The Scottish Government welcomed Alzheimer Scotland’s Fair Dementia Care Report and began consideration of the report’s call for a definition of advanced dementia care, free at the point of delivery, prior to the onset of the pandemic.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport announced in Parliament on 16 February that the Scottish Government supports the recommendations of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care and, subject to the outcome of the election, would support the creation of a National Care Service which will ensure there is national accountability for the delivery of social care. As an initial response to the Independent Review recommendations there is an increase in rates of allowances for free personal and nursing care by 7.5% from 1 April. This was welcomed by Alzheimer Scotland as a first step in meeting the aims Fair Dementia Care.

In addition, learning from the pandemic, we are taking forward new work on clinical models of care in care homes and the report’s recommendations on improving the quality of care for people with advanced care needs will also be considered as part of that work.

We also continue to fund national dementia workforce development and service improvement programmes to support the delivery of high quality dementia care. We will also take forward work with Health Boards and others to explore how we might expand the focus on the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Nurse Consultants – part funded by the Scottish Government, Health Boards and Alzheimer Scotland – to include additional strategic work with the care home sector.

The Scottish Government’s Dementia and COVID-19 Action Plan was published in December, to build on, continue and expand national action on supporting people with dementia, their families and carers in response to the pandemic.

I met with the UK Government’s Minister for Crime Reduction and Policing on 11 February 2021, and the Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care on 24 February 2021.

During the meetings I highlighted the specific challenges we face in tackling the public health emergency we are experiencing in relation to drug deaths, and outlined the range of work we are already taking forward to tackle this complex issue.

I also raised specific issues where UK Government action is required to support the approaches we wish to take, including the introduction of overdose prevention facilities; the introduction of drug checking facilities; regulation of the sale of pill press machines that are used to mass produce street benzodiazepines; and amending existing naloxone regulations that will help further increase the availability of this life saving drug.

We are focused on delivering the maximum support for the economic recovery of our town centres.

Grants of up to £7,500 for retailers and up to £19,500 for hospitality and leisure businesses will be paid in April to help businesses, including town centre businesses, re-open progressively. These one-off re-start grants will replace ongoing Strategic Framework Business Fund payments and will provide more money up front to help with the costs of re-opening.

We have extended 100% Non-Domestic Rates relief for all retail, leisure and hospitality premises for all of 2021-22 – this is more generous than the equivalent rates reliefs available in other UK nations.

To support sustained longer-term renewal for our towns, cities and villages, we are establishing a Place Based Investment Programme backed by £325 million capital investment over 5 years from 2021-22. The Programme aims to link and align all place based funding initiatives and progress our ambitions for community-led regeneration, town centres and 20 minute neighbourhoods. It will build on the additional £34 million economic stimulus for regeneration and towns and other funding provided specifically for town centres, smaller settlements and Business Improvement Districts in the current financial year.

The current regulations limit the entry of other people into homes for the purpose of the upkeep, maintenance or functioning of the house to where the work is essential for that purpose in level 4. These restrictions have been put in place to limit the transmission of the virus.

The Scottish Government has reviewed the Strategic Framework. As part of this, we have indicated the steps required for the easing of restrictions. As set out in the First Minister’s statement on 16 March, we expect the restrictions on working in other people’s homes to be relaxed on 26 April. The updated Strategic Framework sets out the conditions on easing, including meeting the WHO’s six conditions and all JCVI Priority Groups 1-9 having been offered the vaccine.

Building on over £1.85 million direct funding to BIDs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will provide more than £600,000 funding to Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in 2021-22 to support economic recovery. This will support BIDs to manage continued risks caused by the effect of the pandemic, in particular those due to re-ballot during or after March 2021.

Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP),the Scottish Government’s BIDs support partner, is working closely with Hamilton Our Town BID to ensure the BID is aware of and benefitting from all available support. The BID has received over £46,000 in direct funding from the Scottish Government during the pandemic. STP will continue to work with the BID and South Lanarkshire Council through recovery to ensure the BID can actively support progress across its levy members and wider community.

The National Transition Training Fund was introduced to address and mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 on the labour market, with projections that around 115,000 people in Scotland could be at risk of long term unemployment as a result of the pandemic.

The extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) beyond October 2020 has meant that the worst impacts of the pandemic on unemployment have not yet been realised. Uptake of the current offer has therefore been less than expected.

To date, based on available data, over 3000 individuals have received training through the programme across a range of sectors including Tourism and Hospitality, Rural, Creative Industries, and Aerospace.

Delivery of the college and university projects supported by the Fund will continue to the end of the academic year and final delivery figures for 2020-21 will be published when all provision is complete.

Ongoing support for the National Transition Training Fund was announced as part of the 21-22 Scottish Budget.

The update on the funding for Autism Network Scotland is that I met with Richard Ibbotson on 18 March 2021, to set out the reasons for the withdrawal of funding and to allow him an opportunity to convey his views directly to me. I explained the decision and that I had considered this carefully but concluded that my decision remained.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the lives of autistic people in Scotland.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes statistics and management information relating to its Covid-19 business grants on its website. The latest publication that includes details of the Strategic Framework Business Fund was published on 10 March 2021.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes statistics and management information relating to its Covid-19 business grants on its website. The latest publication that includes details of the Strategic Framework Business Fund was published on 10 March 2021.

The Scottish Government recognises the role played by the Commissioner and their role as the guardian of children’s rights in Scotland. The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body sets the terms of the Commissioner’s appointment, including the allocation of resources. The Commissioner is required to report to Parliament each year on the exercise of his functions.

With regard to the creation of a Commissioner for Older People, the Scottish Government’s position has not changed and is set out in response to S5W-32242 on 22 Oc tober 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .