The Scottish Government has provided funding of £22.5m for the five National Performing Companies for 2021-22, and maintained their International Touring Fund of £350,000. The same amount of funding is in the 2022-23 budget.

The breakdown of funding is below:

The Scottish Government is taking action on loss and damage. On the 23rd February, The First Minister and I hosted a roundtable of international leaders and experts, including colleagues from the Global South, on Loss and Damage. The roundtable articulated the common ambitions of non-state actors to further move Loss and Damage to delivery and action.

Officials are synthesising information from the roundtable to plan and sequence further action over 2022 and at COP27, including in partnership with stakeholders from the Global South. Plans will be discussed with Scottish stakeholders and progress reported to Parliament as appropriate. Additionally, officials are currently working with the Climate Justice Resilience Fund to programme a £1m contribution to Loss and Damage as part of the world-leading £2m commitment we made at COP26.

In the last three years the Scottish Government has provided more than £45 M of funding to support the planting of more than 13,200 hectares of native woodland. How much funding was committed, and how many hectares were planted in 2019, 2020 and 2021 is shown in the following table.

Local authorities have the lead role in tackling nuisance caused by urban gulls. Where property is council-owned, local authorities are expected to respond to statutory nuisance complaints, such as where the deposit of bird droppings may have an effect on public health. The responsibility for dealing with nuisance gulls on private property lies with the owner. Local authorities can provide advice and assistance to property owners, and have powers under environmental protection legislation to tackle nuisances.

NatureScot provides advice regarding gull management and licenses gull management actions such as nest removal or lethal control, where necessary, and in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

A UK seabird census is currently being carried out, organised by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The aims of the census include producing estimates of the populations of the different gull species that breed in urban environments. The findings of this research will help inform future actions in dealing with urban gull populations

The Scottish Government recognises, and will continue to champion, onshore wind as a key part of Scotland’s energy mix. Continued growth in onshore wind will be a vital component in meeting our net zero ambitions.

The Onshore Wind Policy Statement consultation was launched on 28 October 2021, which includes our ambition that an additional 8-12 GW of onshore wind be installed by 2030.

The consultation considered key themes such as barriers to deployment, community benefits and shared ownership, circular economy and supply chain opportunities.

The consultation closed on 31 January 2022, and a full policy statement is expected to be published later this year with consultation analysis also to be published in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14655 on 13 March 2018. 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 of March 2022, 7 adverse events relating to the device have been submitted to NHS Scotland's Incident Reporting and Investigation Centre.

This is a reserved policy area. Responsibility for security of supply sits with National Grid ESO (the GB electricity system operator).

The UK government has now included renewables in the Capacity Market to recognise their “measurable contribution” to security of supply. Renewables sites in Scotland have been successful in securing contracts in the latest T-4 and T-1 Capacity Market Auctions.

Renewable capacity in Scotland includes onshore and offshore wind, hydro, solar, marine technologies, bioenergy and waste.

The equivalent of 98.6% of gross electricity consumption in Scotland (around 30 GigaWatt hours, GWh) comes from renewable sources.

I am in the process of making arrangements to meet with members of the Life After Essure UK and Ireland support group.

Once this meeting has taken place the Government will, of course, consider whether any further action is required on our part or by the NHS in Scotland.

Transport Scotland officials engage regularly with CalMac and cover a range of operational topics including staff and crew not only for the Arran Ferry services but the whole of the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services network. I recently met with representatives of CalMac’s senior management team and discussed a range of issues including the Arran service.

The Shared Outcomes Framework is the means by which Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will monitor and report on collaborative projects that contribute to overarching skills outcomes.

The projects in the framework support the skills actions set in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) and the missions of the Future Skills Action Plan, in particular around the alignment of economic demand with current and future provision. The actions outlined in this framework also contribute to delivery of the outcomes in the National Performance Framework and recognise the findings of the SFC’s review of coherence and sustainability in tertiary education and research.

The Framework defines the collaborative projects that are geared towards the strategic intent of supporting enhanced alignment of provision with economic need, resulting in a more agile and responsive system, including a more balanced

portfolio of provision where the evidence supports this being needed.

The Shared Outcomes Framework has been published today and is available here : https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804351789

The Shared Outcomes Framework is a live framework that is published here in its first iteration. It has been agreed with and is supported by the Chief Executives and Chairs of SDS and SFC and will form the basis for regular performance monitoring through the Shared Outcomes Assurance Group and through my regular 6 weekly meetings with the senior leaders of both agencies.

This document will be updated as we develop further measures to track the impact of the projects and will continue to evolve as the projects progress, and to align with the delivery and governance structures for the delivery of the NSET.