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The Scottish Government has regular meetings with The Promise Scotland both at ministerial and official levels. For example, the First Minister met with Fiona Duncan, Chair of The Promise Scotland on 7 April 2023, at which meeting the First Minister committed to supporting The Promise Scotland to ensure that Scotland keeps The Promise to the care community by 2030.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16112 on 26 April 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/questions-and-answers .

As a private company, Circularity Scotland Ltd is not obligated to comply with requests under Freedom of Information legislation. Circularity Scotland already engage with requests regarding their role in the Deposit Return Scheme, including providing evidence before the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 28 March 2023, and will be holding a Parliamentary drop-in session 03 May 2023. CSL also engage regularly with Ministers and officials as part of wider DRS assurance structures.

Our recent consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion set out a range of potential options to restrict alcohol advertising and promotion, in order to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harms.

The consultation closed on 9 March. An independent contractor will comprehensively analyse the responses and a report will be published later this year. We will then further consider possible restrictions.

Decisions regarding how the deposit will be displayed is a retained power and the responsibility of Trading Standards. The Scottish Government believes that the deposit should not be included in the unit price displayed either on shelves or price-marked packs, rather it should be clear that the deposit is in addition to the item cost.

The Scottish Government is continuing its discussions with the UK Government and other stakeholders in order to ensure that on-shelf displays and price-marked packs have clear information regarding the Deposit Return Scheme to enable consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

The Climate Change Committee, an independent statutory body, published their report on Voluntary Carbon Markets and Offsetting in October 2022, concluding that high-integrity carbon credits purchased by businesses can play a small but important role in supporting the transition to net zero.

Establishing a values-led, high-integrity market for responsible private investment in natural capital is a commitment of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation, and the Scottish Government is working to ensure that this is one of a number of measures used to achieve a just transition. In support of this, our Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital make clear that investments should create benefits that are shared between public, private and community interests.

The £20 billion finance gap figure for nature-related outcomes in Scotland was reported in research by the Green Finance Institute in 2021. The finance gap is defined as the difference between required spending and committed/planned spending to deliver desired nature-related outcomes, for 10 years from 2022. Given the complexity in determining this figure and the volume of related evidence, £20 billion is a central estimate within a range of models. Optimistic assessments of the gap suggest the figure could be £15 billion while more pessimistic models suggest it could be £27 billion. The main component costs for the central estimate include climate mitigation through bio-carbon (£9 billion) and protecting and restoring biodiversity (£8 billion). The report makes clear the assumptions made in reaching these estimates. This work and the report were steered by an independent project board comprising public, private and third sector organisations from across the UK. Scottish public sector representation was provided by NatureScot and Scottish Forestry.

The Scottish Government and relevant agencies will continue to monitor and refine estimates as natural capital markets mature and our work in this area develops.

The partnership is actively exploring alternative models of ownership with the Scottish Land Commission and has already held two workshops to explore these opportunities. In addition, existing routes to community ownership remain open across the whole of Scotland, not just in this area, through Asset Transfer Request and Community Rights to Buy. The Scottish Government also continues to support community ownership through the Scottish Land Fund, which will be doubled to £20m by 2026.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to contact the member directly with an answer to his question. I can confirm that Historic Environment Scotland would be happy to arrange site visits for the member to discuss matters with its experts.

The most recent statistics report Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 , shows an estimated 36% of households with household heads aged 16 to 24 were in relative poverty after housing costs. Over the past decade, the estimates have fluctuated between 27% and 33% for this age group.

Whilst Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22 shows that the poverty rate after housing costs for all individuals in Scotland remained below that of the UK, we recognise too many people are living in poverty, and that is why tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical and interdependent missions for this government.

We are committed to using our fixed budget and all the powers we have to reach our targets of substantially reducing child poverty, providing immediate support to families whilst also tackling the underlying causes of poverty.

Our second tackling child poverty delivery plan ‘ Best Start, Bright Futures ’, focused on the six priority family types identified as being at greatest risk of poverty - including families with a mother under 25. In August 2022 we published a focus report on households with mothers aged 25 or under , presenting further evidence of the drivers of child poverty amongst this priority group to inform future action.

We are already taking significant action to tackle poverty amongst families. This includes increasing the value of the Scottish Child Payment to £25 per week, per child, and opening applications to all eligible under 16s in November 2022. Our five family payments, including the Scottish Child Payment, could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns 6. This compares to less than £2,000 for eligible families’ in England and Wales, with Scottish support providing over £20,000 by the time an eligible child is 16 years old.

Young families can also benefit from free bus travel for under 22s and the provision of 1,140 hours per year of funded, high-quality early learning and childcare for eligible children, which would cost families around £5,000 per eligible child per year if they were to pay for it themselves. Going forward, the Scottish Government is committed to building a system of school age childcare and developing a funded early learning and childcare offer for 1 and 2 year olds, focusing on those who need it most.

The Scottish Government also provides more targeted support for young families through the Family Nurse Partnership, which we have committed to expanding to all young first-time mothers aged 21 and under by the end of 2024, and, where capacity allows, targeting first time mothers aged 25 and under who are care experienced or from the most deprived communities. This expansion will support up to an additional 500 families per year by 2025.

This intensive relational based support provided to young families is holistic in nature, aims to address immediate health and wellbeing needs and build pathways into community supports and resources to address social and economic factors, such as housing stability, welfare, education, employment and money advice.