The responsibility for development and delivery of flood protection schemes rests with individual local authorities, who are best placed to respond to local resilience needs.

The first set of Flood Risk Management plans covering the period 2015-2021 included 42 prioritised flood protection schemes. Work was expected to start, but construction was not necessarily expected to be completed, on those schemes within this six-year timeframe.

Flood protection schemes have impacts on individuals, communities and the environment, and require careful and thorough planning. Like all infrastructure projects, it can take many years for flood schemes to progress from option appraisal to completion.

The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities to enable delivery of these important projects. £570million will be invested in flood resilience in the period 2016-2026.

40 of 42 have received funding to support development. 2 were not deemed eligible because they had previously received funding.

16 schemes are complete. The detailed status of those that remain is as follows:

4 are under construction.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults is distributed in all 32 regions of Scotland by Third Sector Interface (TSI) organisations who allocate funding in line with the National Fund Guidance.

TSIs are required to submit monitoring and reporting data annually, including information on the number and value of awards granted, types of organisations funded, key priorities and target groups reached, aims of funded projects and overall spend including any underspend.

This data informs the content of the Reporting and Monitoring Summary which is published for each year of the Fund.

The published reports can be found here. Wellbeing and prevention - Mental health - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

From Year 2 of the Fund (2022-23) Scottish Government has also requested that TSIs collect standard evaluation data from organisations to demonstrate the impact of the Fund on their specific projects. This includes information on: what the project expected to do compared to what they did; the activities and level of participants; and the outcomes and challenges/changes of the project.

An external evaluation of Year 1 of the Fund was commissioned by the Scottish Government. The findings were published in July 2023 and can be found here:

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The Scottish Government has published the following reports relating to the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults.

Year 1 (2021-2022)

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund: year 1 - monitoring and reporting summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

External Evaluation of Year 1

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: evaluation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Year 2 (2022 -2023)

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults: year 2 - monitoring and reporting summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Year 3 (2023-2024)

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults - year 3: monitoring and reporting summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Year 4 of the Fund opened for applications on 30 September 2024. As with previous years, data in respect of Year 4 will be published when it is available.

In addition, we are currently working with Third Sector Interface organisations to gather information on the impact of the Fund and we intend to make key findings available in due course.

In relation to the children and young people’s community mental health and wellbeing supports and services funded by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Youth Parliament conducted an independent evaluation which was published in August 2023 and is available at https://syp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Independent-Evaluation-of-Community-Mental-Health-Supports-and-Services-April-2023.pdf.

Local authorities also report annually on data including numbers of people accessing support, age and gender of service users, reasons for presenting at the services, and numbers of people reporting an improved outcome. Summaries of this information are published retrospectively by the Scottish Government at https://www.gov.scot/publications/access-to-counsellors-in-secondary-schools-and-children-and-young-peoples-community-mental-health-services-summary-reports/.

The £15 million per annum funding for Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services is provided by grants from the Scottish Government to all 32 local authorities. The funding allocations are calculated and distributed based on the number of children and young people in each local authority area, with appropriate adjustments made to take account of the deprivation level and rurality of each area.

Local authorities administer the funding at a local level and determine which supports and services to implement on the basis of locally-identified need and in line with the Children and Young People’s Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Supports and Services Framework.

Local authorities are required to provide the Scottish Government with annual profiles of expenditure and statements of compliance at the end of the financial year, and must keep the Scottish Government informed of any changes to estimated expenditure each year.

Local authorities also report annually on data including numbers of people accessing support, age and gender of service users, reasons for presenting at the services, and numbers of people reporting an improved outcome. Summaries of this information are published retrospectively by the Scottish Government at https://www.gov.scot/publications/access-to-counsellors-in-secondary-schools-and-children-and-young-peoples-community-mental-health-services-summary-reports/.

As part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to reduce waiting times, significant activity is already underway following an additional £30 million investment to target backlogs, announced in the spring1.

This will see around 12,000 new outpatient appointments, around 12,000 inpatient procedures and over 40,000 diagnostic procedures delivered2. A breakdown of the committed funding at both Specialty & Health Board levels are shown in the tables. The final allocations will be made to respective NHS boards following delivery of the activity.

We will continue to work with all NHS boards to maximise current resources and productivity. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29287 on 12 September 2024. 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.

National public health marketing campaigns which have run since the end* of the COVID-19 pandemic are as follows:

Financial Year 2023-24

Paid-for media public health campaigns

• Detect Cancer Early
• Dentistry Reform
• Mental Health
• Organ Donation
• Right Care Right Place
• Vaping
• Winter Vaccines
• Low cost/no cost public health campaigns
• Women and Girls in Sport Week
• Lyme Disease
• Smoking Cessation

Campaigns funded by Scottish Government, working in partnership with executive agencies or other public sector organisations

• Childhood flu - Public Health Scotland
• Sperm and Egg - NHS Grampian

Public health campaigns which have run so far in financial year 2024-25 are as follows:

Paid-for-media public health campaigns

• Dementia Stigma
• Detect Cancer Early
• Organ Donation Week

* The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency of public concern on 5 May 2023. For the purposes of answering this question, we have used this definition as a guide to defining the 'end' of the pandemic.

Financial support is available for the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems through the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, which provides support for the retrofit of Registered Social Landlords' existing housing stock, and targeted support is also available through our Warmer Homes Scotland and Area Based schemes.

It is for local planning authorities to implement relevant planning legislation, policies and guidance as they deem appropriate and to ensure that the provisions of the planning system are applied properly within their areas. General guidance on the processing and determination of planning applications is available in Planning Circular 3: Development Management Procedures.

In line with long-established planning legislation, planning applications are determined in accordance with the development plan unless material planning considerations justify a departure from the plan. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) forms part of the development plan, alongside the local development plan for each area.

NPF4 signals the key priorities for ‘where’ and ‘what’ development should take place and is combined with national planning policy on ‘how’ development planning should manage change. It places climate and nature at the centre of our planning system. NPF4 Policy 11 provides support in principle for all forms of renewable, low-carbon and zero emission technologies including small-scale renewable energy generation proposals. However, it also confirms that potential impacts on communities and individual dwellings, the environment and other receptors are important considerations in the decision-making process.

In some instances, solar panels and wind turbines can be installed on domestic properties under permitted development rights without the need for a planning application. Guidance on this is contained in Section 6 of Planning Circular 1/2024: Householder Permitted Development Rights.