As one of our 100 Days Commitments we launched the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), which will develop new proposals for sustainable farming support by considering the Climate Change Plan Update and the Farmer-led Groups recommendations, helping Scottish agriculture become more economically and environmentally sustainable.

ARIOB meets regularly and its current priority is helping develop the National Test Programme, which begins this Spring and, over the next three years will deliver Scottish Government investment of up to £51 million. It is based on and informed by the work and recommendations of the Farmer-led Groups, particularly to ensure we are beginning to tackle the most urgent needs and creating a base upon which to build a whole-farm low carbon approach. An outline of the National Test Programme has already been published: https://www.gov.scot/news/ambitious-future-for-rural-scotland/

ARIOB acts in an advisory capacity to the Scottish Government and have no current plans to formally report. It is for the Scottish Government to co-develop and publish agricultural policy based on this type of a collaborative approach. The Scottish Government is wholly committed to supporting farmers and crofters to start our collective journey towards becoming global leaders in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

Officials have engaged throughout the legislative process with the Association of British Insurers, who have advised that ABI member firms are aware of the changes to legislation and are unlikely to invalidate anyone’s policies.

The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. This includes the signposting of services by ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the programme has resulted in a raised awareness of the services available, such as occupational health and employee assistance, which offer counselling, and specific interactions through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM).

This is a matter for the Integration Authorities. The information is not held by the Scottish Government.

The new fire and smoke alarms standard applies to all homes regardless of tenure, bringing the social rented and owner-occupied standards up to the same level as private rented and new build homes.

Where specialist alarms are required, these are in addition to the alarms required to meet the new standard.

The information requested is not held centrally. The recording of absences, in relation to Police Scotland’s workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.

This matter is for local authorities who hold the requested information. This information is not held centrally by Scottish Government.

Scottish Government is in discussion with the Scottish Funding Council to explore the resource needs it requires to fulfil its mission now and into the future. This includes how we can best support SFC in 2022-23 financial year.

We will continue to work with the Scottish Funding Council to ensure that it has the capacity it needs to operate effectively.

The Non-Domestic RHI (NDRHI) scheme closed to new applicants on 31 March 2021. The Domestic RHI (DRHI) scheme is set to close on 31 March 2022. The Scottish Government has set out in its Heat in Buildings Strategy a number of grant schemes which will continue to support the deployment of zero emission heating systems post RHI closure.

In total, the Scottish Government has committed £1.8 billion for heat decarbonisation for this parliamentary session, which will be delivered through various delivery schemes. This includes a £400m successor programme to the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, which will be launched early this year. It will provide funding to heat projects such as large scale heat pumps and heat networks whilst also prioritising new technologies for decarbonising multi-tenure buildings and retrofitting whole buildings with low carbon heating systems.

Support for homeowners to install zero emissions heating systems and improve energy efficiency is available through the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan and Cashback Scheme, which offers interest-free loans with up to 75% cashback. Scottish Ministers have committed to continuing our loans-with-cashback schemes for homeowners and SME businesses to support energy efficiency and zero emissions heat improvements, and will replace the cashback offer with a grant scheme during 2022-23.

Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. As long as they act lawfully, it is up to each local authority how it manages its day-to-day business and decision making processes. The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently.

New regulations, which came into force on 9 November 2020, require Scottish public bodies from November 2022 to report on how they will align spending plans and use of resources to contribute to delivering their emissions reduction targets.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.