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The Scottish Government has not provided any direct financial support to the private sector for onshore or offshore wind energy projects in the last 10 years.

The eligibility criteria for new COVID-19 treatments were developed by an independent expert working group commissioned by the UK Department of Health and Social Care, based on detailed clinical evidence. The criteria are set out in a UK-wide clinical commissioning policy . The policy targets those higher risk individuals who have the potential to both be least likely to generate a material immune response to vaccines and be at highest risk of disease progression, hospitalisation and death.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care has recently established an expert panel to provide advice to the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) on which patient cohorts should be eligible for access to COVID-19 treatments, including whether changes should be made to which patient cohorts are currently eligible for direct access to antivirals to reduce the risk of hospitalisation. More information about the Therapeutics Clinical Review Panel, including how to submit an enquiry to the panel can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/covid-19-therapeutics-clinical-review-panel

General information on the arrangements for direct access to COVID-19 treatments in Scotland can be found on NHS Inform .

Any decision by the Republic of Ireland to exclude glass from their deposit return scheme (DRS) is a matter for them.

The Full Business Case Stage 1 for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 8 May 2019 (pp36-37), considered the costs and benefits of including glass within the scheme and concluded that glass should be included due to the substantial environmental and economic benefits. The Scottish Government remains fully committed to this position, which is also that taken by the Welsh Government.

Since 2011 the Energy Saving Trust (EST),on behalf of the Scottish Government has maintained a database of all community and locally owned (CoLo) renewable energy installations in Scotland and produces a report on the information it contains each year.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-05524 on  24 January 2022 and S6W-07942 on 29 April 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

Our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is an important part of our response to the global climate emergency and the member is right that our scheme will be ambitious by international standards. The implementation date of 16 August 2023 was determined after extensive industry engagement and based on feedback from an independent Gateway Review and we consider it to strike the right balance between being stretching and also being deliverable .

The current suspension of abatement rules is directly linked to the period of pandemic response. The Scottish Government will keep the suspension of these rules under review, however, because public service pensions policy is only executively devolved to the Scottish Government, any extension to the suspended provisions would require the consent of the UK government.

A directors letter (DL) was issued by Chief Nursing Officer on 31 March regarding the de-escalation of enhanced IPC measures as we now observe that harms associated with reduced elective services within NHS Scotland are now outweighing COVID-19 harms. The DL outlined the removal of guidance on physical distancing and car sharing as well as changes to the types of COVID-19 tests that are available for patient use.

NSS ARHAI Scotland are also undertaking a gap analysis across the current Scottish Winter (21/22), Respiratory Infections in Health and Care Settings Addendum and the National Infection, Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM). This analysis will highlight which COVID-19 specific aspects of the winter respiratory guidance, require to be retained and carried over into the NIPCM. This work is envisaged to be completed in early May.

On 11 March we published the National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy.

As part of the strategy, we have committed to taking forward specific actions to improve how we gather, use and assess NHS Workforce data. This includes taking steps to improve the demographic data we collect and the analysis we undertake of data obtained at different geographic levels within our health and social care system.

The strategy further commits us to taking forward complementary actions to improve workforce planning capacity and capability within our health boards and health and social care partnerships (HSCPs).

New guidance has already been communicated to health boards and HSCPs to support the production of demand-led 3-year workforce plans, supported by local systems’ workforce data. Later this year we will also publish new staffing projections for health and social care.

Complementary data systems and data improvement work is taking place, as part of the Implementation Programme being established to support delivery of the Workforce Strategy. We have undertaken to publish annual updates outlining progress with the strategy’s implementation, in support of our tri-partite ambition to achieve long-term workforce sustainability through recovery, growth and service transformation.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the wider physical and mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through the following initiatives:

? Scottish Health Survey - This survey monitors physical and mental health in the Scottish population. The latest published results are based on the telephone survey conducted in 2020. The results of the 2021 survey will be published in November 2022.

? Scottish COVID-19 Mental Health Tracker Study - This study measured the mental health and wellbeing impacts of the pandemic on Scottish adults. The latest phase, covering Summer 2021, was published on 24 February 2022.

? COVID-19 wider impacts on the healthcare system - This dashboard, published by Public Health Scotland, shows activity trends across areas of the healthcare system including Cardiovascular, Cancer and Mental Health services.

? YouGov online polling - Opinion polling continues on Scottish adults around once a month. Throughout the pandemic questions have been asked regarding concerns about mental health and loneliness.

? COVID-19 burden of disease - The Scottish burden of disease study looks to estimate the overall impact, and inequalities in the impact, of COVID-19 on public health measures.

Public Health Scotland also continue to publish on their website a wide range of research and statistics which will help to monitor areas of physical and mental health as time progresses.