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During 2022, we will take forward necessary preparatory work to support the national rollout of the Caledonian System with the aim of making it available to all 32 Scottish local authorities by the end of the parliamentary term.

The size of a local authority, and the domestic abuse offending rates within, play a significant role in any forecasting. The Caledonian System is currently available in 19 local authorities and by expanding its availability across Scotland we will significantly increase the number of men accessing the programme.

The Scottish Government welcomes the EU Mission to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, and in ensuring that these cities act as hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050. We recognise that involvement in such a Mission presents a real opportunity to better mobilise delivery partners to create an effective network for sharing valuable learning on the transition cities will make to net zero. Should Edinburgh or Glasgow participate in this Mission, the Scottish Government will work with key stakeholders - particularly the European Commission, local authorities, and our partners in the Scottish Cities Alliance - to enable all of our seven cities to benefit from Scotland’s involvement in this hugely important Mission.

71% of people in Scotland live in urban areas, many of which live and work in cities or surrounding areas. Like other parts of Europe, remote rural areas in Scotland are facing depopulation while larger city populations are increasing. This trend is expected to continue for some time, creating the risk that our cities produce emissions at rapidly exponential rates. In response, many cities in Scotland have set ambitious net zero targets and are developing robust plans to deliver them. Nonetheless, it is still vital that the Scottish Government works in partnership with cities and plays an enabling role in making the most of opportunities for net zero, and supports cities in developing investment propositions which unlock private capital for net zero. The EU’s Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission seeks to support just that, and so we look forward to learning which cities have been selected to join the Mission.

Currently the best source of estimated long COVID prevalence data for Scotland is the monthly Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting on ‘Estimates of the prevalence of self-reported long COVID and associated activity limitation, using UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey data’. ( Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) ) The latest publication in this series was published on 7 April 2022 (referring to the four-week period ending 5 March 2022). It showed that:

• An estimated 132,000 people in the private residential population in Scotland (2.51%) reported experiencing long COVID of any duration (see accompanying uncertainty estimates in the following table).
• An estimated 92,000 people in the private residential population in Scotland (1.75%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 weeks previously .
• An estimated 59,000 people in the private residential population in Scotland (1.12%) first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least 12 months previously .

An evidence review on international approaches to challenging demand is being carried out by Scottish Government’s Justice Analytical Services (JAS), and will be published later this year as an official social research report.

As is the case with all Analytical Services Divisions within the Scottish Government, JAS provide impartial evidence-based advice to support policy development - with all social research needing to comply with the Scottish Government’s ethical principles. These principles specifically require researchers to consider and address ethical risks to protect against distortion and bias in the interpretation of findings.

This analysis will support the development of a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution, whilst taking into account Scotland’s unique legal and societal landscape.

It remains our firm intention that exams take place this year. They would only be cancelled if public health guidance prevented gatherings during the exam timetable. The safety of children, young people, and all education staff remains the overriding priority.

In the period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021, 379 men were required to attend the Caledonian System as part of a Community Payback Order (CPO). In total, 1100 men were provided with the opportunity to access the programme in this period.

Prior to 2016 uptake of the Men's Programme is difficult to quantify precisely, because of limitations in the monitoring data. However, from the data available, the Caledonian System Evaluation in 2016 found that at least 941 men had started the Men’s Programme and 598 women had taken up the offer of support from the Women’s Service since September 2010.

Since the introduction of a new dataset from 1 May 2018, 1386 men have been required to attend the Caledonian System as part of a CPO. During this same period, 1934 women were also contacted, and offered the opportunity to contribute to the assessment process and have been offered safety planning.

Schools are best placed to support learners and give them the best chance to demonstrate their potential. Guidance makes clear that schools should ensure remote learning materials are in place in circumstances where they are required. We continue to make resources available to support that contingency.

£4 million of funding is being made available to schools and colleges to increase Easter study support where appropriate, particularly for those from the most deprived backgrounds. Schools and colleges have the flexibility to deliver that support as they see fit, including online.

This support is complemented by an enhanced range of options for online learning through the National e-Learning Offer (NeLO). In the event of school staff absences and learners revising at home, even at short notice, NeLO is available. Educators can refer their learners to collections of resources - recorded, supported and often live interactive webinars - and schools can make parents and learners aware that these resources are available whenever remote learning is required.

For reference details of the 9 projects are available from the Chief Scientist Office website

Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk)

Six-month progress reports have been received for all 9 projects

A twelve-month progress report has been received for project LTE/20/04

On 31 March 2022 the Chief Scientist Office hosted a virtual symposium where the lead investigators for each of the 9 projects presented the results obtained to date

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of racism, including antisemitism. We adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism in June 2017. This is the Scottish Government position and it applies to all Ministers. We encourage all bodies to sign up to the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

We are actively engaged in consultation with Jewish students, Jewish community organisations, and stakeholders in higher education as part of our wider approach to tackling antisemitism.

On 23 February 2022, I held a round table discussion on antisemitism in higher education with Jewish students, representatives from the Jewish community, and stakeholders from the higher education sector. The event was organised in response to a letter from the Union of Jewish Students regarding universities and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

It was an opportunity for students to share their experiences of antisemitism and also to hear from stakeholders about the work they are doing to confront this issue in practice. The discussion was very productive, with all parties agreeing to undertake positive actions to address antisemitism on campus going forward.

The pandemic has seen the NHS under the most severe pressure in its 73-year existence. Pausing of non-urgent activity has taken place in health systems across Scotland, and the UK, which has inevitably led to a build-up of the numbers of people waiting for treatment.

Through the NHS Recovery Plan, the Scottish Government continues to work with Health Boards, including NHS Grampian to support and prioritise recovery for planned care.

While NHS Grampian is working locally to increase capacity and reduce waiting times for patients waiting for surgery, specifically prioritising Cardiac Surgery wherever possible, the Golden Jubilee National Hospital has been providing dedicated additional capacity for people waiting on cardiac surgery. This has paused briefly due to staffing pressures at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital as a result of the pandemic but will be reinstated as soon as possible.

Where a patients procedure is cancelled, NHS Grampian will try to reschedule this as soon as possible.

We are facilitating discussion with NHS Tayside and NHS Grampian to work towards opening additional capacity at Stracathro Regional Treatment Centre to further support both Boards. The National Treatment Centres will provide the single biggest increase in planned care capacity ever created in the NHS.

The Scottish Government published the framework for clinical prioritisation, which provides NHS Scotland with clear principles for prioritising planned care while ensuring appropriate COVID-19 safety and priority measures are in place. This guidance provides clear guidance on determining a patient’s clinical urgency and sets out review stages to ensure each individual patient’s case is assessed regularly to ensure the most appropriate care.