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The purpose of the Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce is to bring together leaders from those sectors which most urgently need to work together on the challenges inherent in decarbonisation of the bus sector. These were identified as the bus operating, bus manufacturing, energy, finance and Government sectors, all of whom need to act in a co-ordinated way to remove greenhouse gas emissions from Scotland’s buses, and support a strong and diverse domestic manufacturing sector and supply-chain comprised of high quality green jobs; a key element of the Taskforce’s Guiding Vision. All meeting papers and minutes of the Taskforce are published on the CPT Scotland website. Scottish Ministers are committed to partnership working with the STUC and engage actively with the transport unions on issues of strategic importance.

Vehicle safety standards, such as Direct Vision Standard to improve the sighting of vulnerable road users in the HGV and bus driving positions, is reserved to the UK Government.

In the Scottish Government’s formal response dated November 2021 to the UK Government consultation on its future of transport regulatory review, we called on the UK Government to adopt the measures outlined in the EU General Road Safety Regulation, including Direct Vision, to ensure that the UK remains a leader in vehicle safety.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. Data on mineral extraction in Great Britain for the period 2009 – 2014 is available online at Minerals surveys - GOV.UK ( www.gov.uk ) and from 1999 to 2008 can be found on the Office for National Statistics website. Further data on UK and export sales of peat sourced from Scotland since 2011 is gathered for the UK Growing Media Monitor ( https://hta.org.uk/associations-committees-groups/growing-media-association/gma-research ) and provides insight into the volumes of peat extracted for horticulture in Scotland, the main end use of extracted peat.

The Scottish Government are committed to banning the sale of peat related gardening products, as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture, and we are currently preparing to consult on this issue. Our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) sets out that development proposals for new commercial peat extraction, including extensions to existing sites, should not be supported unless the extracted peat is supporting an industry of national importance to Scotland.

We will also give consideration, through our peatland restoration programme, to whether and what further data may be required to support future monitoring of progress against targets.

The answer to question S6W-05441 accurately reflects the Scottish Government’s position on the eligibility of individuals for Adult Disability Payment in relation to state pension age. The reference in ‘Adult Disability Payment Q&A’, available at Adult Disability Payment Q&A , relates to new applications for Adult Disability Payment, which can only be made by individuals between 16 years old and state pension age.

Work on the Global Affairs Framework is continuing and the Framework will be published in due course.

Using Contracts for Difference published strike prices, the electricity being generated from offshore wind is currently priced at £39.65 per megawatt hour – compared to £92.50 per megawatt hour for the energy generated from Hinkley nuclear power plant. Using these figures, and UK Government estimates of future wholesale electricity costs, it can be seen that in 2030 alone, Hinkley could add almost £40 a year to a consumer bill, whilst the equivalent offshore wind farm would reduce consumer bills by £8 a year. This is due to the fact that in 2030, using these estimates, offshore wind prices will be lower than future average wholesale prices, whilst nuclear prices will be higher..

The Scottish Government has provided more than £124m to support woodland creation across Scotland over the last three years, delivering increasing levels of new planting towards the Scottish Government’s ambitious climate change and biodiversity targets. Table 1 shows how much funding has been provided in each of those years, broken down by the woodland creation type supported through the Forestry Grant Scheme, demonstrating our commitment to supporting a wide variety of forests and implementing the principle of “the right tree, in the right place, for the right reasons.”

Yes, we will continue to encourage rail operators in their use of new media tools to improve levels of customer service. Since ScotRail launched their Whatsapp facility in September 2019, they have received approximately 45,000 messages via WhatsApp.

ScotRail advise that messages concerning ticket buying accounted for around 20 per cent of all messages. 134 messages in total related to accessibility. WhatsApp remains the least used of ScotRail’s three main channels, with incoming messages on Twitter for the same period at around 438,000, and Facebook at 80,000.

Caledonian Sleeper is introducing a Live Chat facility. While being rolled out on a ‘soft launch’ basis it is already receiving 50+ messages a day, and it is planned that this will be adopted on a formal basis in the coming months.

