The Scottish Government launched a public consultation on 29 June 2022, seeking views on what a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Scotland should look like. The consultation included a section on the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce.

As part of our stakeholder engagement programme, we held five virtual engagement events over August and September 2022. These events were open to anyone with an interest in helping to shape the new Strategy and Workforce Action Plan. Participants included those with lived experience as well as representatives from organisations including the NHS, local government, mental health charities and equality advocacy groups.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Advisory Group, which first met on 25 July 2022 and includes a wide range of key stakeholders, have been actively involved in the development of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan. This includes representatives from NHS boards, public bodies, local government, social work, third sector organisations, trade unions and professional bodies such as the Royal Colleges of Psychiatrists and Nursing.

Engagement with key stakeholders, including with the Advisory Group, is ongoing over the summer to support the finalising of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan.

Funding for the teachers’ pay deal is made through the Teacher Training budget line within the Workforce and Infrastructure level 3. In 2022-23 £33 million additional funding was paid from this line. The remaining £83 million of funding for the deal was included within the final local government settlement. In 23-24 the Scottish Government is providing £205m towards the cost of the pay deal.

As referred to in the answers to S6F-02135 on 18 May 2023 and S6W-15158 on 13 March 2023, Scottish Water has now identified the priority locations for 1,000 spill monitors. Installation is programmed between summer 2023 and the end of 2024.

The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the Official Report can be viewed at: Meeting of the Parliament: 18/05/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

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

Local application processes for the 2023-24 funding have not yet commenced.

National Fund Guidance and grant letters to Third Sector Interfaces (TSIs) will be issued by the end of June and will provide a date by which local application processes need to have commenced.

As set out in my reply to S6W-17501 on 12 May 2023, the timing of local fund processes, including award decisions, will vary across the country, with each TSI led partnership agreeing their own process and timetable.

Information on how to apply for this year’s funding will be shared, in due course, on the TSI Scotland website . All TSIs will be required to have distributed funding by 31 March 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

Operational decisions on pay and staffing matters are for college employers and trade unions to negotiate collaboratively, in the spirit of national bargaining. Ministers have no direct role in these decisions.

I expect management and trade unions to make every effort to reach a settlement that is fair and affordable, and without the need for further industrial action.

The Scottish Government has been engaging with stakeholders across the country from industry, academia and the public sector to develop a National Innovation Strategy for Scotland, which will set out a roadmap to transform Scotland's economy over the next decade by placing innovation at the heart of our economic growth and societal prosperity and wellbeing. The Scottish Government intends to publish its National Innovation Strategy this month.

The following table provides a breakdown of homes delivered in rural (mainland) and island areas through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund since 2016-17.

Data on the possession of a National Entitlement Card by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation quintiles comes from the Scottish Household Survey, which asks questions regarding concessionary bus travel on alternate years.

The Scottish Household Survey 2021 was published in April 2023 but covers the year prior to the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme coming into force in January 2022.

Work is now underway on the one year evaluation of the Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme. The evaluation will include questions looking at barriers to bus travel and to accessing, or using, the scheme. It will collect information from children, young people and parents (both users and non-users of the scheme) about their experiences. The evaluation study will also draw on scheme cardholder data on young people in various data zones, according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-15158 on 13 March 2023. 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

As indicated in Scottish Water’s first annual update to its Improving Urban Waters Routemap, spill data has been published at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/document-hub/key-publications/urban-waters-improvements .

I refer the member to the answer to S6O-02060 on 23 March 2023 for further information on measures taken to improve Scotland’s water environment.

The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the official report can be viewed at Meeting of the Parliament: 23/03/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website