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The Scottish Government recognises that a diverse and successful ports sector contributes significantly to national, regional and local economies. We continue to work with the ports sector to explore avenues of funding for diversifying and reducing the carbon impact of port operations.

Scotland’s ongoing programme of planning reform is refocusing planning on improving the quality of our places. We are undertaking a review of National Planning Policy in Scotland with a view to publishing National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) in 2022. This will be Scotland’s long-term development strategy, the direction of travel for which is set out in the NPF4 Position Statement published in November 2020. Permitted development rights (PDR) refer to those types of development for which planning permission is granted by national legislation, meaning they can be carried out without needing to submit a planning application. Port operators in Scotland already have broad PDR under Part 13 of Schedule 1 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992. As we noted in the draft Green Port Applicant Prospectus published in March 2021, the Scottish Government will consider whether port operators’ existing PDR remain fit-for-purpose.

Despite its forthcoming launch, there has been little detail shared or dialogue with Scotland on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It remains unclear how much Scotland will receive or on what basis our allocation will be decided. It is extremely disappointing that the UK Government has again decided to use the powers it has given itself in the Internal Market Act to introduce a scheme which bypasses the Scottish Government and stakeholders.

Every effort is being made to investigate possible solutions and trial the most promising of these in the run up to this coming winter. Transport Scotland’s Operating Company, BEAR Scotland, will be undertaking laboratory tests ahead of winter 2021 and on-site trials during winter 2021 of potential solutions. Options currently under consideration to prevent or reduce ice formation include coatings and de-icing compounds applied to the stay cables and towers and cleaning of the stay cables to remove deposited air borne particulates from the external surface of the stay cables. Should a viable solution be found, it will be subject to Peer review and Value for Money assessment before full-scale deployment.

During the pre-election period Scottish Ministers only met with SQA when both attended the the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group (CERG): https://www.gov.scot/groups/covid-19-education-recovery-group/ . I continue to attend these meetings alongside SQA Chief Executive Fiona Robertson.

I attended a meeting which Fiona Robertson also attended on 24 May. We had a brief phone call on 3 June. We will have a formal introductory meeting on 24 June.

Officials meet regularly with SQA on a range of matters relating to the delivery of SQA’s functions.

An Equality Impact Assessment to support the decision to replace the National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher examination diet in 2020-2021 with an Alternative Certification Model will be published on the Scottish Government website shortly.

SQA has undertaken an Equality Impact Assessment of the 2021 Alternative Certification Model that was co-created by the National Qualifications 2021 Group. It is available on the SQA’s website at: Equality Impact Assessment - National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Alternative Certification Model 2021 (sqa.org.uk) .

The Scottish Government extended the designation of Scotland’s current network of Enterprise Areas until March 2022. Informed by findings from a survey we commissioned in November 2020 regarding place-based economic initiatives, and the report of a Scottish Enterprise evaluation of Enterprise Areas, the future format for Enterprise Areas will be confirmed later this year.

As the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland has said, it is normal to look at historical school data as part of the quality assurance process in awarding national qualifications. This is designed to help support the best outcomes for our young people.

I am clear that if a learner has demonstrated they deserve a particular grade, and this grade is robust against the national standard, that is the grade they will receive.

To provide additional assurances on this, Education Scotland has liaised with all 32 local authorities who have all confirmed that historical data has not been used to unilaterally change any assessment judgements by teachers or schools.

Once the provisional grades have been submitted to the Scottish Qualifications Authority they will not be changed because of any school’s past performance.

Work on a planned public energy company was halted during the pandemic. As set out in the SNP manifesto, Ministers will now focus government efforts on a new dedicated national public energy agency. This will coordinate and accelerate delivery of heat and energy efficiency work, inform and educate the public on the changes required, provide expert advice to national and local government, and work with public, private and third sector partners to deliver this transformative national project. Further details will be set out to Parliament in due course.

Our inclusive approach to the COVID-19 vaccination is outlined in the letter to Mr Choudhury dated 8 th June. Our approach is constantly adapting in response to data, feedback from stakeholders and other evidence sources.

Equality data  COVID-19 statistical report 2 June 2021 - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

Neither the Cabinet Secretary for Health & Social Care, nor Scottish Government officials have engaged with ServiceNow. NHS National Services Scotland are responsible for the development and operational performance of the Service Now platform which is used as part of the overall digital solution for Covid Vaccinations, and it is for NHS National Services Scotland to manage the performance of their suppliers.

Following the publication of the recommendations from the Ministerial Working Group on Mortgage Lending and Cladding, we invited property owners living in buildings where safety concerns had been determined to submit an Expression of Interest in participating in the first phase of the Single Building Assessment. Over 300 Expressions of Interest were submitted. The selection of the buildings to be included in the first phase has been completed and building owners will be notified of the outcome this week.

The Single Building Assessment is a safety assessment on buildings with flatted properties with external wall cladding and will provide us with the clear evidence on the total need for remediation. All flatted properties will be covered; that’s around 770 high-rise buildings and many more at lower heights.

This approach will allow us to identify buildings that are at risk and if there are no problems identified, it will release people from safety and mortgage lending concerns. It will also save homeowners the hundreds of pounds they may otherwise have faced through paying for an individual EWS1. The costs of Single Building Assessment will be met by the Scottish Government.

Once the Single Building Assessment programme has been established we will target remediation at the buildings at most risk.