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As for all major road projects, owners of land purchased for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route will receive fair compensation, independently assessed by the District Valuer.

Negotiations are ongoing between the District Valuer and claimants for the remaining compensation cases for land purchased on the scheme. Each of these claims are being considered on a case by case basis on their own individual circumstances to ensure a fair compensation figure is agreed in accordance with the compensation code. Final payment can only be made once agreement is reached between the parties.

The Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1973 (as amended) also provides a mechanism for compensation in the loss in value of a property when attributed to the use of new or improved roads. Part I of the Act extends compensation to those who have not had land purchased for the scheme but are affected by the use of a new or improved road. Part I compensation claims relating to the depreciation of property from the use of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route are currently under active consideration by the District Valuer. Negotiations are anticipated to commence with claimants and their representatives in the coming months with payment following thereafter once agreement has been reached.

The RAIB report into the Carmont accident did not state that the High Speed Trains (HSTs) are unsafe. There is a need to identify the optimum programme of any practicable changes that may emerge from the analysis of duty holders and safety bodies in following the recommendations of the RAIB Carmont Report with respect to HSTs in Scotland.

The aim is to do this in a practical way, and in an appropriate timescale in the context of the Scottish Government’s plans for decarbonisation of the rail network and the development of the future train fleet which will support that objective.

Under the terms of their contracts, our Operating Companies have indemnified Scottish Ministers against claims of damage. As such they are liable for all claims and associated costs made in relation to road defects, and are required to deal directly with claimants with respect to all claims in relation to the operation of the trunk road network.

The Scottish Government hold central records for its own and Transport Scotland’s fleet. A breakdown is provided in the following table.

Edinburgh Tram tickets can be purchased in three ways: centrally via the Travel Management Team; via electronic procurement card (ePC); or the cost claimed back via a Travel and Subsistence (T&S) expenses claim. The total costs for Lothian Bus/Tram tickets are shown in the following table.

In all cases the tickets can be used on either Lothian Buses or Edinburgh Trams and it is not possible to disaggregate the cost for Trams only.

The cost of all tickets bought centrally in 2014 and 2015, and ePC transactions prior to 2019, are not held.

We are carefully considering all recommendations made in the report on the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy, and will set out our initial response in June. This includes the recommendation that industry, local authorities and the Scottish Government should do more to make data around waste in general, and around incineration in particular, more transparent and accessible for all stakeholders.

Official Statistics on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions are published annually ( Scottish Greenhouse Gas statistics: 1990-2019 ) and are based on a disaggregation of the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory, overseen by the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

At the time of writing, the UK Inventory does not allow for the isolation of data for emissions from incineration as opposed to other energy-related emissions. Such decisions are a matter for BEIS and are informed by the UK National Inventory Steering Committee of which the Scottish Government is a member. If in future, data from energy-related emissions in the UK Inventory is disaggregated to show emissions from incineration separately, we would expect this to also then be reflected in the Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics publication.

We are carefully considering the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in Scotland’s Waste Hierarchy. We will set out our initial response to the recommendations in June 2022.

The recently published report of the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy recommends that the Scottish Government should develop an indicative cap that declines over time for the amount of residual waste treatment needed as Scotland transitions towards a fully circular economy. We are carefully considering all recommendations made in the report and will set out our initial response in June.

Scottish Ministers have committed to ending the practice of landfilling biodegradable municipal waste by 2025. In the update to our Climate Change Plan, we also committed to extend the ban to include biodegradable non-municipal waste, subject to appropriate consultation and work to provide assurance around some specific waste streams..

The Scottish Government, working with Zero Waste Scotland and local government partners, is providing centrally co-ordinated procurement support for local authorities without a solution in place in preparation for the ban coming into force in 2025. As part of this collaborative procurement programme, we are funding the provision of expert procurement, legal and technical support to local authorities to enable them to secure alternative solutions for their residual waste.