Work on finalising the review had been on hold due to other animal welfare priorities arising from the Covid pandemic but this is now almost completed and the report is expected to be published this month.

The Ferries Plan (2013-2022) published in 2012, following a 4-year review, set out the Scottish Government’s strategic approach for the provision and support of ferry services to 2022. It has led to increased frequencies and capacities on numerous routes, reduced fares and introduced new services. The Scottish Government has not specifically assessed the impact of these measures on resilience and intends to produce a progress report on the implementation and outcomes of the Ferries Plan as part of its work on the Islands Connectivity Plan.

The Scottish Government published guidance outlining the action that local authorities and Registered Social Landlords should be taking to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on delivering grant funded affordable housing projects which were contractually awarded prior to the first lockdown in 2020. While the guidance notes that the firm aim of local authority/ Registered Social Landlord engagement with their contractors should be to reach agreement which negates the need for additional funding support, it also sets out the circumstances under which applications for additional grant funding will be considered if a contract cannot be made to work and no other negotiated solution is achievable. We received an application from Cunninghame Housing Association for a project in Dumfries and Galloway in March 2021, this was reviewed in line with our published guidance. Unfortunately there was insufficient evidence supplied to support the application. Further information was received in May but is still insufficient to allow us to complete our appraisal. When all the required information has been received, we will be able to fully assess the application.

The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019 removed the common law defence of “reasonable chastisement” from the law of Scotland on 7 November 2020.

That Act also provides that the Scottish Ministers are to take such steps as they consider appropriate to promote public awareness and understanding about the removal of the defence.

The Scottish Government has taken a variety of steps to achieve this, including:

• Information about the Act on gov.scot Information about the Act on Mygov.scot A dedicated page about the Act on ParentClub
• The publication of a news release
• Social media activity:
• The ParentClub Instagram account - post on the Act
• The ParentClub Facebook account - post on the Act
• Scottish Government education tweet about the Act
• Scottish Government tweet about the Act
• The creation and publication of promotional materials about the Act for parents and carers, and for children and young people
• The publication of an Easy Read factsheet about the Act
• Writing to organisations, including local authorities and health boards, with information about the Act:
• May 2020 letter
• October 2020 letter and framework document
• Arranged for information about the Act to be included in Ready Steady Baby

More generally, the Scottish Government is committed to supporting parents. The Scottish Government has run a marketing campaign which promotes positive parenting. This can be seen on the ParentClub website .

Working with the Implementation Group formed by the Scottish Government to consider work required to implement the Act, we will continue to explore options for raising public awareness and understanding about the removal of the defence.

As the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People set out to Parliament in the previous term, we will introduce the first Scottish Disability Assistance this year. As set out in regulations, we will commence new applications for Child Disability Payment from 26 July 2021 in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross, and the Western Isles. This will be followed by a full national roll-out for new applications from 22 November 2021.

New applications for Adult Disability Payment will follow, with a pilot in spring 2022 and full national roll-out in summer 2022. Child Winter Heating Assistance, the first of our disability benefits, was introduced 2020. We will continue to keep Parliament updated on our plans.

The Scottish Government has taken a range of actions to support the private voluntary independent nursery sector throughout the 1140 hours early learning and childcare expansion programme, including to support the recruitment of highly qualified childcare staff.

Across all college, university and apprenticeship training routes a total of 13,828 individual training programmes have been undertaken since 2016. That includes:

• An additional 3,650 places on HNC level courses and 1,334 degree level courses;
• 2,050 Foundation Apprenticeship starts since 2016; and
• 6,764 Modern Apprenticeship starts since 2016.

We have also invested around £11 million since 2017-18 to increase the volume of practitioners undertaking the BA Childhood Practice manager qualification.

Since 2017, the Scottish Government has delivered a national recruitment campaign to attract new recruits into all parts of the childcare sector, including the private and third sectors. We have provided funding to enable private and third sector childcare providers to advertise posts for free on the Myjobscotland site, alongside local authority vacancies.

The payment of sustainable rates to providers in the private and third sector for the delivery of funded early learning and childcare is a key aspect of Funding Follows the Child. To enable this the current multi-year funding package agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA, which covers the period until the end of the 2021-22 financial year, ensures that these providers receive sustainable rates that are set at a level which enables all childcare workers delivering the funded entitlement to be paid at least the real Living Wage.

