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy that takes a whole system, public health approach to achieve the very highest standards of care right up to the end of life, and ensure that everyone who needs it can access seamless, timely and high quality palliative care. We are currently taking stock of the leadership, resources and partnerships we need to deliver this.

We will continue to plan a series of engagement events with partners across the sector to think strategically about improvements and priorities across the wide range of services and support. This will contribute to a holistic, integrated and multi-disciplinary approach which will ensure access to palliative and end of life care wherever and whenever it is needed, and which has the person and their families and carers at the centre. Development of the strategy is likely to continue into 2023 to enable meaningful engagement and ensure alignment with the development of the National Care Service.

The updated information requested is contained in the following table:

The Scottish Government has committed to the introduction of a Human Rights Bill within this Parliamentary session (2021-26) and we will consult on proposals this year.

The Human Rights Bill will incorporate the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which includes a right to adequate food as an essential part of the overall right to an adequate standard of living, into Scots law, as far as possible within devolved competence.

The Agri Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) has supported the conversion of over 34,000 Ha of land to organic standards over the life of the Scheme and the total area under management in 2022 is 85,077 Ha. To date a total of 495 organics contracts have been approved, with £28.8m committed. Historically very few applications for organic conversion have been denied where they meet the eligibility criteria, and approvals from the 2021 round in particular have seen the area of organic land receiving support increase by a fifth from the previous year.

Applications for organic conversion support in the AECS 2022 round are currently being assessed and no approval decisions have been made, however I can confirm that SG received applications from 34 businesses. Once assessed, this has the potential to put more than 8,000 Ha into organic conversion from 2023, across all land type options under the Scheme.

We are committed to extending AECS up to the end of the period of stability in 2024. This will continue to underpin the ambition for organic farming set out Programme for Government 2021-22, alongside a suite of other measures aimed at promoting low carbon farming and protecting the environment. We also will seek new opportunities to prioritise local and organic produce in public sector menus, and we are committed to seeing more organic farming and organic produce for sale in Scotland. We will work with the sector to establish a new Organic Food and Farming Action Plan.

Fulfilling the commitment made within the Housing to 2040 route map, we are currently in the process of reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide. The guide offers good practice in the design of homes in order to help them achieve a good standard of accessibility and flexibility. Where possible, all new affordable homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are built to Housing for Varying Needs standards.

Over the coming months, we will publish a consultation on proposed changes to the guide. As part of this consultation we plan to seek views on the introduction of building standards in 2025-26 to underpin a new Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which all new homes will need to achieve, regardless of tenure.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07140 on 21 March 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Work to develop the establishment of Scottish Cities of Refuge will start later in this Parliamentary term.

The development of Cities of Refuge will align with the approach of our New Scots refugee integration strategy, which sets out the vision of a welcoming Scotland, where people seeking protection are supported to rebuild their lives from the day they arrive.

From March 2020, a series of Temporary Special Leave Measures (specifically through https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2020)05.pdf and https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2020)30.pdf )were introduced to both support NHS Colleagues and assist in the prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading across our NHS Sites.

In particular:

• Since March 2020, NHS Staff who have been absent due to COVID-19 have been paid in full as if they had been at work; and,

• Those absences have not counted towards normal sickness absence triggers for those staff.

As we are now at a different stage in dealing with COVID-19 it was confirmed (on 24 June), and in broad alignment with other UK Nations, that all Temporary Covid Policies (including Special Leave) will be removed ( https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2022)21.pdf) .

In particular, from 1 September 2022, NHS colleagues who are absent due to COVID-19 will revert to contractual sick leave entitlement.

I can confirm that on that date, no-one will see their Sick Pay stop with the vast majority receiving six months full pay followed by six months half pay.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with epilepsy are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

That is why in 2019 we published a Neurological Care and Support – National Framework for Action 2020-25, which sets out a vision that everyone with a neurological condition, including epilepsy, can access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms. Since October 2020, we have invested £324,500 in funding via the Framework to projects that specifically improve the health and wellbeing of people with epilepsy in Scotland.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published a National Workforce Strategy on 11 March 2022. The Strategy commits to publishing new workforce projections in the autumn, once we have had the opportunity to consider Health Board and Health and Social Care Partnerships' three year workforce plans. The staffing needs for services and professional specialities across NHS Scotland such as epilepsy care will be, in partnership with stakeholders, factored into the development of these projections. As part of this work, we are actively listening to colleagues to understand where the current pressures are, and what actions can be taken to mitigate their impact on staff. Decisions on local staffing requirements are, however, the responsibility of individual NHS Boards.

Scottish Government support schemes available to farmers, crofters and land managers to support nature-rich farming and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions are:

Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS)

AECS provides important funding to the sector to help achieve our commitment to support farmers, crofters, and land managers to support and deliver nature restoration. To date a total of £242 million has been committed to 2,970 businesses of which a total of 495 organics contracts have been approved, with £28.8m committed.

Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS)

The scheme opened on 26 April 2022 to Scottish farmers, crofters and agricultural contractors who store and/or spread livestock slurry or digestate. 3,148 businesses have been supported over the life span of the scheme with a total of £12.80m invested. As of the 12 July 2022 we have issued a further 572 SACGS 2022 offers of grant worth £4.74m.

Crofting Agricultural Grant Scheme (CAGS)

A part of crofting activity revolves around livestock production associated with low-intensity systems of high nature value with a natural balance between food production and the environment. From 2016 to 2022 over £16m in CAGS funding has been approved, helping over 3,000 crofters with their businesses – 85% of all eligible applications being approved.

Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund (KTIF)

The Fund periodically opens to support knowledge transfer and innovation based projects contributing to improving biodiversity or emission reductions. Since 2015, Scottish Government has supported 45 projects under the KTIF to a tune of approximately £7.5 million. The Fund has supported just under 20 different organisations and in 2021 the knowledge transfer based projects alone ran training events which had a total attendance of roughly 1,500.

Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service (FAS)

FAS provides a range of low and no cost ideas to help farmers identify, support and improve biodiversity on their land, raising awareness of woodland planting and the benefits for businesses, carbon sequestration and habitat and ideas to help farmers manage carbon on their farm and adapt to a changing climate, making their business more resilient to future changes. Since 2016 Scottish Government has supported the FAS to a tune of just under £21 million as of May 2022, delivering over 4,300 bespoke advice products. In 2021 FAS delivered 167 events to approximately 5,000 farmers, crofters and land managers.

Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS)

In the life of FGS, we have approved £312m worth of projects, providing financial support for the creation of new woodland and the sustainable management of existing woodland, to 3,816 projects (completed) from a total number of 5,204 projects with approved funding. Payments to date amount to circa £235m.

To meet our increasing ambitions to deliver greater woodland creation hectares year on year until 2024/25, we have a proposed budget of £71m for the financial year (22/23) and a further £76m and £80m proposed for the following two financial years.