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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government has engaged with a range of race equality organisations and specifically convened the Expert Reference Group on Covid-19 and Ethnicity. Issues in relation to spoken language interpreters have not been raised as a significant issue within these discussions. However, it is for individual public bodies to arrange the provision of spoken language interpreters and as such this information is not held centrally.

We welcome this decision by the UK Government as a result of the recent judicial review. We will make similar changes to the eligibility criteria for Best Start Foods as soon as it is practicable to do so.

The Scottish Government is aware of the vast challenges in attempting to ensure pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy is offered to every patient at the point of diagnosis.

Pancreatic cancer patients can present as asymptomatic despite pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, while patients can also be diagnosed through many different pathways.

This can result in clinicians not always having the specialist knowledge and experience to know about the importance of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy.

The Scottish Governments National Cancer Recovery Plan will help address this knowledge gap by working to review Cancer Clinical Management Guidelines in liaison with relevant parties.

Under the National Cancer Recovery Plan, we have funded the Scottish HepatoPancreatoBiliary Cancer Network (SHPBN) which is reviewing guidelines to address this issue.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The data is collected by individual NHS Health Boards and would require permissions from each to be obtained in order to conduct appropriate data linkage analysis by Public Health Scotland.

There are some circumstances where there are legitimate reasons for not prescribing pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, such as palliative patients or due to patient’s cultural preference. However, we understand more can be done around education and monitoring to ensure our clinicians are aware of the treatment.

As part of The Scottish Governments National Cancer Recovery Plan , published in December 2020, funding has been made available to ensure equitable access to treatments across the whole of Scotland.

This includes our funded work being led by The Scottish HepatoPancreatoBiliary Network which will be directly addressing guidance on the use of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy.

The Scottish Government has been working with a range of sectors and specialist organisations to develop guidance on enhancing ventilation within enclosed spaces.

This guidance includes a range of practical solutions to enhance air flow and can be achieved by straightforward solutions, such as the opening of windows or vents. This seeks to provide cost effective solutions to overcome poorer ventilation, and support employers to consider options to reduce the risk of transmitting airborne viruses for staff and customers.

As we progress through the pandemic, we will of course keep under consideration whether this guidance needs to be supported by discreet funding for such projects.

The Scottish Government has a number of loan schemes open to those interested in RHI which will continue to be available when the RHI ends in 2022.

They include: The Renewables Loan which supports the installation of renewables measures in Scottish domestic properties. Households can fund up to two renewables systems for each home, to a maximum of £17,500 in total and up to £6,000 funding for an energy storage system.

To help first time adopters over the first hurdle to renewables, we also have developed an additional incentive, the Renewable Heat Cashback Scheme, which can offer up to 75% (to a maximum of £7,500) cashback funding.

For commercial properties, we have the SME Loan and cashback scheme. The loan scheme provides unsecured, interest free loans of up to £100,000 to Scottish Small to Medium size enterprises, not-for-profit organisations and charities to finance the installation of renewable heating and energy efficiency measures. Since the inception of the SME loan scheme, it has paid over £29 million in loans, funding more than 1000 projects.

In October 2008, the cashback scheme was launched to stimulate uptake of the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Heat measures in non-domestic properties. SMEs can apply for a 75% cashback grant of up to £10,000 towards the cost of a renewables heating system and a further 30% cashback of up to £10,000 for energy efficiency measures.

Data on Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) accreditations broken down by local authority is routinely published by The Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS): .

Data is published on a monthly basis with supplementary statistical information published on a quarterly basis.Data is available via this link back to June 2019, and earlier data is available from BEIS on request.

We are working closely with Local Authorities, the Health and Safety Executive and Police Scotland to ensure we are taking a joined up approach to enforcement of regulations and wider workplace health measures. We have committed to £2.9m in funding to support Covid related work carried out by Local Authority Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers to year end 2021-22. We continue to engage with the Local Authorities to understand how this funding is being used to ensure they have the capacity to support businesses including hospitality to comply with the regulations and guidance. Local authorities are responsible for prioritising enforcement work within their area, and they are doing so using a risk based and 4 Es approach (Engage, Explain, Encourage and Enforce).

The Scottish Government has engaged with a range of sectors, including catering and hospitality representatives, promoting the benefits of effective ventilation to reduce the risk of transmission within enclosed spaces. I would encourage all sectors to review the guidance we produced on ventilation, as this contains useful information and assets which could easily be incorporated within training courses.

The guidance can be found at:

We continue to engage with sectors and review this guidance as new evidence emerges regarding how these systems can prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne viruses.