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The Scottish Government has had no discussions with either party on this matter as local government pay and other employment matters are delegated to local authorities and COSLA.

However, we urge all parties to continue open, constructive dialogue to find a resolution which avoids any potential industrial action and reaches a satisfactory conclusion for both sides.

Our manifesto committed to opening NTC Ayrshire and Arran in 2025. We are currently finalising the design of the hospital and we are exploring and reviewing timelines associated with the NTC with a view to having the centre operational earlier than our manifesto commitment.

I engage regularly with EIS-FELA and most recently met with EIS-FELA on 27th April and 17th May to discuss the current pay dispute.

I will continue to meet regularly with both sides, urging them to make every effort to resolve the current dispute without the need for further industrial action, which is absolutely not in the best interests of learners.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to review the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

The fact that a particular type of development is not specifically mentioned does not necessarily mean it falls outside the scope of the Regulations. Guidance on establishing whether EIA is required is set out in Scottish Government Planning Circular 1/2017: Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations. The circular is available on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-circular-1-2017-environmental-impact-assessment-regulations-2017/ .

We launched the Fisheries Climate Change survey in November 2021 during COP 26 to assess the fishing sector’s readiness/ preparedness to respond to the climate change challenge. We said then that the results will be used to inform a stakeholder workshop in 2022.

The analysis is complete and we are now in the process of compiling a summary of the responses received and we will be publishing the summary shortly.

We are also in the process of planning the stakeholders workshop where we will present and discuss the results from the Fisheries Climate Change survey.

In October 2021, I was delighted to launch the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, supported by a £15 million investment for 2021-22. This funding has now been successfully distributed to a wide range of grassroots, community based projects across Scotland. A further £15 million was announced this month for a second year of the Fund in 2022-23.

£15 million in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 is a significant investment in grassroots, community mental health and wellbeing support. To date, almost 2000 awards have been made to projects, focused on a range of at risk groups including older people and those facing social isolation, people with long-term health conditions and people facing socio-economic disadvantage. This is making a real difference to mental health and wellbeing in many communities.

To aid with pandemic recovery and respond to the high demand for community projects in 2021-22, an additional £6 million was provided in February, bringing total funding for 2021-22 to £21 million. We will continue to build on the success of this work in Year 2, and ensure that the sizeable additional £15 million investment makes a valuable impact on mental health and wellbeing within communities across Scotland.

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) have recently stated that their clinical physiology degree programme will not continue beyond the current cohort which commenced in September 2021 and as such Scottish Government are actively working with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to review the ongoing provision and access to a clinical physiology degree for Scottish Students.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Principals' salaries are for individual colleges to determine.

Whilst Public Sector Pay Policy does not apply directly to colleges, the SFC’s Financial Memorandum states that colleges must have regard to it.

We expect colleges and their boards to be mindful of Public Sector Pay Policy and demonstrate restraint when determining senior staff salaries.

Pay arrangements for senior staff must ensure value for money, affordability and sustainability in the longer term.

We are grateful to all those staff who supported the delivery of Scotland's Covid-19 vaccination campaign, a significant number of whom were already employed across primary care services or drawn from substantive roles across NHS Scotland. All those individuals deployed in roles normally undertaken by substantive staff were employed by NHS Scotland for the duration of their involvement.

To enable a sustainable vaccination workforce, funding has been made available to Boards, which enables those on fixed-term contracts to be recruited to permanent posts. The Scottish Government expects Boards to support where possible, the redeployment of staff, to retain the valuable skills and experience that this workforce has developed.

The following table represents a breakdown of the current ScotRail rolling stock by class of train, year built and approximate age. There is no single lifespan for a train: any decision to replace a train fleet is based on multiple evaluation criteria. While there are no expiry dates attached to the current train fleet, the Rail Passenger Services Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all diesel trains (both multiple unit types and High Speed Trains (HSTs)) being replaced by 2035.