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The Scottish Government has activated the Bellwin Scheme which offers additional revenue support to local authorities to assist with immediate and unforeseen costs that meet the qualifying criteria in the aftermath of emergency incidents such as the storms referenced. However, payments are only made once a local authority has exceeded its Bellwin Threshold which represents 0.2 per cent of their net revenue budget for the year in question, for Aberdeenshire Council this is £1,075,171. This is the amount that all local authorities are deemed to set aside to cover unforeseen emergencies

My officials are in regular contact with Aberdeenshire Council and the Council is aware that any interim Bellwin claim should be submitted to the Scottish Government within 4 months of the date of the incident. I can confirm that, to date, the Scottish Government have not yet received a Bellwin claim from Aberdeenshire Council.

However, in 2021-22, Aberdeenshire Council will receive £479.2 million to support local services, which includes an extra £19 million or 4.1 per cent to support services compared to 2020 21. Further funding of almost £521.3 million will be provided in 2022-23, which includes an extra £44 million or 9.2 per cent for vital day to day services.

The Scottish Government is engaging closely with COSLA and Heads of Planning Scotland to make sure we have a common understanding of the pressures faced by the planning service and to promote a highly performing system which can deliver on the ambitions set out in the emerging NPF4.

We have laid regulations in the Scottish Parliament which will bring into effect fee increases, providing substantial additional income to authorities. The new regulations are expected to come into force on 1 April 2022, subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Beyond this we have committed to engaging with the High Level Group on Planning Performance which includes COSLA, Heads of Planning Scotland and other stakeholders, on a work programme to consider how full recovery of the costs of determining applications could be achieved.

Our consideration of capacity and skills in planning has been informed by recent research commissioned by Skills Development Scotland, undertaken by EKOS and published by Partners in Planning, available at https://www.partnersinplanning.scot/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/23623/Skills-in-Planning-Research-Final-February-2021.pdf The research report provides an independent perspective on the challenges faced and a series of proposed actions. Scottish Government is working with the other partner members of Partners in Planning to take forward the proposed actions to help ensure the future pipeline of planners needed to deliver on our ambitions. This includes supporting a short project recently commissioned by Heads of Planning Scotland and the RTPI to explore options and set out proposals to help increase the numbers of people entering the planning profession.

Delivering the NPF4 spatial strategy and implementing its national policy will require collaboration and we will continue to work with stakeholders as we progress towards a finalised NPF4 and beyond.

The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (the Care Inspectorate) was established on 1 April 2011 following the commencement of the Public Services Reform (Scotland Act) 2010 (“the 2010 Act”) and encompassed other bodies such as the Care Commission. The statutory role and functions of the Care Inspectorate are as set out in the 2010 Act and does not extend to a role in the distribution of public or private funding across care homes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-00814 on 3 March 2022 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/ormain.aspx .

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is responsible for regulating water abstractions in Scotland’s rivers under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. On behalf of the Scottish Government, SEPA monitors and assesses water abstractions and fish populations in the upper courses of Scotland's rivers against a set of environmental standards as part of River Basin Management Planning.

These environmental standards classify the status of rivers (including upper courses) to define the environmental conditions required to support healthy populations of flora and fauna, including salmon. Water flows and levels are currently classified by SEPA at good or better condition in 90% of Scotland’s water environment.

Scotland’s River Basin Management Plans 2021 - 2027 were published at the end of 2021 and include objectives for SEPA to review abstractions where the water environment is not in good condition. In particular, the flow requirements of each life stage of the salmon are considered by SEPA during any licence determination to ensure that these fish are protected. The Plans aim for an uplift in the condition of flows and levels in Scotland’s water environment to 96% by 2027.

The Scottish Government also published the Scottish Wild Salmon Strategy on 14 January, which sets out the vision, objectives and priority themes to ensure the protection and recovery of Scottish Atlantic wild salmon populations including actions to address flows and levels in rivers and water scarcity in drought conditions.

Yes; Forestry and Land Scotland encourages local staff to be members of / engage with Deer Management Groups. Likewise Forestry and Land Scotland does discuss / consult with local DMG’s as to their land management objectives and associated plans.

The Scottish Government believes it is important to support children and young people to have the knowledge and skills necessary to use social media in a positive way.

We provided the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Scottish Children’s Parliament with over £90k of funding to develop the ‘Mind Yer YTime’ web resource, launched in April 2020 and updated in September 2021. This online hub is specifically designed to give children and young people advice on the safe use of screen time and social media use and their impacts on physical and mental wellbeing.

We provided over £160k to Young Scot to deliver a range of positive messages, advice and resources to young people regarding health and mental wellbeing through the ‘Aye Feel’ hub. This includes a range of resources, stories, blog posts and targeted social media content on social media usage and managing screen time.

In February 2022 we supported Young Scot to launch the ‘ National Conversation on body image, screen time and mental wellbeing ’ , with children and young people so that their voices can directly shape our future work in this area.

We have also provided Young Scot with £124,740 to run its #DigiKnow cyber awareness and peer education programme around online safety and security, aimed at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

More broadly, we are aware that some stakeholders have concerns that the UK Government needs to go further in using the UK Online Safety Bill to protect the population’s mental health and wellbeing. We would encourage the UK Government to listen and respond to those concerns so that we can all seek to engage in social media in a constructive and positive way.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-06788 and S6W-06789 on 8 March 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06788 on 8 March 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 .

The underspend on HM Treasury Funds available for each of the three years is as follows:

2018-19 - £339m (£191m Resource, £147m Financial Transactions and £1m Capital)

2019-20 - £256m (£85m Resource, £97m Financial Transactions and £74m Capital)

2020-21 - £426m (£358m Resource, £61m Financial Transactions and £7m Capital)

This includes all planned and anticipated carry forward commitments built into the following years’ budgets.

For 2021-22 the current carry forward requirement is £511m to fulfil known and forecast 2022-23 obligations. Current forecasting is in line with this requirement but remains subject to final movements and the outturn processes. The final underspend figure for 2021-22 will be the 2022-23 Scotland Reserve opening balance.

It is unclear what is meant by funding uplifts in the question.