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To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many people under 22 in South Ayrshire have registered for a free bus pass through the Young Persons' (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel scheme, and what this is as a percentage of eligible under-22s in that area.As at the end of the day 30 April 2023, there were 10,069 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme in South Ayrshire. This represents 56.4% of the estimated eligible population in the local authority area.

Cardholder data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO supports the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile app.

Of the 3,124 Ukrainian children enrolled in schools as of 31 March 2023, 1,718 were enrolled in primary schools and 1,406 were enrolled in secondary schools. This data is available by local authority area in the following table.

I note that the Heritage Railways and Tramways (Voluntary Work) Bill is going through the UK Parliamentary process. Railway Safety legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament, and would be expected to apply in Scotland.

The Scottish Government considers it sensible to permit young people to volunteer on heritage railways and tramways with appropriate safety and protection arrangements.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring a just transition to net zero, putting people and communities at the heart of our approach. The Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in 2021, set out these aims and the accompanying equality impact assessment reviews how our energy efficiency delivery schemes support people through this transition. https://www.gov.scot/publications/heat-buildings-strategy-equality-impact-assessment/pages/

The Scottish Government funds Home Energy Scotland (HES), a free and impartial advice service available for anyone wanting to improve the energy efficiency of their home. HES can be contacted across a range of channels and formats to ensure our advice and funding support services are widely accessible. This include web based enquiries, over the telephone, by bespoke email or private messaging on social media platforms, face to face at events or in people’s own homes. Help is available through the British Sign Language app, and HES has partnered with the translation organisation “Happy to Translate”. Similar support is available for business owners through our free and impartial Business Energy Scotland service.

We will also publish a new Heat in Buildings Public Engagement Strategy this year to set out how we will work with wider trusted messengers, from a national-to-local level, to raise awareness and understanding of the heat transition with different communities across Scotland. This will include increasing promotion of our existing advice and support services to ensure people can access the right support, at the right time to meet their needs as they undertake energy efficiency improvements to their properties and a move to renewable heating. Delivery of public engagement in line with the upcoming strategy will be led and coordinated by our new national public energy agency, Heat & Energy Efficiency, which was established in a virtual form in September 2022 and currently operates in-house to the Scottish Government ahead of becoming a dedicated body by 2025.

It is the Scottish Government’s position that an independent Scotland will remain a constitutional monarchy with the King as Head of State, just as in many other independent Commonwealth countries, and will remain as such for as long as the people of Scotland wish that to be the case.

There are several ways that the Scottish Government assist communities to take ownership of assets. The Scottish Land Fund, which will be doubled to £20m by 2026, allows groups to purchase assets, often through negotiated sales, from both public and private owners.

In addition, there is a Land Reform Bill which shows our commitment 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.

Transport Scotland on behalf of Scottish Ministers is responsible for managing, maintaining and improving Scotland’s trunk road and motorway network. The statutory responsibility for local roads improvement, maintenance and repair lies with local road authorities.

Trunk road works are developed and planned to minimise disruption to businesses, local communities and the travelling public. For major capital projects or maintenance works, road closures and operations at peak times are avoided where possible, with works often planned overnight. Other key matters that are balanced in scheduling works include the safety of the public and operatives, environmental issues, impacts on the surrounding transport networks and local stakeholder feedback.

Depending on the size, duration, traffic management proposals or expected disruption from a project or scheme, formal consultation is undertaken with affected groups and feedback incorporated where safe to do so. Advance notice of road works is conveyed through press releases, local/national radio, social media and road signage to enable road users to plan their journeys accordingly during times of disruption. Disruption is then monitored by Traffic Scotland and works contractors, with information being passed to the public via radio and website updates and on variable message signs. Traffic management arrangements are reviewed and amended where possible to mitigate significant delays.

This commitment to our customer-focussed approach is key to safely and effectively operating the trunk network during periods of essential works.

For environmental impacts, all projects and maintenance works on the trunk road network are robustly assessed for their potential effects. Proposals are screened by environmental specialists and a record of the assessment is prepared, which includes the mitigations that will be implemented in order to avoid or minimise any environmental impact. The assessment process ensures that legislative requirements are met and best practices are implemented to minimise any environmental effects.

All of our major trunk road projects are subject to detailed review and assessment work to ensure we keep impacts on the environment to the absolute minimum. Compliance with environmental commitments is monitored as construction work progresses.

All food and drink served in local authority and grant aided schools must meet the standards set out within The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. These Regulations are supported by statutory guidance on ‘Healthy Eating in Schools’, which is available on the Scottish Government’s website through the following link: Healthy eating in schools: guidance 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Whilst local authorities and schools are required to meet the standards set out within the school food and drink Regulations, any decisions about the type produce used, and where it is sourced from, are for individual local authorities, who should take into account local needs, priorities and circumstances as well as their duty to consider sustainable development as they procure food and drink for their school menus.

Since these Regulations were first introduced, we have expanded the availability of universal free school lunches during school term-time to include all children in primaries 1 to 5 at publicly-funded schools. We remain committed to the expansion of free school meals in primary and special schools as described in our programme for government.

Transport Scotland has engaged with representatives from the Love My Bus campaign at Transform Scotland and will be promoting Scottish Bus Week as agreed in these discussions, including through social media engagement.

Transport Scotland has also undertaken close engagement with the bus industry to launch the Choose the Bus marketing campaign. The campaign seeks to promote the benefits of bus and encourage people to travel by bus more often. The campaign will be live across a range of advertising channels during Scottish Bus Week, including TV, digital, radio and outdoor.

We remain committed to the expansion of free school meals in primary and special schools as described in our programme for government. All food and drink, including free school meals, served in local authority and grant aided schools must meet the standards set out in the Nutritional Standards for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020. What produce is used and where it is sourced from is a matter for individual local authorities taking into account local needs, priorities and circumstances as well as their duty to consider sustainable development as they procure food and drink for school menus.

However, the member raises an important matter. I have asked to meet with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs to discuss the points raised by this question in more detail.