The Scottish Government is engaging with Screen Scotland to explore all avenues for supporting the future of Screen Machine. I am also meeting with Regional Screen Scotland, who operate the Machine, on 5 October, so I can hear directly about the Machine and the support it needs to continue.

We recognise the value of cinema to communities as an important cultural asset, and we particularly understand the role Screen Machine plays in bringing cinema to communities for whom such access is limited.

We welcome the funding provided by Screen Scotland earlier this year, which allowed Screen Machine to lease a temporary replacement cinema until April 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21342 on 27 September 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

Health and Social Care Partnerships submit monthly reports to Public Health Scotland on the number of people waiting for packages of care. The last published submission on the 21st August showed that 294 people were waiting for a care at home package in the community and 65 people were waiting for a care at home package from hospital on the 7 th of August in Dumfries and Galloway. 84 people were waiting for a social care support assessment from the community and no one was waiting for a social care support assessment from hospital on the 7th August in Dumfries and Galloway.

These figures represent a snapshot and will vary on a daily basis as individuals are added to lists at point of assessment and are subsequently assigned care packages.

The Scottish Government knows that the sector faces challenges and is committed to working with all partners to improve social care support services and to delivering a National Care Service to provide high quality care across the country.

We have been engaging with NHS Grampian on these issues. The Scottish Government facilitated a visit involving Royal College of Emergency Medicine to NHS Grampian on 12 June this year to meet with staff and offer support. The visiting team subsequently made a number of recommendations that will support improvements. We will work closely with the board to support implementation.

We continue to work with NHS Grampian on delivery of their improvement plan, which contains a range of initiatives to support reduced waiting times. The Board have demonstrated progress against their improvement aims including increasing staffing levels to better manage the A&E footprint, increasing hospital at home capacity and reducing ambulance conveyance by strengthening alternative services which focus on A&E prevention.

27 of the 33 recommendations of the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group have been delivered. The LGBT Inclusive Education Implementation Group is continuing to work on the outstanding recommendations, with further delivery expected by the end of the current academic year.

A public consultation on the revised statutory guidance for relationships, sexual health and parenthood education was published on 3 August 2023 and closes on 23 November 2023. The consultation can be access through the Scottish Government's consultation portal at https://consult.gov.scot/learning-directorate/teaching-guidance-for-relationships-sexual-health . The guidance published in 2014 remains in force until the revised guidance is finalised and formally published.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21303 on 27 September 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

SFRS carried out a thorough assessment of all its buildings in 2019 and identified reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in 14 fire stations. These are: Crewe Toll (Edinburgh), Cumbernauld, Dalkeith, Galashiels, Hawick, Helensburgh, Huntly, Liberton (Edinburgh), Livingston, Marionville (Edinburgh), Milngavie, Portree, Stewarton and Tranent.

Where the presence of RAAC is confirmed in a public building, we expect the owner to take appropriate measures to assess and manage any risk identified in line with the guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers. Mitigating measures are in place at all 14 fire stations.

A current list of Special Advisers and their responsibilities can be found on the Scottish Government website .

The current financial year ends on 31 March 2024. As such it is not possible to provide the total cost of Special Advisers in the current financial year. Information on the total cost for 2023-24 will be published when it is available, in line with the provisions of the Scottish Ministerial Code.

The following table provides an overview of P1 learners who have undertaken (a) one or (b) both parts of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments since 20 September 2018, broken down by (i) school year and (ii) local authority.

The row "n/a" denotes publicly-funded schools outwith local authority control.

Table 1 - Number of P1 Children undertaking SNSA since 20 September 2018 - by year and local authority

There are 66,265 pupils in publicly funded schools in Scotland with English as an additional language, based on the 2022 pupil census.

Statistics on pupils with English as an additional language are published annually in the Pupil Census Supplementary Statistics , table 5.9.