A Discussion Paper on the Infrastructure Levy was published in June and comments were invited until 30 September. We are carefully considering the responses received and will use the feedback to inform how to proceed. An update on next steps will be provided shortly.

A child losing a parent to a drug-related death is a tragedy. We understand that children, young people and families affected by substance use must be supported in their own right. Our framework to improve holistic family support sets out principles of how we will improve support for families affected by drugs and alcohol by taking a whole family approach and using family inclusive practice. The framework is supported by investment totalling £6.5 million per year over the life of the Parliament.

In partnership with an expert national working group, we are working with local areas to improve family support and implement family inclusive practice across alcohol and drug services. This, alongside our work to support young people affected by substance use, will support the delivery of The Promise by making significant change in the way services work with families.

Additionally, we are investing nearly £4 million to expand the successful Routes model, run by Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs. Routes supports young people with substance use in their families, by helping them meet their own goals and break inter-generational cycles of addiction. With investment from Scottish Government, Routes will be expanded to Falkirk, Aberdeenshire, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, East Lothian and Orkney.

Funding of over £3.5 million was issued between 2021-2024 to support 12 pilot projects across Scotland to deliver a single point of contact (SPoC) to people diagnosed with cancer. A further £1.5 million during financial year 2024-25 has ensured continuity of this programme of work.

A scalability assessment, commenced in early 2024 and led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, will consider how we best support the design and delivery of SPoC services for the future to ensure that all patients with cancer in Scotland benefit from the approach. Each project is actively evaluating their local impact to support this work.

Of the 12 Single Point of Contact (SPoC) pilot projects, 4 fully include a service for haemato-oncology patients in NHS Borders, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Highland and NHS Western Isles.

Further to this, NHS Grampian and NHS Fife SPoC projects have a navigation team to support patients from point of cancer referral to diagnosis and is able to support those with blood cancer.

Non-domestic rates are administered by local authorities in accordance with the relevant legislation. Under that statutory framework, the award of discretionary reliefs is a matter for individual local authorities. In line with the recommendation from the independent Barclay Review of Non-Domestic Rates to remind councils of the arrangements for reliefs and to provide better public information on reliefs and the legislative framework, the Scottish Government publishes an annual Local Government Finance Circular providing information for each non-domestic rates relief, including discretionary reliefs like Hardship Relief or the discretionary element of Rural Relief.

The Scottish Government has not assessed the specific impact of a non-domestic rates public health supplement on support for new or renewal ballots for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and there are currently no plans to do so. However, the Scottish Government continues to engage with a broad range of stakeholders to understand the impact of Non-Domestic Rates policies and would welcome any contributions from Improvement Districts.

Given the extremely challenging financial position all Health capital projects not already in construction are paused.

This pause is subject to a cross-Government review of capital projects. All due consideration will be given to which projects can be included within our revised infrastructure plan to ensure it is affordable and deliverable.

I refer the member to the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 which sets out the Scottish Government’s plans to help reduce carbon emissions from clinical waste in NHS Scotland. This publication is available at: .NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy: 2022-2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Specifically, the strategy sets out that each Health Board should set appropriate targets for reducing the volume of clinical waste it produces through measures including; greater use of reusable items, improvements to waste segregation and increased recycling of recyclable materials. The Scottish Government will review the need for a national target for clinical waste reduction.

In addition, the strategy requires that Health Board waste management officers ensure that arrangements are in place for the safe treatment and disposal of all waste streams. It is the responsibility of Health Boards to manage the NHS clinical waste contract while NHS National Services Scotland’s National Procurement and Logistics Service manages the NHS’s relationship with the clinical waste contractor.

The Scottish Government supports Health Boards with their net zero commitments and monitors progress towards these targets. This information is published through the Annual NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Report - Annual NHS Scotland Climate Emergency & Sustainability Report 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Work on the review of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 has not yet concluded but is at a final stage. Three Findings Reports will be published in December 2024 which will include details of engagement.

Scottish Forestry is reviewing its approach to assessing Forestry Grant Scheme applications for grey squirrel control. This has been necessary because the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrel project is no longer able to provide assistance with the assessment of grant applications. This process will be concluded shortly and we hope to be able to continue the processing of grant applications. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the FGS grey squirrel control grant has been undertaken will be shared as part of an overall FGS evaluation report when finalised.