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The local flood risk management plans, which are due to be published by December 2022, will provide more detail on how the actions set out in the flood risk management plans for 2022-2028 will be delivered including who will lead them and how the actions will be coordinated with other organisations. They will also provide further information on when the actions will take place and how they will be funded.

As with all infrastructure projects, it can take many years for flood schemes to progress from option appraisal to completion . Given the impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, it is right that flood protection schemes are carefully and thoroughly planned - and balance the interests of the whole community.

The following formal flood protection schemes are complete.

In 2016, agreement was reached between Scottish Ministers and COSLA on a new strategic funding plan for flood protection schemes. The agreement guarantees that until 2026 the level of flooding capital grant in the local government settlement is set at a minimum of £42 million per annum. 80% of the available £42 million is allocated to the prioritised flood schemes set out in the Flood Risk Management Strategies published by SEPA in 2015 .

The Programme for Government published in 2020 included a commitment to invest an extra £150 million in flood risk management over 5 years in addition to the £42 million per annum. Consideration is being given to how the additional £150m allocated to flooding will be allocated.

In 2021 COSLA recommended to Scottish Ministers that the flood protection schemes eligible for funding which are not yet “legally committed” are paused. Ministers accepted this recommendation and COSLA are currently undertaking a review of these projects to assess their status and viability. COSLA will present the review findings to Ministers in due course. This pause and review of schemes is one element of the work being taken forward to review the current funding and distribution arrangements for flood risk management.

A joint Scottish Government/COSLA Flood Risk Management Working Group has been set up and is considering funding arrangements for flood risk management actions going forward. It will put recommendations to the joint Scottish Government/COSLA officers’ Settlement Distribution Group with Ministers and Council Leaders’ subsequently being provided with advice later in 2022.

Responsibility for financial support to foster carers registered with Glasgow City Council is a matter for Glasgow City Council. Consideration of the introduction of an annual and consistent increase is a matter for them to consider.

The following schemes are at various stages of development but are not yet under construction:

Through No One Left behind, we are delivering an all age approach to employability that is flexible and person centred. It promotes a strengthened partnership approach where the spheres of government work together with partners across the public, private and third sector to make informed, evidence based decisions on required support, flexing these to meet emerging labour market demands.

Phase 2 of No One Left Behind commenced in April 2022 with funding previously allocated to the Employability Fund and Community Jobs Scotland transferring from national to local governance.

Those participants aged 16-17 years old, and those aged 18 who are not in receipt of benefits, who are participating for between 10-30 hours per week will continue to be eligible to be paid a training allowance while undertaking training through No One Left Behind. There are no plans to change the criteria in the near future.

The Scottish Child Payment is one of seven benefits that the Scottish Government has introduced which are not available elsewhere in the UK. We are committed to extending Scottish Child Payment to children under 16 and increasing to £25 per week, per child by the end of this calendar year.

To make payments it is essential we have data on qualification for reserved benefits that establish eligibility, which we will not have until later this year. We are reliant on the UK Government providing us with this data, because we do not have powers or controls over reserved benefit areas. Work is ongoing with the UK Government to ensure the necessary data is in place as quickly as possible, to deliver the extension of our Scottish Child Payment by the end of this calendar year.

We delivered at pace the Scottish Child Payment for under 6s in recognition that 60% of families with children in poverty have a child under 6. We also introduced our innovative Bridging Payments worth £520 across 2022, to support an estimated 144,000 children and young people of school age. This is an investment of more than £76 million.

We are taking a range of actions, within our devolved powers and with our limited resources, to help people facing the current cost of living crisis. Through our cost of living support measures, spend on Scottish social security payments that are not available elsewhere in the UK, and mitigating the UK Government’s bedroom tax, we are set to invest almost £770 million to help households tackle the cost of living pressures this year. This includes £290 million to give 1.85 million (73%) Scottish households £150 of extra support in April and we continue investment in our Fuel Insecurity Fund.

The Scottish Government responded quickly to provide support to enable SEPA to meet its highest priority and immediate requirements. This included provision of 120 laptops to enable staff delivering the most critical services to communicate easily and securely to maintain those services. The Scottish Government also authorised additional funding amounting to £2.5m to assist SEPA’s recovery efforts in the immediate aftermath of the attack, although this facility was not required and SEPA operated within its budget allocation.

The Scottish Government requires that where large scale forestry expansion is proposed, that may impact upon productive agricultural land, that consultation takes place between the applicant, Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) and Scottish Forestry (SF) colleagues. This ensures that potential impacts on agricultural productivity are examined and mitigated. This benefits integration with other patterns of land use and allows for the retention of agricultural enterprises. As a result of this approach, Scottish Government does not feel that additional food security impact assessments are necessary.

Conduct amounting to ‘arson’ under Scots criminal law would be prosecuted under the criminal offences of wilful fire raising and culpable and reckless fire raising. As these are common law offences, the courts in Scotland have the ability to impose a wide range of sentences, up to and including life imprisonment.

As with all sentencing decisions, the level of sentence to issue in any given case is rightly a matter for the independent court, having regard to the individual facts and circumstances of each case and any factors the court may deem to be aggravating in nature. The Scottish Government supports courts having these wide-ranging powers in dealing with conduct amounting to arson.

The independent Scottish Sentencing Council also play a valuable role in guiding the court as to the core principles of sentencing and what sentences should be imposed in certain circumstances through the development of sentencing guidelines.