Caledonian Sleeper has the facility to text all of its guests and also regularly messages them on social media as requested.

Following consultation in late 2021 to inform the development of the necessary secondary legislation and guidance, we will today publish the consultation results and analysis which will be available via the following web link : https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/implementing-part-three-of-the-transport-scotland-act-2019-bus-services-analysis-of-consultation-responses/

A high level summary of the main aspects and consultation responses is provided as follows:

Section 34 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 Act (“the Act”) provides local transport authorities (LTAs) with the power to run their own services in any way they see fit within the wider context of their obligations. This power sits alongside their existing ability to subsidise services. On this, respondents indicated no desire for additional duties to be imposed on LTAs in how they run services. Instead, respondents made suggestions on supporting information to help implement this provision, including in relation to legislative requirements, competition impacts, the sharing and generation of data and information for planning public transport networks, examples of best practice and case studies, and funding for LTAs to implement the provisions.

Sections 35 to 37 of the Act provide for Bus Service Improvement Partnerships which are a new type of statutory partnership between LTAs and bus operators. As part of a partnership, a range of service standards can be set, including on the frequency or timing of services, the vehicles used, maximum fares charged for particular journeys, and the pricing of multi-operator travel cards. Respondents commented on a range of aspects relating to the operation of the model, including processes related to the preparation, variation and revocation of partnership plans and schemes, the partnership voting mechanism, accessibility provisions and the scrutiny of the partnership, among others.

Section 38 of the Act provides for local services franchising which allows LTAs to award exclusive rights for the operation of a service or services to the most competitive bidder for a set period under certain conditions. During this period, no other operator can run those services. On franchising, respondents commented on guidance required for LTAs on the making of a franchise assessment, guidance for auditors assessing the LTA’s business case for a franchising framework, relevant information required, and the composition of the independent panel considering the making of the framework.

In relation to the implementation timeline, we plan to commence section 34 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 (Provision of bus services etc. by local transport authorities) before the summer recess and lay the legislation necessary for commencement of section 39 (provision of service information when varying or cancelling a registration) before the end of this year. We aim to introduce the necessary secondary legislation for sections 35 to 38 (Bus Service Improvement Partnerships and local services franchises) before the end of 2023.

Today we have published Scotland’s first National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804350058

We have worked, in partnership with our co-producers COSLA and extensively engaged with Stakeholders from across Health and Social Care to develop the Strategy.

The Strategy outlines our shared vision for the workforce, a sustainable, skilled workforce with attractive career choices where all are respected and valued for the work they do.

This vision supports our tri-partite ambition of Recovery, Growth and Transformation of our Workforce. In the strategy we look at the whole workforce journey and how we can plan for, attract, train, employ and nurture our Health and Social Care Workforce. This is the first time we have articulated a workforce strategy for our Health and Social Care workforce in this way.

We acknowledge the challenges the pandemic has brought not only for our services but also for our workforce and that is why that is why through this strategy we seek to embed a new long-term approach. The strategy expressly commits to increasing our understanding of demographic change in demand for services and details actions we will take to further understand how we can use this information to achieve a more sustainable, skilled workforce and how we can make careers, at all levels, in health and social care more attractive.

The Strategy recognises that although we have seen continued growth in our workforce for the last 10 consecutive years, we know that growth in the workforce alone will not deliver the services the people of Scotland need now and will need into the future. Our tripartite aim supports our NHS Recovery Plan and recovery of our Social Care services and workforce.

The Strategy sets out the actions we will take in partnership with the workforce to achieve our vision.

One such action is to publish our indicative projections for the Health and Social Care Workforce growth later this year. This will allow us to expressly incorporate evidence from 3 year Workforce Plans (which will also be published in due course by Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships) and the forthcoming revised Medium-Term Financial Framework. We will review these projections annually and as more evidence becomes available.

We will review the strategy and progress on the actions therein, annually and in line with any further considerations and evidence which emerges.