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A number of public health campaigns will continue to run. Public Health Scotland will continue to undertake targeted communications work for vaccine programmes, including Winter Flu, to ensure those who are eligible for vaccinations are aware and encouraged to take them up. The Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Early and Dementia campaigns are currently running and a number of public health topics continue to be supported by social media, public relations and partner marketing, which is delivered directly by the Scottish Government Communications Directorate.

Transport Scotland has already allocated over £145 million of our 2024-25 budget to delivery partners across both Active Travel infrastructure and behaviour change. 2024-25 is the first year for a local authority and Regional Transport Partnerships led delivery model for infrastructure and behaviour change programmes that will encourage a shift towards more walking, wheeling and cycling. This funding remains in place.

The utmost importance is placed on balancing the Scottish Government’s budget each financial year. The Scottish Government and the whole of the public sector face a financial position that is extremely challenging. As with all programmes across Scottish Government, further active travel funding will need to be considered in this context for 2024-25. As the active and sustainable travel funding referred to in the Cabinet Secretary for Finance’s Pre-Budget Fiscal Update had not been allocated, no organisations nor local authorities will see their previously confirmed 2024-25 funding reduced as a result.

Following the UK Chancellor's July statement, the Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution.

Whilst any reduction is regrettable, we remain committed to taking forward our work across mental health, working closely with key partners. Our collective focus has to be on making as much difference as possible with our funding.

We continually monitor both CAMHS and Psychological therapies (PT) waiting times performance and directly engage with all 14 territorial NHS Boards. The latest CAMHS and PT waiting times statistics published on 3 September 2024 show positive signs of improvement. However, we are not complacent and continue to direct enhanced support to those NHS Boards with the longest waits.

Assessments of revenue impact will be taken in the course of the Scottish Budget using up to date data relating to the non-domestic rates tax base and inflation. Indicative revenue changes of the result of a 1p change to the basic, intermediate and higher property rates were published in Scottish Tax – changes for 2023 to 2024 ready reckoners which can be found here : Summary - Scottish Tax - changes for 2023 to 2024: ready reckoners - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

It is not practical to estimate the behavioural response of businesses to any change in the Higher Property Rate that may arise from restoring parity with the English Standard Multiplier in order to assess the economic impact robustly.

It is however possible to assess the financial impact of changes in liability for an individual business. The median rateable value for properties liable to pay the Higher Property Rate in Scotland is £191,000. The additional gross non-domestic rates liability for a property with that rateable value in Scotland in 2024-25 is £2,483.

Following the award of the construction contract for HMP Highland in April this year, the construction is progressing to plan on site and is scheduled to complete in 2026.

The upcoming Disability Equality Plan, however, will set out an intention to improve disability-specific evidence in collaboration with Disabled Peoples Organisations.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of analysing, collecting and publishing disability data alongside other equalities breakdowns. This is set out in the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025.

There is currently no plan to repeat this publication.

The Scottish Government does still plan to publish the recommendations of the Transmission Network Short Life Working Group (SLWG).

Alongside this, we will also publish the Terms of Reference of the Transmission Steering Group (TSG), which have recently been finalised by the group. The TSG has been established in order to implement priority actions in the SLWG Report and monitor their progress.

Both documents are currently being assessed for accessibility compliance and are currently due to be published on the Scottish Government website in the week commencing 30 September 2024.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecasts from December 2023 estimate the cost of Hospitality Relief for Islands and Specified Remote areas to be £4 million in 2024-25. An Island Communities Impact Assessment, published alongside the Non-Domestic Rates (Islands and Remote Areas Hospitality Relief) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 which deliver this relief, considers the impact of this relief.

Safety is a paramount priority and the Scottish Government fully supports Police Scotland and its partners in dealing with illegal use and misuse of off-road vehicles.

Enforcement is a matter for Police Scotland and local policing teams are best placed to identify where misuse is causing public concern and ensuring those areas can be prioritised to prevent future incidents. Police Scotland have previously outlined work within local policing divisions that raises awareness about the dangers of the misuse of these vehicles and we encourage local authorities to continue to work with Police Scotland to address this issue.

Within Glasgow, there are a range of initiatives being pursued by Police Scotland working closely with partners including Glasgow City Council. This includes nine officers within the Greater Glasgow Division who are trained with off-road motorbike capability and can access hard to reach local areas and open spaces. The local division also promotes social media messaging promoting legal use of these vehicles.