No one should have to rely on charitable food provision which is why we have committed to publishing a plan on ending the need for food banks this Autumn.

We consulted on a draft plan earlier this year, which reaffirms our human rights approach – we prioritise action to prevent poverty and promote cash-first responses to hardship so that people have sufficient income to meet their needs and preferences.

Both the Trussell Trust and the Independent Food Aid Network have endorsed the cash-first approach, including through our Scottish Welfare Fund and low income pandemic supports.

Through the budget for 2022-23 the Scottish Government has allocated almost £3 billion to a range of supports that will contribute to mitigating the impact of the increased cost of living on households. This includes work to tackle child poverty, reduce inequalities and support financial wellbeing, alongside social security payments not available anywhere else in the UK.

INTOG is aligned to the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering plan-led opportunities for offshore wind and marine renewables in Scottish waters. INTOG has been designed to facilitate both targeted oil and gas decarbonisation opportunities and provide a plan led approach to allowing smaller innovation type projects to access seabed. Something that is currently unavailable.

Whilst decoupling IN and TOG processes may allow one category of applications to proceed faster, the potential for cumulative impact and the need for plan-level assessments, to ensure negative impacts are appropriately managed, would not be removed and in fact may delay and complicate the assessments unnecessarily. As such, both components of INTOG will remain combined.

The potential of increased use of offsite construction (also referred to as modern methods of construction or MMC) is viewed as an opportunity for new build housing development with the potential to support industry and Government to deliver more homes, and to help us address challenges including workforce demand and diversity, the need to reduce waste, increase energy efficiency and improve quality while controlling cost pressures.

The Scottish Government already supports delivery of affordable homes across Scotland using a range of offsite methods, from timber frame construction through to fully modular development, and will continue to do so through our Affordable Housing Supply Programme. We are developing a business case for greater use of offsite construction in recognition of the significant opportunity that our ambitious 110,000 target for affordable homes by 2032 brings for social, economic and environmental benefits and the potential impact on funding, housing delivery and the supply chain of any new national approach.

The Scottish Construction Leadership Forum provides a major forum for Scottish Government/Industry interaction and involves our Innovation Centre, Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST). The Skills and Workforce sub-group of the Forum is addressing a variety of upskilling areas, with a particular focus on the younger workforce: supporting apprentices and graduates in the industry and encouraging new entrants from diverse backgrounds to consider construction as a career of choice.

The BE-ST ‘Offsite Ready’ training programme is also helping to grow best practice and skills in offsite construction. Further details are available at www.offsiteready.com

Scottish Government requires local authorities to assess, set out and monitor delivery against affordable housing priorities through Local Housing Strategy and Strategic Housing Investment Plans, which should be available on the relevant local authority websites. Planning authorities are responsible for the determination of planning permission in accordance with the development plan and relevant material considerations. Development plans set out where new development should and shouldn’t happen in the places they cover, enabling delivery of the right development in the right place.

The overall financial model, is a commercial negotiation between Global Energy Group and Haizea Wind Group, but I can confirm that Haizea has received no public funding. This government is supportive of the efforts by Global Energy Group, owners of the port of Nigg to strengthen our domestic supply chain capacity, by developing manufacturing facilities at the port. Working alongside our Enterprise Agencies, we are committed to ensuring our supply chain is given all available opportunities to capitalise on the growth of the offshore renewables sector, sustaining existing skilled jobs and delivering new ones. The priority now for Global Energy Group is to develop a revised business case which continues with the aim to deliver a world class manufacturing facility at Nigg. This business case will of course take into account a revised financial model, both private sector and public sector funding and will seek to set out revised milestones with a target of delivering towers.

The Housing for Varying Needs design guide offers good practice in the design of homes in order to help them achieve a degree of flexibility, suit people of varying needs, be convenient to use, and be fit for purpose. Where possible, all new affordable homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are built to Housing for Varying Needs standards.

As set out within the Housing to 2040 route map, we are reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide. We want the guide to help better meet the needs of an ageing population, help people to live in their home for longer, consider a wider range of needs, and learn lessons from the pandemic by recognising the importance of outdoor space, and space for home working or study.

We plan to consult on proposed changes to the guide over the coming months and will wish to engage with disability groups and those with experience of living in homes delivered to Housing for Varying Needs standards, as well as those involved in the delivery of new homes.

Once complete, the review of Housing for Varying Needs will inform the introduction of building standards in 2025-26 to underpin a new Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which all new homes will need to achieve, regardless of tenure.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The particular circumstances and needs in terms of social work input of each Cystic Fibrosis patient and their family can be highly variable. The Scottish Government therefore expects NHS Boards and Local Authority partners delivering care to work together to support Cystic Fibrosis patients according to individual need.

COVID-19 vaccines are recommended in pregnancy. Vaccination is the best way to protect against the known risks of COVID-19 in pregnancy for both women and babies.

NHS inform have a dedicated page for pregnancy and the COVID-19 vaccine. Details on how pregnant people book their COVID-19 vaccines/booster can be found here www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccinepregnancy

The Scottish Government Marketing Team are continuing to promote vaccine uptake in pregnancy and if planning a pregnancy through a targeted marketing campaign. The COVID-19 vaccine explainer video also covers pregnancy and is available in a range of different community languages. More information can also be found in the above link.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09460 on 13 July 2022. 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 .

The Heart Disease Action Plan (2021), sets out a strategic vision to ensure that everyone with suspected heart disease in Scotland has equitable access to timely and evidence-based diagnosis, treatment and care. Priority 2 in the plan contains a focus on improving access to diagnostics, including imaging.

There are no Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines for takotsubo cardiomyopathy. The decision to create, update and/or replace any SIGN guideline is made independently by the Evidence Directorate Work Programme Committee in Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). Any group or individual can propose a guideline topic to SIGN. Guideline topics are selected on the basis of burden of disease, the existence of variation in practice, and the potential to improve outcomes.

Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is not currently directly funding research into Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, though there is an active programme of research into this condition led by the University of Aberdeen. This research has taken place with Scotland-wide recruitment of participants with the support of NHS Research and Development which is funded by CSO.