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The Scottish Government has discussed food waste with a range of representative and third sector organisations. For example, an eNGO roundtable event took place with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and Scottish Environment Link members, with representatives from: WWF; Friends of the Earth Scotland; Circular Communities Scotland; and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. Another example is ongoing support and engagement with WRAP UK - a climate action NGO – which has expertise in food waste reduction. We have also engaged with FareShare on food redistribution. This engagement is complemented by programme partners at Zero Waste Scotland who work with community food groups and wider third sector organisations on food waste reduction.

As outlined in the draft route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km by 2030, published in January 2022, the Scottish Government intends to publish a demand management framework by 2025, which will set out our approach to transport demand management options.

A key interdependency of the Scottish Government’s approach to demand management is the position of the UK Government on the future of motoring taxes. The most direct levers on the cost of buying or running a petrol or diesel car – fuel duty and vehicle excise duty – are reserved to the UK Government, who acknowledged in their Net Zero Review that revenues from existing motoring taxes will decline sharply this decade as we transition away from fossil fuels and the taxes based on them. However the UK Government has so far failed to set out how they will address this. We will continue to press the UK Government for clarity on timescales for motoring tax reform. The Scottish Government wants a fair and progressive future transport tax system that better incentivises the transition to zero-emission vehicles, reduces unnecessary journeys and raises revenues to fund policies to support a shift to more sustainable travel.

Transport Scotland, through its four Trunk Road Operating Companies and five Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) Concessionaires, is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network, including motorways. The repair of potholes on all other roads is the responsibility of the local authorities.

Category 1 potholes are defined within the term maintenance contract as those that present, or could present, an immediate hazard to trunk road users. They are typically detected during driven safety related inspections. The following table shows the number of Category 1 potholes recorded since 2013 broken down by operational area. A map showing these operational areas can be found here . Data between 2007 and 2013 is not available.

The Scottish Government continues to make good progress towards our target of securing 2GW of community and locally owned energy by 2030.

Our Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) has supported communities across Scotland looking to develop local community energy projects.

To date, CARES has advised over 1,000 organisations, offered funding of over £61 million to over 800 projects, and helped support the direct installation of 58.6 MW of renewable energy. This has included supporting a wide range of projects such as community owned wind and hydro, decarbonising community buildings, installing solar PV on faith buildings, developing community action plans, innovation studies, and helping local communities invest in commercial renewable energy projects.

Notably, the CARES Off-Electricity Grid Communities Fund, which will run until March 2024, has supported remote communities to decarbonise and future-proof their existing local independent electrical grids that are not connected to the national electricity grid. Through this fund, we have awarded significant funding to support the Isle of Eigg to increase its renewable energy generation and capacity through the installation of additional solar panels and storage batteries; and Knoydart to support its Network Enhancement project.

I have Ministerial portfolio responsibility for access to new medicines in Scotland. Accordingly, as you know, I met with you on 6 December 2023 together with representatives of Scottish cystic fibrosis (CF) families to listen to their concerns directly.

In addition, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) engages with representatives of Quest for a Cure, a patient group who represent Scottish CF families, and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

On 22 December 1999 in Larkhall, Lanarkshire an explosion destroyed the dwellinghouse at No. 42 Carlyle Road. All four occupants of that dwellinghouse, including two children, were killed. Criminal proceedings were taken against Transco PLC in relation to the explosion on 22 December and the deaths of the four individuals, with the company being charged, in the first alternative, with the common law offence of culpable homicide and, in the second alternative, a contravention of sections 3 and 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Prosecution on the culpable homicide charge was unsuccessful. The trial proceeded on the charge under sections 3 and 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the jury unanimously found the company guilty of that offence on 25 August 2005. A fine of £15 million was imposed.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 created a new offence of corporate homicide in Scotland.

COPFS Health and Safety Investigation Unit leads the investigation and prosecution of all work-related deaths and all health and safety cases across Scotland. It provides advice, support and direction to investigators from Police Scotland, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Local Authorities and other regulatory agencies from the very earliest stages of an investigation.

Every fatality at a place of employment or fatality that occurs as a result of a work-related activity in Scotland is investigated as a potential corporate homicide. The very nature of this category of case means that detailed and lengthy investigation, often involving technical and medical issues and expert opinion, may be required. The Work Related Death Protocol for Scotland – which has been signed by COPFS, Police Scotland (ACPOS), British Transport Police and HSE - ensures that when a work-related death occurs, a thorough, co-ordinated and multi-agency investigation takes place allowing all possible offences to be considered.

