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There is no statutory duty on the Scottish Government to achieve a biodiversity net gain.

Scotland’s draft biodiversity strategy published in December 2022 sets out a clear ambition for Scotland to be nature positive by 2030, and to have substantially restored and regenerated biodiversity by 2045. Five year delivery plans will set out the actions we need to take to achieve that ambition. We will consult on the first delivery plan in the summer. We will also bring forward a Natural Environment Bill, which will put in place key legislative changes to restore and protect nature, including, but not restricted to, targets for nature restoration.

The National Planning Framework also places a strong emphasis on securing positive effects for biodiversity as one of its six statutory outcomes (as identified in section 3A(3)(c) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended). The recently adopted National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) includes a cross-cutting theme to improve biodiversity and our strategy and policies support development that helps to secure positive effects for biodiversity. NPF4 Policy 3 sets out that development proposals will contribute to the enhancement of biodiversity, including where relevant, restoring degraded habitats and building and strengthening nature networks.

The proposal which Common Weal submitted on Development Councils as part of the first phase of the Democracy Matters engagement process made a valuable contribution to the debate about the future of local democracy in Scotland. Further involvement from Common Weal during the next phase of the conversation will add to the wide range of voices we need to hear from to ensure that we arrive at the best possible set of arrangements for all of Scotland’s communities. Democracy Matters engagement is part of the wider Local Governance Review which we remain committed to concluding within this parliament.

As the operation, maintenance and security of Historic Environment Scotland sites are matters for Historic Environment Scotland, I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to write directly to the member with the answer to his question.

Modern Apprenticeship statistics are published on the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) website at Modern Apprenticeships | Skills Development Scotland . Year-end statistics for 2022/23 are expected to be published in May 2023.

The proportion of individuals who completed their apprenticeship, known in the published reports below as ‘achievement rate’, are published by SDS at the following links:

Foundation Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/50223/foundation-apprenticeship-report-2022-published-version.pdf

Modern Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49237/modern-apprenticeship-statistics-quarter-4-2021-22.pdf

Graduate Apprenticeships - https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/49924/graduate-apprenticeship-annual-report-2022-final.pdf

Earlier years data can be found in older publications.

The Scottish Government alongside the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service fully supports Firefighters Memorial Day and the opportunity it gives us all to reflect and remember firefighters across the world who have lost their lives in keeping communities. Bill Kidd MSP also raised a members debate on 4 May in the Scottish Parliament at which many members made moving contributions to recognise Firefighters Memorial Day. Scotland’s communities are lucky to have such dedicated and professional firefighters, who stand ready to put their personal safety at risk to save others.

(a) There were 149 admissions of under 18s to secure accommodation during 2021-22. Details of those placements can be found in the Children’s Social Work Statistics Scotland: 2021 to 2022 .

(b) The Scottish Prison Population Statistics 2021-22 show the establishments where under 18s were held. This is detailed in the following table:

Table 1 below provides the gross teaching funding allocations per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) place in college in cash and real terms (2022-23 prices), since 2007-08. Please note that data between the periods of 2007-08 to 2012-13 and 2013-14 to 2022-23 are not directly comparable due to a change in methodology of how FTEs in college were calculated.

The First Minister and I met to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme on one occasion during the time frame specified. The date of that meeting was 13 April 2023. It should also be noted that a further meeting between us on this issue was held on 20 April 2023.

The Scottish Government has no plans to establish an independent review of governance of its portfolio of strategic commercial assets.

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (Holdings) Ltd to review the Framework Document, which sets out governance arrangements between the parties.

The role of the Scottish Government is to monitor each of the three deposit schemes for compliance with the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011. This includes being satisfied that the tenancy deposit schemes have clear and substantial processes in place that meet the requirements laid out in the regulations.

The three approved tenancy deposit schemes are private businesses and the Scottish Government is not involved in their business operations. We do not hold information on how many full-time equivalent staff currently work at SafeDeposits Scotland.