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As of the end of day 31 October 2023, there were 701,696 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme.

Transport Scotland officials have worked to improve and develop reporting processes since the scheme launched, and as such now report on cardholders rather than cards issued.

This data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office, who support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data.

Transport Scotland does not hold application information as the Improvement Service are in charge of applications made through getyournec.scot and all other applications are managed by local authorities.

The Scottish Government has not assessed the potential for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production or supply in Scotland by specific dates. However, we continue to explore options for incentivising the production and use of SAF including the support the Scottish Government could provide. We will take account of proposed UK Government action on SAF, recognising that significant levers remain reserved. In considering options, we are drawing on the responses to our consultation on the aviation strategy and the main findings from Scottish Enterprise’s recent SAF supply chain study. We will also involve stakeholders as appropriate.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise I have asked their Chief Executive to respond to you directly.

The Scottish Government’s ambition is for Scotland to be as well connected as peer nations and regions, and we are committed to working with Scotland’s airports to help them grow international connectivity, while not returning to previous levels of emissions. Our engagement with Scotland’s airports is, however, commercially sensitive and I am unable to share specific details.

Transport Scotland, in partnership with VisitScotland and Scottish Development International, works to help Scotland’s airports secure new routes that are essential for inbound tourism, business connectivity and the economy as a whole. In October, representatives from this cross government partnership attended the route development forum Routes World 2023, meeting with a number of airlines to discuss future opportunities to develop Scotland’s connectivity and also supporting the Scottish airports in attendance.

I welcome recent announcements that JetBlue will start their first ever service to Scotland next summer, with a route to New York JFK, and also that WestJet will restart flights to both Toronto and Halifax. These announcements demonstrate confidence in the Scottish market.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22954 on 23 November 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

In August 2021, Police Scotland submitted a bid to the Road Safety Framework Fund and received a grant offer of £300,000 for a National Dashcam Safety Portal (NDSP) pilot.

£21,732 of this funding was utilised to undertake initial scoping work on options and Transport Scotland retained the rest of the funding and used it to deliver other road safety measures aimed at reducing casualties on Scotland’s roads. The Scottish Government remained committed to delivering the initiative alongside Police Scotland, and ensured that the budget was available the following financial year.

However, as part of the scoping work, Police Scotland has now concluded that a stand-alone portal is neither the optimum nor best value route to create the capability for digital media to be submitted by members of the public. The Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) Programme, currently in pilot in Dundee, will make it easy for a member of the public to submit digital evidence as part of an investigation following a report to the police. DESC will enable development of further capabilities where scope to further improve the service to the public is identified.

Scottish Water has over 400 supply chain partners. Over 90% of its procurement expenditure is on businesses based in Scotland and 75% of their supply chain classified as small or medium sized enterprises. Scottish Water sets out information on its supply chain in its Annual Reports, available at www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Annual-Reports .

Scottish Water is responsible for providing services, including during periods of industrial action. Scottish Water successfully ensured there were no service interruptions for their customers during recent strikes.

The Scottish Government was consulted by Scottish Water and is satisfied that the correct process was followed by the Scottish Water board in setting the remuneration of the Chief Executive. Scottish Water’s Executive salaries are amongst the lowest of any comparable utility in the UK.

This is a matter for Scottish Water. Scottish Water utilises a variety of approaches regarding price increases during the life of a contract framework, agreed at the point of award.