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As outlined in my response on 22 February 2022, Crown Estate Scotland is responsible for the ScotWind leasing and selection process.

We expect Crown Estate Scotland to undertake appropriate due diligence on companies, including their human rights record, in line with the Guidance on due diligence: human rights. As the guidance states, “The detail of what is checked is ultimately a matter of judgement by whomever has initiated the relationship and/or responded to a proposition from a third party and will depend on the circumstances of each case.” The due diligence carried out by Crown Estate Scotland was outlined in my answer to question S6W-06064.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07621 on 25 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

Neither the Scottish Government or Public Health Scotland are able to quantify how many routine vaccine doses have been disposed of due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine wastage can be attributed to other factors and therefore delineation of contributing factors is not possible.

The Seasonal Flu Vaccination Programme is a well established programme that runs annually (usually between October – March each year), for which vaccine is procured nationally for the eligible groups. Every effort is made to minimise wastage, taking into account previous years’ vaccination uptake, whilst ensuring that sufficient stock is procured to support optimum uptake rates, and protect those most at risk of flu. During the pandemic, in 2020-21 and 2021-22 the flu programme has continued to record very good uptake across the eligible cohorts.

The routine childhood immunisation programmes have continued in Scotland throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for children of all ages.

Uptake for vaccines given to children aged under one year has remained consistently high in Scotland. Statistics on childhood immunisations are published quarterly by Public Health Scotland, which show that around 96% of children had received each routine immunisation by the time they were 12 months of age in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Uptake of the rotavirus vaccination by 12 months of age increased during the pandemic, from 93.2% in 2019 to 94.2% in 2021. Uptake of the first dose of MMR by the age of 24 months also increased, rising from 94% in 2019 to 94.4% in 2021.

The continued high uptake of childhood immunisations is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the NHS and the recognition of the benefits of vaccination.

There are no jobs related to the National Care Service which are being recruited by Scotland Excel at this time.

From 18 April, we are no longer asking the general public to test themselves regularly if they are asymptomatic. This change is possible because of the progress we have made in our ability to protect Scotland’s population from the most severe harms of COVID-19 through our widespread vaccination coverage and access to new Covid treatments.

Covid testing in hospital settings for emergency admissions and elective patients will continue to be available, helping to protect vulnerable individuals in high risk settings and ensuring patients receive the most effective treatment.

Health and social care workers should continue to test themselves regularly to reduce the risk of spread of infection in higher risk settings; as should care home and hospital visitors. All ongoing testing in higher risk settings will be kept under regular clinical review.

Data from the Business Ventilation Fund has not yet been published. In line with all previous funds, the Scottish Government will publish data on the Business Ventilation Fund. This is planned for May.

This data is not centrally available; aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Waiting Times is sent to Public Health Scotland (PHS) from each NHS Board. It does not contain explicit information on the type of assessment or treatment children and young people are waiting for. It reports on the number of referrals for young people to CAMHS; numbers waiting to start treatment and total waiting; not accepted for treatment from referral and Did Not Attend status numbers for 1st contact appointments; and the time between referral and first treatment.

The CAMHS statistics capture children and young people who meet the CAMHS criteria. Children and young people who are waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment but do not meet the CAMHS criteria are not reported in these statistics.

PHS are developing a patient-level dataset to provide detail for these aggregate CAMHS statistics. This Child, Adolescent and Psychological Therapies National Dataset (CAPTND) will contain reason for referral to CAMHS

The Scottish Government is committed to working with Boards to implement both the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Service Specification. The National Neurodevelopmental Specification was published in September 2021 and the CAMHS Service Specification was published in February 2020. These set out service standards that all children’s services should follow, to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland.

Data from the Business Ventilation Fund has not yet been published. In line with all previous funds, the Scottish Government will publish data on the Business Ventilation Fund. This is planned for May.

Scottish Government’s delivery partner, Inclusion Scotland, published a report in May 2021 after the Parliamentary elections. The report includes an evaluation that Inclusion Scotland held with award holders. Most award recipients said their overall experience of the Access to Elected Office Fund was very good or excellent. Most participants said the fund removed some impairment-related barriers to campaigning and importantly, most recipients said that the funding did help them to campaign and/or pursue party selection on a more level playing field with non-disabled candidates.

Immediately after the Scottish Parliamentary elections were concluded, the Access to Elected Office Fund needed to promote the upcoming local elections for May 2022 in order to ensure sufficient lead time for any applicants, whilst incorporating learning from the impact of COVID-19.

Inclusion Scotland has worked with the Equal Representation Coalition and the Scottish Government to develop an equalities monitoring form with the aim of collecting data on the protected characteristics of candidates for the May 2022 Local Authority elections.

Further improvements include the updating of processes and procedures. For example, for those receiving a Personal Assistant (PA) support award, the option was added to allow them to use a self-employed PA with the aim of tackling the barriers to recruitment.