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The length of closures (in hours / minutes) of the A9 between Inverness and Perth due to an accident between 2018 and 2023 (to date), month by month are detailed in the following table:

The information extracted does not provide for the differentiation between a closure of the road in both directions or when the road is only closed in one direction and each incident has been recorded as a ‘road closure.’

The length of closures (in hours / minutes) of the A9 between Inverness and Scrabster due to an accident between 2018 and 2023 (to date), month by month are detailed in the following table:

The CashBack for Communities fund is a unique programme that reinvests money recovered from the proceeds of crime to support young people across Scotland.

Phase 5 of the CashBack for Communities programme ran from 2020 to 2023. Twelve organisations received CashBack funding in the Highland area in 2022-23, with 11 of those organisations receiving Cashback support from organisations based elsewhere in Scotland.

Phase 6 of the CashBack programme runs from 2023 to 2026. Following a highly competitive funding round, one Highland-based organisation has been awarded CashBack funding to deliver projects over the three-year period. The project plans of three organisations out with the Highland area include plans to develop and deliver CashBack activities in partnership with Highland–based organisations.

Details of all the Phase 6 CashBack partners are available on the CashBack for Communities website: https://cashbackforcommunities.org/

The Scottish Land Commission was asked to run two initial workshops for the project partners in order to inform partners about the policy context, expectations and guidance for community engagement and benefit and consider how these are built into the way the partners will operate. No decisions on community benefit, engagement and ownership have yet been taken as the design phase for each project will engage with relevant local community groups, including those involved locally in ownership of land, to design an approach to community benefit which works for the communities local to each project. This will explore community benefit, community engagement and options for community ownership, where an opportunity for transfer of ownership, or shared ownership, exists. Notes from the workshops can be made available on request.

Scottish Government officials are not involved in the detail of the individual pilot projects, nor engagement with land managers. In both pilot projects the project team includes local delivery partners such as the Tweed Forum, who will be making introductions to land owners and land managers, not NatureScot.

The £2 billion figure represents the current, combined investment appetite from the private partners. It is an indicative sum, subject to detailed negotiation of investment in specific projects. Detailed financial modelling and risk assessment will be undertaken for each investment before the investors make a firm financial commitment to each project. It is not a cap on investment through this partnership, nor an assessment of the total financing requirements of specific projects, rather it represents the current budget available.

The detailed workings of the project governance board and what role it will have in the approval of investment cases are still to be agreed. This will be agreed by the board later in 2023, prior to investment decisions being taken. Consideration of an investment case for the project in the Scottish Borders is aimed to take place in late 2023/early 2024.

The ethical framework will be approved and monitored by the project governance board. NatureScot will make available a draft version to interested parties on request to gather feedback.

The Scottish Government continues to make progress to deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to develop a framework for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men’s demand for prostitution, and to support those with experience of it.

Principles to underpin the Framework were published in December 2022. The principles have been adopted across Scottish Government and we will look to have them incorporated within the planned refresh of Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to take action on all forms of violence against women and girls. The principles will also inform relevant policy and practice across the wider public and third sector, in turn supporting Scotland’s collective approach to tackling Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

The key focus throughout 2023 will be to use the principles to define the component parts of a Framework that will improve access to support for any adult with experience of prostitution, and at the same time challenge men’s demand. We anticipate being able to outline the component parts of the framework before the end of the year.

As with the development of the principles, we will continue to work with stakeholders as this work progresses and keep them advised of progress.

There is a wide range of legislation which applies to the Scottish Government to protect Scotland’s wildlife and habitats, including specific duties which fall on individual authorities to protect, conserve and restore the protected habitats and species of European sites.

NatureScot’s role as set out in the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991 includes securing the conservation and enhancement of the natural heritage of Scotland. All public bodies have a duty under Section 1 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 to further the conservation of biodiversity when carrying out their work, where appropriate and in line with the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity.

Furthermore, for Scotland’s terrestrial and marine environments, the requirements of in the Habitats Directive and the Wild Birds Directive apply, setting out the rules for the protections and management of certain habitats and species, including wild bird species, to ensure their long term conservation.

For example, under Regulation 3A of the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994, Scottish Ministers and NatureScot must take steps in the exercise of their functions to preserve, maintain and re-establish sufficient diversity and area of habitat for wild birds in Scotland.

While there is no explicit legal duty on the Scottish Ministers or its agencies to increase species abundance, this does form one of the key outcomes envisaged in the draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-biodiversity-strategy-2045-tackling-nature-emergency-scotland/ . The protected areas networks on land and sea includes sites for nature conservation, protection of biodiversity, demonstrating sustainable management and protecting our heritage. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Special Ares of Protection (SPAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are just a few examples of the protected areas designated under retained European Law, UK and Scottish legislation by Scottish Ministers which go to form a network of protected sites. These sites ensure protection for some of the most vulnerable species and habitats within Scotland.