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The Energy Strategy and Just Transition plan will refresh the 2017 Energy Strategy, and deliver Scotland’s first Just Transition Plan. It will take a whole-system view of how the sector must evolve to drive our transition to net zero, with a specific focus on actions needed to meet our 2030 interim target. The revised timeline will allow robust evidence and analysis to be produced and take account of ongoing projects, which are progressing at pace in response to the rapidly evolving global energy environment. It will also allow time for us to engage meaningfully with stakeholders in line with our wider approach to just transition.

We know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health and wellbeing of many children and young people. There is help available for anyone struggling with their mental health, including support for young people feeling suicidal – details are set out on the NHS24 website. Young people who are struggling are urged to speak to a trusted adult; to contact their GP; seek help via the NHS24 helpline on 111, or call Childline on 0800 11 11.

The Scottish Government set up the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG) to oversee the delivery of the Suicide Prevention Action Plan ‘Every Life Matters’, published in 2018. The Plan continues to deliver a wide range of actions, including: improving suicide prevention skills of the workforce; ensuring effective, compassionate support to anyone in crisis, and supporting local suicide prevention planning. In addition, the NSPLG identified restricting access to means of suicide as a priority during the pandemic, and is currently drawing together international evidence to identify effective approaches to reducing access to means of suicide for people in crisis, including self-poisoning.

The NSPLG is setting up a Youth Advisory Group to bring together young people with lived experience of suicide, self-harm and poor mental health. This Group will ensure suicide prevention policies and approaches are designed to reach, and support, children and young people; this includes informing the new suicide prevention strategy which will publish in September. Finally, the NSPLG is planning a social media campaign over the coming months aimed at young people, with the objective of encouraging young people to talk more openly about suicide, and to seek help.

We recognise that for some people self-poisoning is a form of self-harm rather than a suicide attempt, and the Government is actively developing a stand-alone self-harm strategy to ensure the right policies and support are in place for people who self-harm. We are currently working closely with stakeholders and people with lived experience to inform the Strategy and supporting Action Plan. We are already investing approximately £1.5 million over three years to Penumbra to pilot self-harm support services for people currently self-harming, or people at risk of self-harming. The pilots will begin over the Summer, with the learning providing valuable insight to the development of the strategy.

We know that providing emotional support to school age children is vital, and we provide local authorities with £16m per annum so that every secondary school has access to counselling support. Additionally, a learning resource has been developed for school staff to help them recognise the signs of poor mental health among young people, including signs of self-harm, and giving them skills to respond.

Finally, having provided £11.25 million to local authorities to respond to the mental health impact of the pandemic on children and young people in Financial Year 20/21, since January 2021, we have provided significant additional funding enable them to deliver further mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people in their communities. This new investment totalled £15 million in Financial Year 21/22 and we are committed to doubling the funding for community mental health supports over the lifetime of this Parliament. In 2021-22 this funding included £2.87 million to local authorities within NHS Grampian, which has enabled a range of services including ‘Fit Like’ Family Wellbeing Hubs in Aberdeen, digital mental health support in Aberdeenshire and whole family support in Moray.

The remaining Covid-19 specific legal requirements have been removed, but regulators will continue to engage to support businesses in managing their risks and applying any relevant guidance. While Covid-19 specific spot checks may no longer be carried out, pre-existing regulations are still in place, for example on fresh air/ ventilation and cleanliness. Regulators will be conducting inspections as they would have before the pandemic. As part of these visits, Covid-19 risks and adaptations may be discussed.

The Scottish Government is not a reporting agency for cyber attacks in Scotland. When notified of a cyber incident under the Scottish Public Sector Notifiable Cyber Incident Procedure and Policy, the Scottish Government together with other relevant partners supports organisations with immediate cyber incident management and response, rather than their long-term recovery.

Public sector bodies generally manage their recovery processes themselves, dependant on their own circumstances. The Scottish Government does not collate information on the costs to the Scottish public bodies incurred as a result of cyber attacks.