Once reported each case is carefully considered by lawyers within the COPFS Health & Safety Investigation Unit and turns on its own facts and circumstances. Corporate homicide is considered in every work-related death reported for prosecution, and lines of investigation in connection with corporate homicide are explored regardless of whether or not such a charge was reported in connection with the death.

Since 2008 16 cases have been reported to the Crown in respect of corporate homicide as well as other charges. Of those cases two remain under consideration by the Crown. Two cases, reported in 2011 and 2016, were marked for no proceedings. In the remaining cases all have resulted in guilty convictions in a solemn court. Whilst there have been no prosecutions under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 the cases have resulted in guilty pleas to breaches of either section 2 or section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or maritime health and safety legislation. The Court has the same sentencing powers available to them for these offences as for the offence of corporate homicide. The fines issued in these cases range from £4,000 to £234,000.

We recognise that the third sector needs clarity and stability to secure its resilience and to grow its capacity. That is why we have committed to develop a Fairer Funding approach for the sector as a means to embed systemic change and to create conditions for third sector organisations to thrive as part of a mixed economy.

Our initial focus has been on improving grant-making arrangements, including increasing multi-year funding. Officials are working with grant managers across the organisation to ensure that they are aware of, and operating within, the terms of the commitment.

In line with our Fairer Funding commitment to embed a multi-year grant approach on all third sector grants by 2026, the First Minister has committed to increasing the number of two-year grants in the forthcoming budget, and longer where possible.

It must be recognised that whilst we would wish to go further we face significant economic uncertainty and it would be wrong to make commitments we cannot sustain.

The Scottish Government uses a range of measures and sources to consider and report on the impact of the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund.

Nationally published data, such as the annual Educational Outcomes for Looked after Children is used to consider the impact of this fund. It is encouraging that the latest statistics show an improving position for care experienced children and young people. Whilst real progress has been made, there remains a sizeable gap between the educational outcomes of care experienced children and young people and all pupils. It’s within that context that Scottish Government officials are currently working with local government to develop a long-term approach to improving these outcomes in response to the Promise.

The impact of the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund is also considered as part of the Evaluation Strategy for the Attainment Scotland Fund 2022 – 2026 . The first annual evaluation plan for 2022-23 , published in February 2023 and, most recently, the SAC Leads Survey Report published 22 September 2023. Evidence from the latter of those shows the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund is viewed to have supported strategic decision-making to improve attainment or outcomes for care experienced children and young people within respondent local authorities. Dedicated postholders such as Virtual Headteachers were also highlighted for their positive contribution towards joint working and capacity building.

Existing local authority Education Standards and Quality reports (or local equivalent reports) are also used to report on the progress being made with the support of all Attainment Scotland Funding, including the Care Experienced Children and Young People Funding. Within these reports each local authority presents a clear narrative on the extent to which this funding has influenced and supported local approaches to making progress towards identified stretch aims and achieving the mission of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. Many local authorities have also set specific targets for care experienced children and young people in their stretch aims and these are published as part of the aggregated measures .

The National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan is designed to help us deliver the twin aims of excellence and equity; galvanising efforts and aligning our collective improvement activities across all partners in the education system to address our key priorities. At national level, this Improvement Plan summarises the key evidence and identifies both ongoing and new improvement activity that we will be taking forward or supporting at national level. These plans also play a role in measuring ongoing activity and the impact of this fund.

The Scottish Government remains committed to introducing Land Reform legislation to further improve transparency of land ownership, help ensure large scale land holdings deliver in the public interest, and empower communities by providing more opportunities to own land and have more say in how land in their area is used.

It is important that the proposals in the Bill are robust to address the problems identified and to ensure this we are giving further consideration to measures in the Bill. Land reform is complex, and we are taking time to ensure that we have fully considered all responses to the consultation and subsequent comments from stakeholders.

To allow time for this further consideration and ensure we get the proposals right for introduction, we are planning a slight delay to the introduction of the Bill but it remains a Programme for Government commitment for 2023-24.

The Scottish Government also remains fully committed to ensuring that tenant farmers and small landholders are given equality of opportunity to access the new agricultural support framework. We will ensure that the future four tier agricultural support framework is able to work for all types of land tenure.