The next Climate Change Plan must include proposals and policies for the following sectors:

• energy supply,
• transport (including international aviation and shipping),
• business and industrial process,
• residential and public (in relation to buildings in those sectors),
• waste management,
• land use, land use change and forestry, and
• agriculture.

We are considering other policies, proposals and actions that could be included in the Plan that are not included in the inventory, such as marine carbon.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of higher education and this is why we have protected free tuition for Scottish-domiciled students.

International students and those from other parts of the UK are not eligible to access the funded places which have been protected for eligible Scottish domiciled students.

We remain absolutely committed to the principle that access to education should be based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay. By 2030, we want 20% of students entering university to be from Scotland's 20% most deprived backgrounds. HESA figures show we have a record high 16.7% of full-time first degree entrants to university coming from the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland in 2020-21, exceeding the interim target of 16% by 2021.

There are also record numbers of young people securing places in the current UCAS cycle. The number of 18-year-old Scots that have secured a university place (as of 15 September 2022) is up 20% since 2019, the last year there were exams. Overall, Scottish domiciled acceptances through UCAS to Scottish providers is up 5% since 2019.

Reduced prevalence and hospitalisation rates has resulted in an easing of the previous infection and prevention control measures which has contributed, in turn, to a reduction in expenditure levels.

There are no plans to reduce COVID-19 testing in health and social care settings as a result of the Emergency Budget Review. In line with the Test and Protect transition plan, testing remains in place to support patient treatment and care, protect those in highest risk settings, monitor prevalence and the risk of new variants, and respond to outbreaks. Testing policy and protocols are kept under regular clinical review.

Similarly, PPE provision continues to be informed by infection prevention and control guidance. NHS NSS currently hold sufficient pandemic PPE stock to supply NHS Scotland well into 2023-24 based on current usage rates. Social Care PPE provision continues to be available in case of emergency PPE being required and for unpaid carers and personal assistants.

We recently completed our second consultation on the New Build Heat Standard , which sets out our proposals for regulating direct emissions heating systems within new buildings, applying for a building warrant, from 1 April 2024.

An independent analysis of the responses received to the consultation is now underway, and this will inform the development of regulations prior to their laying in Parliament in Spring 2023.

Further to the answer to question S6W-11628, answered on 7 November 2022, I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-11493 on 26 October 2022, and S6T-00915 on 25 October 2022. The administration process is still ongoing, but I would like to assure the member that the Scottish Government is continuing to engage with key partners in relation to this matter, including Creative Scotland.

The answer to Topical Question S6T-00915 can be found here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-25-10-2022?meeting=13939&iob=126317#16180

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

This information is not currently available centrally.

However a Data Strategy for Health and Social Care is due to be published in early 2023, which will set the strategic direction on the improvement of data collection and use for the health and social care sector, including by local authorities.

Whilst we await publication of this strategy, Public Health Scotland will be making available, for the first time, data on those awaiting assessments or packages of care, and hours of care yet to be provided. This information will be available on their website from 23 November 2022.

Responsibility for invasive non-native plants rests with landowners and occupiers. Under common law, there is an expectation that land owners should take reasonable steps to prevent invasive non-native plants growing on their land from causing a nuisance or injury to others. However, it is not a criminal offence for an owner or occupier to have invasive non-native plants growing on their land.

NatureScot can make species control agreements (SCA) and species control orders (SCO) to require control of invasive non-native species. This discretionary power is aimed primarily at preventing high impact invasive non-native species becoming established in and spreading within Scotland. For species that are already widespread, such as giant hogweed, NatureScot can offer species control agreements to support coordinated control programmes, where inaction on a particular land holding is jeopardising the success of the programme.

It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to fail to comply with an SCO.

The “ Families Affected by Drug and Alcohol Use in Scotland : A framework for holistic whole family approaches and family inclusive practice ” published in December 2021, sets out principles of how we will improve holistic support for families affected by substance use.

We want to ensure we are providing the right kind of support to enable families to thrive. Investing Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, which aims to deliver transformational change to improve holistic whole family support, with £32m already allocated to local authorities this year.

Since 2021-22, we have provided Alcohol and Drug Partnerships with an additional £3.5 million per year until the end of the National Drugs Mission, to support their implementation of this framework, which includes allocating funding to local family support services.

Our National Drugs Mission, provides £3 million each year, administered by Corra, through the Children and Families element for family support each year to front-line and third-sector organisations. This fund is intended to help these organisations to sustain, stabilise or increase capacity, extend or improve services and/or meet identified gaps in service provision.

We are providing funding of nearly £9 million over the course of the National Mission to Phoenix Futures Family Service, which is a family rehabilitation service offering a unique programme of interventions to benefit each family member and the family unit as a whole. As well as this, more than £5.5 million has been committed over this parliamentary term to support the establishment of two houses at Aberlour, specifically designed to support women and their children through recovery.

We also fund Scottish Families Affected by Drugs (SFAD), £160,000 per year, for family support services. This includes a national bereavement support service andhelpline. We have also allocated a one-off payment of £2,820 to SFAD for information booklets to support families who have lost a loved one to a drug or alcohol related death.

Additionally, we allocate £30,000 per annum for our Family Recovery Initiative Fund (FRIF). This is administered through SFAD and offers one-off grants of up to £5,000 to groups that support families affected by alcohol and drugs in Scotland.

In 2021-22, we funded £550,000 for the Partnership Drugs Initiative (PDI), which is managed and match-funded by the Corra Foundation. The PDI provides funding to locally based projects and charities working with children and young people affected by substance issues, and produces insights for policy and practice .

There are a range of funding sources available to land managers to control invasive non-native species. These include the Agri-environment and Climate Scheme (AECS) and the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) under the Scottish Rural Development Programme. To date, more than £3.6m of FGS funding over the past eight years has been committed for rhododendron control projects.

There are also a number of projects that are tackling invasive plants and animals across Scotland, such as the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative and the Tweed Invasives project set up by the Tweed Forum.

In September 2021, at COP26, Scottish Ministers announced that the Nature Restoration Fund would provide £65 million for projects that benefit nature to be funded through this Parliamentary session. Habitat and species restoration which include the eradication of invasive non-native species are among the types of projects that can apply for grants funding, including for projects lasting up to three years.