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The Scottish Government has worked with the UK Government on implementation of free ports in Scotland over the past year. This dialogue culminated in development of a new green port model designed specifically to complement the Scottish policy context.

We have been ready to launch an applicant prospectus for green ports since March of this year. However, the UK Government has delayed in committing to a jointly run bidding process. The Scottish Government has pressed regularly for a decision from the UK Government on this matter. Delay in launching a bidding process for Scotland is having a detrimental impact on Scottish stakeholders.

Consideration of potential improvements to all strategic transport infrastructure across the whole of Scotland continues to be undertaken through the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2). This work is building upon the findings of the South West Scotland Transport Study which set out the Case for Change for transport in the south west and included 23 recommendations, four of which were specifically focussed on the A77 and A75.

STPR2 will create the evidence basis for future transport investment decisions by the Scottish Government for the next 20 years. It will set out how the recommended investments will contribute Net Zero, Inclusive Growth and our vision is for a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors.

At the core of STPR2 is the Sustainable Investment Hierarchy. We will aim first to reduce the need to travel unsustainably, make better use of and enhance existing infrastructure, before investing in new capacity. This hierarchy is also central to Infrastructure Investment Plan.

STPR2 will conclude later this year, with publication of recommendations for investment and an appropriate statutory consultation period.

As announced in March, the recommendations from the Review will be taken forward by an Implementation Group which I am pleased to announce will be Co-Chaired by Dennis Robertson and a clinical lead that will be confirmed shortly.

I am also pleased to announce today that we are providing £5 million of funding to respond to the recommendations from the Review in this financial year. The majority of this funding will be provided to NHS Boards to support them respond to the increase in eating disorder presentations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is Recommendation 1 from the Review. This funding is being provided from the £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund.

In addition, in response to Recommendation 6 (Self-help Resources) and Recommendation 13 (Families and Carers) from the Review, we are also providing funding to Beat, the UK’s Eating Disorder Charity, to provide a wide range of support options such as support to families and carers of those with an eating disorder, support for children, young people and adults who are currently waiting to be seen by services and peer support services. We will shortly announce further details of this package of support.

The Scottish Government’s Suicide Prevention Action Plan was published in 2018. Many of the key actions in the Plan have been delivered, including the launch of Scotland’s social movement: ‘United to Prevent Suicide’; production of learning resources to support suicide prevention; and guidance to encourage, inform, and support local suicide prevention approaches. Pilot services to support those bereaved by suicide will go live this summer and work continues to develop processes for reviews of all deaths by suicide.

Our Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan sets out our commitment to work with COSLA and stakeholders to produce a new long-term suicide prevention strategy for Scotland. The new strategy will be outcomes-focussed, and its development will be directed by the voices of lived experience. It will be informed by data and evidence, and adopt a cross-government approach to ensure the Government continues to take all actions it can to reduce the number of people who die by suicide. The new strategy will be published in September 2022, supported by a full delivery plan.

In the meantime, continued focus, pace and evaluation on suicide prevention will be achieved by extending activities under the current Action Plan for a further year, up to the point the successor strategy is published. This approach has full backing from partners, including COSLA and the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group. This approach will be backed by additional spending on suicide prevention in 2021-22, through our £120 million Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has provided detailed information on this year’s appeals process on its website that includes Frequently Asked Questions, an interactive chatbot and a flowchart of how the process will work this year. Further details are available at: sqa.org.uk/appeals .

In addition, a leaflet is being sent out to every learner in Scotland with details of the process, along with learner support information. If young people have any questions on appeals that are not answered through these resources they can contact SQA’s customer support team at: sqa.org.uk/enquiry . Support for young people will continue to be available through the summer.

SQA has previously used podcasts and Question and Answer sessions to engage with young people and are actively looking at these for the appeals service.

The Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund was launched on 10 February 2019 with a total of up to £10 million available to help accelerate the commercial deployment of tidal energy in Scottish waters.

Following a process of evaluation and due diligence, two projects were supported under the Fund, with total funding of up to £4.945 million being awarded. A total of £4,604,882 has been paid to the two projects to date. The Fund closed for applications on 6 December 2019.

We are committed to learning lessons on every aspect of the response to Covid-19 and are currently exploring the interplay between the UK inquiry and any Scottish inquiry. We will update Parliament on plans as soon as possible.

In the period October to December 2020:

• There were 3,502 eligible referrals for the 62-day standard, an increase of 14.9%.
• There were 5,697 eligible referrals within the 31-day standard, an increase of 14.7% from the previous quarter.

The below tables outline Eligible Referrals broken down by central region.

Eligible referrals for the 31-day standard (rate per 100,000 of population):

I want to thank our health and care staff for their magnificent work to date. The last few months have been enormously challenging, with the expansion of our vaccination programme and the on-going demands of continuing to provide vital services to those requiring care.

While we have made great strides forward in dealing with the challenges that the pandemic has brought, the spread and impact of Covid continues to urge the need for caution in protecting the capacity of the NHS. Case numbers have continued to increase slowly over the last few weeks and our vaccination and Test and Trace resources have had to flex in response to emerging issues. All of this is taking place while our NHS continues to recover and so I want to continue with a measured and consistent approach to remobilising and renewing the vital services that we all rely upon. Additionally, we continue to be mindful of the impact on health and care staff, many of whom have been on the frontline of the Covid response for a considerable period.

It is clear that we need to continue to balance the capacity of the NHS to deal with Covid as well as the demands of emergency, urgent and planned care. With this in mind, I have decided that the NHS will remain on an emergency footing until at least 30 September 2021.

To support delivery of the National Infrastructure Mission, in early 2019 Scottish Ministers established an independent, short-life, Infrastructure Commission to examine and advise on the right vision, ambition and priorities for infrastructure in Scotland to meet our 30-year economic growth and societal needs. The Commission published two reports during 2020, which are available online at:

https://infrastructurecommission.scot/storage/281/Phase1_FullReport.pdf

https://infrastructurecommission.scot/storage/276/Phase2_Delivery_Findings_Report.pdf

The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26 was published on 4 th February 2021. It recognised the value of the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland’s expertise and insight to the discussion on how we develop our long-term infrastructure strategy. The Plan also committed to giving further consideration to the most appropriate approach to Scottish Minister’s receiving independent advice to set longer term priorities. We will set out further details of the steps we will take to explore this later this year.