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Progressing work to enable the establishment of a US pre-clearance facility is primarily a commercial matter for Edinburgh Airport and would ultimately need to be approved by the relevant authorities in the United States.

The Scottish Government works closely with Scotland’s airports to help grow international connectivity, while not returning to previous levels of emissions. Direct connectivity between Scotland and the United States has improved significantly in recent years but there are other US routes where a direct link would be positive for Scottish businesses, the tourism sector and the economy as a whole. Pre-clearance would help ensure the ongoing success of established routes and encourage the development of new ones.

In July, I wrote to the then UK Secretary of State for the Home Office to invite the UK Government’s view on Edinburgh Airport’s ambition to establish pre-clearance for outbound flights to the US given the role they would need to play in the process. While the Minister for Safe and Legal Migration recognises that this is a commercial matter, I am pleased that the response from the UK Government indicates that the Home Office, together with the Department for Transport, would be keen to explore this matter further should there be a commercial decision to proceed. We also remain in close contact with Edinburgh Airport.

Modelling by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) projects that 29 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities will incur a net financial benefit from the implementation of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Local authorities are also expected to benefit from a reduction in the impact of litter, and from efficiencies to collection services following the implementation of DRS.

ZWS it is engaging with individual local authorities, in particular the three currently projected not to make savings, to assess the impacts of DRS on them and look at options for service improvements.

These calculations are based on commercially sensitive data provided in confidence to ZWS by local authorities. We will therefore not publicly identify the three local authorities that stand to incur a net cost.

The Scottish Government Graduate Development Programme is recruited bi-annually. Our last recruitment onto the programme was in 2021 meaning we were not scheduled to recruit in 2022. Our next intake for the programme will be in 2023.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold this information. The Animal and Plant Health Agency has been asked by Scottish Ministers to visit farmed salmon slaughter facilities in Scotland and to assess the need for further inspections. This will be carefully considered alongside any recommendations made by the UK Animal Welfare Committee working group, expected early next year, on the welfare of farmed fish at slaughter.

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including the number of stone falls that have occurred at Historic Environment Scotland sites, are best answered by Historic Environment Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not collect information on ill-health retirement of officers due to mental health reasons. Staffing issues are a matter for the Chief Constable under the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government welcomes the support provided by Police Scotland to its workforce through initiatives such as the "Your Wellbeing Matters" programme which covers psychological, physical, social and financial wellbeing.

The analysis referred to was carried out by independent contractors, rather than internally by the Scottish Government. The approach of recording ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘no response’ was followed throughout the analysis for all of the questions asked by the consultation. Accurately representing ‘no response’ answers alongside the other options available reflects that some respondents to the full consultation may not have held views on certain areas, or may have had mixed views that did not fall into the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response categories. Most of those who answered Question 31 were in favour of changing the legislation.

As well as the analysis, we also published individual responses, where we had permission to do so, on the consultation website: https://consult.gov.scot/family-law/children-scotland-act/consultation/published_select_respondent .

As set out in the answer to S6W-12943 on 20 December 2022, the Joint Working Group, which includes COSLA and the Scottish Green Party commenced it work, initially focussing on targeted changes to Council Tax to reflect the current circumstances created by the cost crisis. The group will also consider approaches to longer term reform, utilising the development of effective deliberative engagement, on sources of Local Government funding and Council Tax. I will ensure that Parliament is kept appraised of this work at suitable junctures.

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

Proposed impacts of individual projects are captured at both assessment stage and subsequent monitoring stages of each project.

The Recycling Improvement Fund has funded the following projects under these headings:

(a) increased frequency of recycling collections

The gas and electric used for the swimming pool at Victoria Quay is not sub-metered. The figures in the following table are estimates based on assumed operating times.

The costs reflect that the heating was turned off to the pool in April 2020 and has remained off since . Pumps have remained operational to maintain water quality, and the structural integrity of the pool . The operating times for the ventilation to the pool space have been reduced, this is reflected in the reduced electrical load.

The costs in 2019-20 are lower as a result of the pool being closed for refurbishment between June and August 2019.