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The Interim Report on the future approach to the procurement of lifeline ferry services was published on 20 December 2017. The report confirmed that a decision on the future approach to procuring these services would be taken ahead of the current contract for the Clyde and Hebrides ending in 2024.

Transport Scotland is undertaking work to review the current position regarding various aspects of procurement legislation and subsidy control in the context of EU exit and other changes since the publication of the interim report in 2017.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. However, you may wish to contact Scottish Local Authorities individually for information they may hold. The Scottish local government page of the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has contact information for each authority: https://www.cosla.gov.uk/councils .

Delays in obtaining an AWI (2) report will result in a delay in a guardianship order application being decided on by a sheriff. An application for a guardianship order can be for both property and financial matters, and for welfare matters. A sheriff will look to see that the principles of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 have been given effect to when deciding on a case and the mental health officer considers these principles when compiling the AWI (2) report.

Under new arrangements that came into place on 1 May 2021, fishing licences were varied prohibiting vessels from fishing for wrasse unless they were awarded a Letter of Derogation from Marine Scotland and signed up to fish in line with certain mandatory conditions.

In addition to the statutory requirements for fishermen to provide landings details on Form FISH1, Log Books and landings declarations, wrasse fishermen must also now submit to Marine Scotland a record of the total number of wrasse, by species landed for each trip made in each given week. Although the new arrangements are still bedding in, fishermen are now submitting these returns as required.

The fishery opened on 1 May but only a small number of vessels have harvested wrasse so far and I am therefore unable to provide the level of detail you seek as that might lead to individuals being identified. But I can provide a summary of landings.

Between 1 May and 19 June there were 78 landings totalling some 1700 kg, mostly in the Oban, Portree and Mallaig landing districts.

The licence conditions applying to all vessels that hold a Letter of Derogation to fish for wrasse require that all wrasse landings, including any that are made to an aquaculture facility, must be reported by fishermen directly to Marine Scotland. It is an offence to fail to do so and where conditions are breached Marine Scotland can take enforcement action which may lead to vessels losing access to the wrasse fishery.

The vision of our National Transport Strategy is that we will have a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system, helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors. The Strategy embeds the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy into decision making, by prioritising walking, wheeling, cycling and public and shared transport options in preference to single occupancy private car use.

It also confirms that future transport investment decisions will be made in line with the Sustainable Investment Hierarchy, ensuring that transport options that focus on the need to travel sustainably and reduce inequalities are prioritised.

I can confirm that Sustrans notified Transport Scotland of its decision to pause applications to the Places for Everyone (PfE) fund for all new projects, due to the fund currently being oversubscribed. Funds continue to be available for the delivery of existing PfE projects. Sustrans will review this position again in September 2021.

The Scottish Government recognises the severe impact that COVID-19 restrictions have on the events sector and on the ability of groups, including Pride organising groups, to organise large-scale gatherings and marches. The measures within the Strategic Framework , including physical distancing and limiting mass gatherings, have been crucial for controlling the virus, particularly as new and highly infectious strains emerge, and have been necessary and proportionate to protect lives and the NHS.

Since the start of the pandemic, Scotland’s LGBTI organisations have, where possible, arranged virtual alternatives to traditional Pride events, bringing people together to celebrate Scotland’s diverse and vibrant LGBT community. We are currently reviewing physical distancing measures, taking account of available and emerging evidence, including the ongoing rollout of the vaccination programme. Public events will be considered as part of this review.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have provided funding of over £74,000 to LGBTI organisations from the Immediate Priorities Fund. This includes:

• Funding to LGBT Health and Wellbeing to provide additional cover for the National LGBT Helpline, for an additional 2 days a week (which brings coverage from 2 days a week to overall 4 days a week) and to offer more tailored individual support for particularly isolated members of the community.
• Funding to Equality Network to increase access to Zoom for community groups, to maintain social connectivity.
• Funding to LGBT Youth Scotland, to fast track their digital youth work platform to ensure that young people are better supported during the pandemic and beyond.

A partnership of LGBTI organisations was also awarded short term funding of £87,700 from the Scottish Government’s Supporting Communities Fund, delivered via the National Lottery, to support a community response to COVID-19. Outputs included the creation of a dedicated LGBTI micro-site to: support Pride organisers to put on events; support LGBTI groups to provide social and COVID-19 services; and provide LGBTI digital care packages to up to 50 isolated LGBTI people through local LGBTI community groups. Further details of this can be found online at: https://www.equality-network.org/funding-announcement/ .

The draft remit for the work of the advisor on education reform was published on 17 June. The remit supports the recommendation made by the OECD for the need to simplify and better align the institutional structures that support our education system. We will shortly write to stakeholders seeking views on the remit in advance of Professor Muir taking up post in August. While I am happy to take views on the work of Professor Muir and his advisory panel I do want to see this work move on with pace and do not anticipate the final version diverging greatly from the key elements of the draft as it stands.

We are working with the Community Transport Association Scotland (CTA), community groups and other stakeholders to develop the sector and improve connectivity for community transport and other public transport users. Transport Scotland already has regular discussions with CTA about their ongoing work to promote and develop the sector in Scotland and issues affecting community transport groups.

Transport Scotland also provides annual grant funding to CTA to support this work. We have increased the grant for 2021-22 to enable CTA to undertake a mapping exercise looking at the extent and geographic spread of community transport groups and forums in Scotland. This work is part of CTA's proposals, submitted recently to Transport Scotland, for a Community Transport Investment Fund to make community transport more sustainable and better able to withstand the effects of the pandemic.

These proposals and mapping work will provide valuable information as we continue to work closely with CTA, the bus sector, local authorities and other transport stakeholders to understand the longer term impacts of the pandemic on demand for bus and community transport and how to support local bus service provision.

We have been providing additional funding to maintain bus services during the pandemic. As the pandemic and associated public health measures ease, we are working with bus operators, local transport authorities and other transport stakeholders to understand the longer term impacts and how best to support a recovery in bus services. As part of this work, we shall consider how present funding arrangements should evolve, including in particular how funding might be used to help support the provision of services in local communities and enable local authorities to look at delivering different bus services in their area.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to phase out the need for new petrol or diesel light commercial vehicles in public bodies by 2025; the need for any new petrol or diesel vehicles in public sector fleets by 2030; and the need for new petrol or diesel cars or vans by 2030.

The Scottish Government is aware of the issue of microplastic and other forms of pollution from road vehicles of all kinds. A 2019 report, “Non-Exhaust Emissions from Road Traffic” concluded the most effective mitigation strategies for reducing wear-generated fine particulate matter are: to reduce overall volumes of traffic; reduce speed limits; and promote good driving behaviour, all of which are part of our plans to reduce casualties and improve air quality.

Reducing the number and use of vehicles is central to reducing all types of pollution that they generate. The National Transport Strategy promotes walking, cycling, public transport and bike, car and ride sharing in preference to single occupancy car use. In the Climate Change Plan update published in December 2020, the Scottish Government committed to reducing car kilometres by 20% by 2030.