All food businesses are required to comply with the relevant requirements of food law. This includes the requirement to register as a food business with their Local Authority Environmental Health team, to comply with food safety and compositional requirements as well as food labelling requirements where applicable. This applies to food businesses that are operated out of commercial premises as well as those operated from domestic premises. A range of enforcement options are available to officers to ensure compliance.

In response to the pandemic and the resulting impact on the inspection regime, FSS & LA’s have worked in partnership to create a Recovery Plan. This adopts a risk based approach to inspections and prioritises the inspection of high risk businesses and unrated new businesses.

FSS has published a new online resource to support new and prospective businesses. The tool is designed to aid food businesses owners understand their responsibilities, including to first and foremost register with their authority.

Anyone with concerns that a business is operating in breach of the requirements is encouraged to report the matter to their Local Authority Environmental Health team.

Following the publication of the Blue Economy Vision for Scotland on 31 March, which outlined six outcomes for Scotland’s marine environment up to 2045, the Scottish Government will publish the subsequent Action Plan in 2022 to meet the current Programme for Government commitment to develop a Blue Economy Strategy and Action Plan.

The Scottish Government is wholly committed to a just transition to net zero and using the energy transition to build a better and more equal society.

Our ten-year £500m Just Transition Fund will accelerate the energy transition of the North East and Moray regions, and will also support the role of Aberdeen and the wider north east as one of Scotland’s centres of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy as we grow Scotland’s offshore wind sector and supply chain – which Scottish Ministers have called on the UK Government multiple times to match.

We have invested £26.3m to support the creation of the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) in Aberdeen. The ETZ will be a place to attract and develop green energy related R&D, innovation, manufacturing, testing, and demonstration, and will help to position Aberdeen as a global hub for offshore wind and other innovative renewables technologies such as the development of green hydrogen projects.

On Monday 28 th February 2022, the First Minister announced that ETZ Ltd have the National Floating Wind Innovation Centre as their anchor tenant. The £9 million centre will be located within the Altens Industrial Estate of the Energy Transition Zone and is being developed to ensure that the North East of Scotland and wider UK capitalise on the massive opportunity created by the Scottish seabed leasing round, Scotwind, which will drive the development and demand for floating offshore wind. ETZ Ltd is providing £4m for the capital costs of the innovation centre and ORE Catapult are contributing £5m to operationally run it. Through the Energy Transition Fund we are providing the full £4m that ETZ are investing. It is due to go out in Financial Year 2022-23.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s £75m Energy Just Transition Fund (ETF) will not only support our energy sector and the North East but will also benefit the wider Scottish energy sector and offshore wind supply chain, working with local businesses to maximise the economic benefits, create and support sustainable jobs and contribute to inclusive economic growth across the country.

Furthermore the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) has been identified by both industry and the Scottish Government as a key vehicle for taking forward the strategic supply chain opportunities that emerge from ScotWind. A key role for SOWEC is the implementation of the recommendations in the Strategic Investment Assessment (SIA), which was commissioned by SOWEC and led by Professor Sir Jim McDonald of Strathclyde University. The primary recommendation focusses on bringing the manufacturing of floating offshore wind platforms to Scotland through creation of a Scottish Floating Offshore Wind Port Cluster, with ports acting in partnership to provide the required infrastructure area and capability needed to attract manufacturers to use Scottish ports and invest in Scotland.

The information requested is not held centrally. We expect all NHS Boards to follow all relevant guidelines in order to avoid unnecessary wastage in medication.

The Scottish Government recognises that inappropriate inhaler technique can lead to medicine wastage and impaired control of a person’s asthma. Review of inhaler technique should form part of a medication review between the individual and their medical professional. This is an important recommendation in the current guide and the planned update to this guidance will continue to reinforce this message. As part of the medication review, the appropriateness of the inhalers should be reviewed, which has been shown to reduce wastage and improved treatment.