In addition, in the past year the Scottish Government has made more than £22 million of dedicated financial support available to private and third sector day care of children services in response to the pandemic.

To ensure we understand the current challenges the sector is experiencing, we will closely analyse the findings on workforce from a Financial Sustainability Health Check survey currently in progress, and engage with the sectoral representative bodies to explore further action which can be taken to grow and maintain a diverse and high quality workforce which meets the needs of children and families.

The Scottish Government has committed to doubling Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week, per child, over the course of this Parliamentary term. We are currently considering the timetable for doing so, taking into account the impact on child poverty and legislative, delivery and financial considerations. An announcement will be made in due course.

We acknowledge how challenging these past 15 months have been for everyone in our society, including our faith and belief communities who have not been able to come together to celebrate important occasions as they normally would.

Ceremonies that take place within places of worship to mark religious life events and that form part of a wider service (including baptisms, christenings and coming-of-age ceremonies) have been permitted in accordance with the guidance on the safe use of places of worship since the resumption of congregational worship in March 2021, and are subject to the guidance on calculating physical distance based capacity .

Marriages, civil partnerships, and funeral services are exceptions to the general restrictions on gatherings in public or at private dwellings in the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) Regulations 2020 at all the protection levels of the updated Strategic Framework, along with receptions and post-funeral gatherings in public places at protection levels 0 to 3. We have also published guidance on these events, including on the numbers who can attend at the different protection levels. Marriages, civil partnerships and funerals are of particular importance to people and society and they are protected under the European Convention on Human Rights. Additionally, funerals are extremely important events with every funeral celebrating and commemorating a life lived and a loved one no longer with us. There are also very practical reasons why funerals cannot be postponed for any significant length of time.

However at this time, there are no specific exceptions for other religious life events, or any associated receptions and celebrations following them, outwith a place of worship. These remain subject to the general restrictions on gatherings, including in public, for example at a hospitality venue.

While the Scottish Government appreciates these would normally be occasions which are shared with families and loved ones, the Covid situation is still serious, and we need to continue to minimise the spread of the virus, balancing the harms from the virus which are potentially fatal, with the impact on faith and belief communities of the restrictions on places of worship.

We will continue to engage with our faith and belief stakeholders and we keep this under constant review as we cautiously progress out of lockdown.

The Scottish Government recognises the additional barriers that Scotland-based touring musicians are likely to face as a result of the UK’s exit from the EU, including the potential need for visas and work permits. We are working closely with the sector to consider urgently what additional support can be provided to musicians and others working in the sector to mitigate these barriers.

The Scottish Government has already provided funding for Arts Infopoint UK, which will provide advice and support to cultural and creative professionals on obtaining visas and other requirements for working in the UK.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly called on the UK Government to negotiate with the EU to seek visa- and work permit-free arrangements for cultural and creative professionals working in EU countries on a short-term basis, for activities including touring. Scottish Ministers are continuing to make the case for such arrangements to be sought in engagements with UK counterparts.

All of our decision making in the approach to responding to Covid-19 is guided by the latest scientific evidence from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) , advice from Health Protection Scotland and our Chief Medical Officer. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provides advice on immunisation to all UK Health Departments, including on the efficacy and safety of vaccines.

Decisions to prioritise one population group over another are not taken lightly, nor are they straightforward. That is why our prioritisation decisions have been, and will continue to be, guided by the independent expert advice from the JCVI.

The JCVI priority groups are based on either vulnerability to Covid-19, or on interacting with (and therefore possibly spreading to) people who are vulnerable to Covid-19.

The JCVI’s recommendation continues to be that an age-based approach is the best way to address the risk of severe illness and mortality.

Calling people forward in age cohorts is operationally very simple and this process has already worked well during the earlier stages of the programme. This approach will be taken by the 4 Nations across the UK and we will continue to vaccinate as quickly as supplies allow.

We are adhering to the priority list devised by the JCVI which has been designed to target those at greatest risk from COVID-19 and is estimated to address over 90% of preventable mortality from the virus in Scotland. This is the priority rollout all nations of the UK are working towards and it is extremely important that we adhere to these lists in order to avoid more lives being lost. It would be a dereliction of our duty to the people of Scotland to deviate from the JCVIs expert advice.