In August 2021, funding of £10m was made available to local authorities in relation to improving ventilation in schools, and this was claimed in full.

Additionally, in January 2022, funding of up to £4.8m was made available to local authorities. Of that funding, £3.8m was claimed.

Therefore, in total, £13.8m has been allocated to local authorities in relation to improving ventilation in schools.

I am pleased to confirm the publication today of the Scottish Government’s fourth thematic report on implementation progress following Dame Elish Angiolini’s Final Report. This not only includes a narrative, context and additional information about key recommendations but, importantly, also has a tracker showing what progress has been made.

This shows that 55 of the non-legislative recommendations are now complete leaving only 16 non-legislative recommendations still in progress and one to be kept under review.

Through their leadership and commitment, policing partners have delivered major business transformation and service redesign to improve how complaints are handled, bringing greater transparency, fairness and accessibility to systems, policies and processes.

Building on this and as announced in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government will introduce a Police Complaints and Misconduct Handling Bill in this Parliamentary year to further strengthen public confidence in policing in Scotland.

I commend Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland for their dedication to this important work.

The report can be accessed here: http://www.gov.scot/ISBN/9781805252610

As recommended by the Auditor General, National Records of Scotland will, as planned, continue to reflect on all relevant lessons learned from the census programme. Upon conclusion of the census programme, an over-arching General Report will be laid before Parliament in 2024.

Recommended actions from the Review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland which have already been completed include publication last year of the James Hutton Institute report on the impacts on human health and the environment arising from the spreading of sewage sludge to land, and implementation of the remedial actions that were recommended to be taken by Scottish Water.

The legislative changes recommended by the review are being implemented via the forthcoming Integrated Authorisation Framework regulations. A consultation on proposed regulations is due to be published in 2023 and stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the proposals relating to sewage sludge.

The Scottish Government intends to lay an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument in January 2023 that will seek to amend The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022. Subject to the approval of the Scottish Parliament, this amendment will extend the deadline by which existing hosts must apply for a short-term let licence from 1 April 2023 to 1 October 2023.

This is a one-off 6 month extension recognising the wider economic circumstances of the cost of living crisis that is placing pressure on existing short-term let hosts and businesses. It will not unduly delay our primary aim of ensuring that all short-term lets across Scotland meet consistent safety standards and are provided by fit and proper people.

The legislative changes recommended by the completed Review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland are being implemented via the forthcoming Integrated Authorisation Framework (IAF) regulations.

The proposed changes are designed to strengthen SEPA powers to ensure effective management practices are implemented and followed by operators within the industry.

A consultation on the proposed IAF regulations is due to be published early next year and stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the proposals relating to sewage sludge.

The members of the Hill, Upland and Crofting Group were selected on the basis of their experience of their sectors, reflecting as far as possible geographic spread including practical farming experience and academic expertise. The Group had 22 members of which six (27%) were from island communities.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of day services to both those who use them and to their families and carers and has been working closely with local areas to ensure that services are delivered safely. Revised guidance for buildings-based day services was published on 26 May 2022 and 28 September 2022. The guidance says that such services should return to pre-pandemic capacity wherever possible, while operating safely in line with COVID-19 guidance.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) was commissioned to gather and provide insights into different approaches to the redesign of learning disability day services, recognising the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created for service users, their families and service providers. A range of methods have been used to progress this programme of work including national learning sessions, connections sessions and focus groups. As a result, services have collaborated with people who use services, families, carers and disabled people's organisations to develop new community-based approaches to day service provision. Information on the work currently being undertaken can be found on the ihub website at: New Models for Learning Disability Day Support Collaborative | Healthcare Improvement Scotland - New Models for Learning Disability Day Support Collaborative (ihub.scot)

This programme of work concludes at the end of March 2023 and a final report will be published on the ihub website.

As stated in the list of Scottish Government forthcoming official statistics published at Official statistics: forthcoming publications - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , the planned publication month for the next Housing Statistics for Scotland quarterly update was moved from the month of December 2022 to January 2023 due to team capacity and to allow further time to process the data.

The housing statistics team that produces the quarterly publication have been involved in a range of other work over recent weeks, including the Housing and Regeneration Outcomes Framework Indicator Updates published on 22 November 2022, the latest Private Sector Rent Statistics Scotland 2010 to 2022 published on 29 November 2022, as well as providing resource to support work on the emergency legislation Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) Scotland Act. This has impacted on the capacity of the team to be able to prepare and publish the housing statistics quarterly update in December, which is planned for release in January 2023.

The legislative changes recommended by the completed Review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland (‘The Sludge Review’), are being implemented via the forthcoming Integrated Authorisation Framework (IAF) regulations.

Progress on developing the planned IAF regulations was delayed due to Covid-19 and other priority work such as Brexit. This work has now been reprioritised and has recommenced. A consultation on proposed IAF regulations is due to be published early next year and stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the proposals relating to sewage sludge.

Other recommended actions from the Review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland which have already been completed include publication last year of the James Hutton Institute report on the impacts on human health and the environment arising from the spreading of sewage sludge to land, and implementation of the remedial actions that were recommended to be taken by Scottish Water.