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The Bus Partnership Fund supports the development of permanent bus priority measures to tackle the negative impacts of congestion on bus services. The Fund requires grant-holders to be working towards a Bus Service Improvement Partnership (BSIP), as defined in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

BSIPs are a new type of statutory partnership between local transport authorities and bus operators. BSIPs enable local transport authorities to work with bus operators and others to improve bus services in their area by developing a Plan and Scheme(s) to implement changes, with a voting process to ensure sufficient support from operators. BSIP schemes must include either measures or facilities from authorities to support services and mandatory standards to be complied with by operators. The link between the fund and BSIPs is to ensure that the measures sought by councils are relevant to the needs of services and passengers across their network.

The National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO) have been unable to supply us with a breakdown of cards issued by age ranges. We are working with our delivery partners to have this data available.

NECPO support 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 Local Rail Development Fund has already been extended until the end of the 22-23 financial year on a case by case basis. The fund is not open for new applicants, but committed funds will be honoured, subject to progress being made in line with grant agreements.

Responsibility for the recruitment of CAMHS staff lies with NHS Boards. In the NHS Recovery Plan 2021-2026 , the Scottish Government committed to provide sufficient funding for around 320 additional staff in CAMHS over the next 5 years, with the potential to increase capacity for CAMHS cases by over 10,000.

The additional funding for CAMHS from the Scottish Government’s Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund is designed to provide sufficient support for Boards to increase capacity, reduce long waiting lists and improve CAMHS services. The delivery expected includes implementation of the National CAMHS Service Specification, increasing age range for CAMHS services from 18 to 25, and clearing waiting list backlogs by March 2023.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) publishes quarterly statistics on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) workforce . The most recent publication on 7 June 2022 shows data from quarter ending 31 March 2022. These statistics show, as of 31 March 2022, there were 1172 whole time equivalent (WTE) CAMHS staff employed. This compares to 1078 WTE CAMHS staff employed in March 2021, prior to the 2021-22 additional investment of around £40 million to CAMHS from the Scottish Government’s Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund. Therefore, following investment in 2021-22, the CAMHS workforce increased by 94 WTE in 2021-22. Specifically, in the final quarter of 2021-22, the CAMHS workforce increased by 73 WTE.

The Scottish Government has spent £764,909,056 on Pupil Equity Funding since 2017-18 to 2022-23. This funding is allocated to all 32 local authorities, as well as Grant Maintained schools. The breakdown of funding by year is publicly available on the Scottish Government website - Pupil attainment: closing the gap - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Transport Scotland currently has a planned investment in routine maintenance of £7.2m for the A75 for 2022-23.

The Scottish Government’s consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill, published on 30 May 2022, proposes that Scottish Ministers should have powers to require mandatory public reporting of unwanted surplus stock and waste of certain materials by Scottish businesses in order to improve data capture and public transparency and help businesses measure and take action on their waste and surplus. The consultation also set our intention that the initial priority for subsequent secondary legislation, with further consultation, would be to introduce mandatory public reporting of food waste and food surplus.

Subject to the outcome of our consultation, we will work with stakeholders to develop detailed assessments and proposals for further consultation, including on the type and size of business that should be subject to any reporting requirements.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many crimes were reported in connection with the use of e-scooters.

Police Scotland collect data on road traffic accidents that were a) reported to the police and b) involved someone being injured or killed. Figures for 2021 are provisional and final figures will be published in October 2022. Figures for 2022 are still being collected and verified and are therefore not currently available.

The following table shows the number and severity of casualties in 2021 who were injured in road accidents that involved an e-scooter and the location of the accident.

Domestic Abuse remains a high priority, and Police Scotland are committed to proactively target perpetrators and to protect victims and their families from the harms of domestic abuse. Police Scotland have a well-established National Domestic Abuse Taskforce to target perpetrators and local domestic abuse investigation units are located in the 14 divisions throughout Scotland.

Despite UK Government austerity we have invested over £10 billion in policing since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013, and remain committed to working closely with both the SPA and Police Scotland to ensure we continue to have a safe, protected and resilient Scotland. We have made a total investment across the justice sector of over £3.1 billion in 2022-23 to further strengthen and reform vital services.

Under the implementation of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, the Scottish Government provided £825,000 to support the training of 14,000 police officers and staff, and advanced training of 700 Domestic Abuse Champions to embed training and sustain organisational change. Officers are now much more aware and informed around the dynamics of domestic abuse. Police Scotland are also undertaking Divisional Reviews on their policing response to domestic abuse across the country, which includes partnership and multi-agency engagement.

As of close of business on 20 June 2022 a total of 410,721 cards had been issued under the Young Persons Scheme (YPS) through the National Entitlement Card scheme and Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application.

The Improvement Service is responsible for the application process and issue of the National Entitlement Cards. They are being supported by Scottish Government to work with local authorities to identify and support improvements to both online and offline processes to maximise the uptake of scheme and increase accessibility for children and young people. I met with the Improvement Service in late April to make clear our expectations for delivery of the scheme and to ensure they continue to streamline the online process. I will shortly be writing to local authorities seeking assurance on their processes for handling offline applications and providing support if needed.

Transport Scotland also launched the Transport Scot Collect App on 28 February which allows existing Young Scot cardholders aged 16 and over to add the free travel product onto their existing card.