No funding payments were made by the Scottish Government to MND Scotland in 2022.

Conditions attached to any planning permission are published as part of the consent on the relevant planning authority’s publicly available Register of Applications. Any member of the public who considers that a developer may not be in compliance with any condition of planning permission can report their concerns to the relevant planning authority, which has extensive powers to investigate, and if necessary, take action to ensure that conditions are complied with.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to review the legislation relating to monitoring and enforcement of planning conditions at the present time.

The Scottish Government is working closely with partners to support Scotland as an attractive location to open new businesses across the whole of the tourism sector. Our work in the sector is driven by Scotland Outlook 2030, Scotland’s National Tourism Strategy, which is a key component of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

No assessment is required as flexibility is already provided in legislation to allow the direct supply, by the producer, of small quantities of meat from poultry and lagomorphs slaughtered on the farm to the final consumer or to local retail establishments directly supplying such meat to the final consumer, as set out in Regulation (EC) No 853/2004

No Barnett consequentials have been received specifically noted as relating to long COVID.

The Scottish Government remains committed to being a responsible global citizen. As announced by the First Minister at COP28, the Scottish Government and Kids Operating Room have partnered to establish a reliable, safe and clean power supply to paediatric operating rooms in our partner countries of Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. This £324,900 investment will fund solar energy systems for 15 operating rooms across 13 hospitals, helping an estimated 27,000 children receive urgent surgery over the next three years.

Across their work, Kids Operating Room are working to strengthen sustainable surgical capacity and build stronger healthcare systems. To do this in a truly sustainable way the organisation seeks to work closely with partners, putting in place locally driven maintenance programmes. This works to ensure hospitals not only have the tools but also the right skills and knowledge to provide safe and quality care for children.

Each KidsOR Operating Room is equipped with over 3,300 pieces of specialist equipment. Much of this equipment is more complex than those typically found in low-resource settings. When this equipment is installed onsite KidsOR biomedical engineers train the surgical and hospital biomedical teams on how to use specific items of equipment. This user training is vitally important to providing safe, timely surgery.

Kids Operating Room also provide funding to the East and West African College of Surgeon's e-learning hub and provide sponsorship for individual scholarships - all with the aim of enhancing the skills of the workforce.

In parallel to this wider package of support, as part of the specific investment you reference, KidsOR biomedical engineers will visit each partner hospital and provide staff training on how to best utilise these new solar energy systems.

As part of the national strategy for 20 mph the Scottish Government is developing communication plans for pre and post implementation of 20 mph speed limits. Research is being carried out to identify the most effective approach to promote benefits and encourage behaviour change.

Evidence has shown that early communications aids a wider acceptance and smoother implementation.

Over the last five years Scottish Water has used social media, community events and other activities such as school visits to encourage people to use water wisely. As part of this, over 100,000 water saving packs have been distributed. Each summer Scottish Water also issues news releases to encourage people to use water wisely and in times of prolonged warm, dry weather, it works with media outlets to encourage coverage of the issue. The costs are incorporated into normal operations and activities

In 2022 Scottish Water launched a behaviour change campaign to raise awareness that 'Water is Always Worth Saving', highlighting water as a precious natural resource. The effectiveness of this campaign is being measured by awareness, attitude and reported behaviours. By August 2023, 58% of people agreed that water is a precious natural resource (up 5% pre-campaign), 81% reported that they would be more careful with water use (up 12% pre-campaign), and 75% said they would take less time in the shower (up 6% pre-campaign).

The cost for the campaign for 2022-23 was £315,000. Almost all the materials developed have been re-used in 2023 and will continue to be used, spreading any cost of production and delivering best value for money. The costs incurred for 2023-24 will be reconciled in the next financial year. The integrated campaign utilises TV and Radio ads, outdoor ads, social/digital media, PR, customer engagement and partnerships with other organisations.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water’s aim is to operate at the economic level of leakage at water supply zone level, taking account of the costs of treating water and the costs of leakage detection and pipe repair. Since 2007, Scottish Water has reduced leakage by over half to under 500ML/d and, following a refresh of its assessment in 2020, Scottish Water is now progressing towards a leakage level of 408Ml/d.

Scottish Water also carries out wider assessments of long-term supply and demand positions for water resources on a water supply zone basis, looking over a 25 year period and taking into account growth, population change and predicted impacts of climate change. Where zones are identified as at risk, Scottish Water takes this into account when assessing the economic level of leakage for a zone, with demand reduction (leakage and customer water efficiency) being its first activity, before considering supply side increases.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland publishes an Annual report which contains information on the numbers of private water supplies and the quality of water supplied. The information provided is broken down by Local Authority. The most recent information relates to 2022 and is available at https://dwqr.scot/media/bv4go0kc/pws-annual-report-2022-november-2023.pdf