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City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) is benefitting from over £2.39 million of funding for its “Edinburgh EV Infrastructure Network Project” through Transport Scotland’s Switched on Towns and Cities challenge fund. Due to the scale of Switched on Towns and Cities projects the programme is delivered as a multi-annual funding stream, with work on-going across all 5 successful projects. City of Edinburgh Council is due to deliver 66 charge points of varying types (equating to 132 parking bays) at various locations across the city for use by residents, the public and also taxis. The project is due to complete later in 2021.

Whilst we work towards our net-zero transport targets, the Scottish Government will continue to align support with the vision and priorities set out in the National Transport Strategy 2 and Sustainable Transport Hierarchy. This represents a strong presumption towards enabling and promoting the use of active, sustainable and public transport modes over the use of private cars, regardless of their fuel type. Reflecting on the varied transport challenges and opportunities across Scotland’s urban and rural communities, this means we would expect to see car use in our largest cities reduce.

Given the importance of sandeels to the wider ecosystem and the subsequent benefit in aiding long-term sustainability and resilience, it remains an overarching Scottish Government position, which is reflected in Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy, not to support fishing for sandeels in our waters. During the parliamentary session on the 09 June, I committed to looking at this issue as a matter of urgency and to consider what additional measures we can put in place to manage the North Sea sandeel fisheries in the most sustainable way possible.

There are also a number of measures already in place for the protection of sandeel stocks in the North Sea. The Northeast UK closed area means that that over half the grounds of sandeel area 4 are closed to fishing. In addition, the Scottish Government has made major steps in protecting areas of key importance to sandeel through the designation of a network of Marine Protected Areas focussed on areas important to sandeel populations.

No patient should be discharged from hospital until they are clinically fit. It is the responsibility of the clinician in charge of treatment to decide when an individual patient is fit for discharge, as part of that process a multi-disciplinary team will assess the individuals on-going needs and ensure appropriate care and support is available.

A Human Rights Bill will be introduced to the Scottish Parliament during this Parliamentary session taking forward the recommendations of The National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership’s report.

Luss Bay has a designated Bathing Water and is given special protection to ensure it is safe for people to swim in during the bathing season, which normally runs from 1 June to 15 September. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has determined the current bathing water quality classification at Luss Bay as 'sufficient" and reports that there has not been any significant deterioration in annual trends at this location. The storm rainfall event last summer on 5 August 2020, did result in a poor water quality, but this was predicted by SEPA, and an appropriate poor water quality warning to the public was in place via SEPA’s real time electronic signage.

The public sewerage network in Luss, including Luss Bay, is a relatively small catchment and there are no combined sewer overflows from Scottish Water’s network in this vicinity to Loch Lomond. The Luss public sewerage network drains to Scottish Water’s Waste Water Treatment Works (WwTW). During the bathing season, to protect bathing water quality, Luss WwTW uses ultraviolet treatment to disinfect the sewage effluent. Scottish Water works with SEPA very closely and through regular monitoring has not found issues with respect to its discharge in the area. The final effluent discharge from the WwTW is sampled on a regular basis and Scottish Water is not aware of breaches of its license parameters.

Overall, SEPA classifies the environmental water quality of Loch Lomond as good for the north area and moderate for the south due to impacts from agriculture. Through River Basin Management Planning, carried out by SEPA on behalf of the Scottish Government, measures are planned to address the impacts from agriculture to ensure Loch Lomond can recover to good water quality status. SEPA and Scottish Water have also worked together to inspect the sewer network along the beach area at Luss Bay and no issues have been discovered.

Of course, the Scottish Government will continue to work together with stakeholders to ensure bathing waters reach the best possible status.

The 119 Freephone COVID testing helpline was made available to callers from Scotland on Friday 23 April 2021. The 119 Freephone service provides callers the option to report lateral flow device (LFD) test results, and can also be used to:

• order LFD test kits for home delivery
• provide support when booking a PCR test
• report test kit problems
• provide translation services

This number will run alongside the original 0300 303 2713 helpline number (which charges from some networks) until further notice. Both numbers reach the same call handlers.

LFD test results can also be reported online at GOV.UK. Reporting LFD tests results online or via the 119 service helps us to find community outbreaks, understand infection rates across Scotland and enable contact tracing.

The Out of Home sector has an important role to play in providing access to affordable, healthier food and in helping people make informed choices.

Our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan includes specific actions to help families make healthier choices, including when eating out. As part of this, we are considering consulting on mandatory calorie labelling for food and drink purchased out of home.

The Delivery Plan is at https://www.gov.scot/publications/healthier-future-scotlands-diet-healthy-weight-delivery-plan/ .

The Scottish Government’s Fisheries Management Strategy, published in December 2020, sets out a clear vision for delivering accountability and confidence in our sea fishing activities, and in ensuring that we have the right data and knowledge available on which to base management decisions.

Our approach to sea fisheries compliance and science is already world-class. The introduction of Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) to key fishing fleet segments will enhance our capabilities, building on the solid foundation we already have in place.

In relation to the inshore fishing fleet, 30-40% of Scottish scallop dredge vessels are currently fitted with REM systems, including cameras. Voluntary installations are ongoing around Scotland and our intention is to lay legislation this year, making the technology mandatory for scallop dredge vessels. In addition, to inform the wider deployment of REM technology across inshore vessels, around 40 creel boats have been equipped with a low-cost device as part of our Outer Hebrides Inshore Fisheries Pilot. The REM device reports vessel position and provides feedback that assesses fishing activity, testing our ability to manage creel fishing effort within a significant area of sea. The Pilot project reflects the aspirations of our Fisheries Management Strategy for the network of Regional Inshore Fisheries Groups to take a lead role in proposing and developing fisheries improvement projects that will benefit communities while fulfilling our environmental obligations.

We will shortly consult on mandatory rollout to the scallop and pelagic sectors, along with consideration of further rollout to other fleet segments using a proportionate and risk-based approach. It is important to have a level playing field and we will ensure this is delivered through legislation, meaning that any vessels fishing in Scottish waters must also comply with these rules. We are tailoring the deployment of REM across our fishing sectors to reflect the varied nature of fishing activity, a blanket approach is not appropriate. Hence, we do not have a fixed timescale for delivering REM, given the complexities of installation and lead in time needed, particularly for the international fleet. However, it remains a key priority as part of our 10 year delivery plan under the wider Fisheries Management Strategy.

Table 1 shows the Number of Items dispensed, Gross Ingredient Cost (GIC) of dispensed items, remuneration cost for provision of the service, and patient registration numbers for the Minor Ailment Service (MAS) in each of the last five financial years.

MAS data for April to June 2020, is due for publication by Public Health Scotland in the Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis report, due for release on 21st September 2021. From 29 July 2020, MAS was replaced by NHS Pharmacy First Scotland.

Table 1. Minor Ailment Service, Items, GIC, Remuneration, and Registration Numbers by Financial Year

We know the pandemic has had a significant impact on students with many facing resulting financial difficulties. That’s why, since the onset of the pandemic we have committed over £96 million, which includes the additional £20 million we announced on 13 June 2021, to help alleviate the financial burden and stress among students.

Students facing additional hardship, including rent issues, as a result of Covid-19 should apply to their college or university for financial support from the FE/HE Discretionary Funds.