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Support with travel costs for music instructors in rural local authority areas is ultimately the responsibility of local authorities as their employer.

Music instructors working in remote schools or who are employed in a school on a distant island, receive a remote school or distant islands allowance as stipulated by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers Handbook (SNCT) in addition to the normal salary. These payments are made directly by the relevant local authority. There are, however, conditions to these allowances which are outlined in the SNCT handbook (Appendix 2.5).

As a result of £65m of public investment since 2011, and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has one of the most comprehensive public EV charging networks of any part of the UK, with over 5,800 public EV charge points, and is on target to have 6,000 public charge points by 2026. On a per head of population basis Scotland has more public charge points than any other part of the UK except London, and more rapid charge points than any other part of the UK.

The Scottish Government does not collect information about how many public EV charge points are suitable for any particular vehicle type. However, EV charge point parking spaces designed to accommodate passenger cars should also be able to accommodate the majority of light commercial vehicles which have broadly similar dimensions. Engagement with industry suggests that many larger fleets do not intend to make use of the public EV charging network in Scotland and are instead working with commercial charge point operators to develop fleet-specific solutions.

Figures for the full time equivalent (FTE) number of operational staff in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service at year end 2023-24 can be found at the SFRS published Fire Safety and Organisational Statistics 2023/24. These are a snapshot of the organisation on 31 March 2024 Fire Safety and Organisational Statistics, 2023-2024, Statistics | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk).

For ease of reference the figure of FTE operational staff at the end of 2023-24 is 3419.

The Grangemouth Future Industry Board continues to meet regularly with the last meeting of the programme board taking place on 19 August. At the invitation of the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Net Zero, the leadership forum will now be co-chaired by the UK Government Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the UK Government and Petroineos. Most recently the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Net Zero convened a trilateral discussion with the UK Government and Petroineos on 2 September. The Scottish Government has used these engagements to consistently convey to the business that refining must continue at Grangemouth for as long as practicable.

The estimated number of Full Time Equivalent operational staff for 2025/26 is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Workforce figures up to the year 2023/24 are available on the SFRS website at Statistics | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk)

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29112 on 5 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at - https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Officials are working together with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that the work on advancing human rights, including the proposals around extending rights protections in law, is compatible and aligned with the public sector equality duty and other existing requirements on bodies exercising public functions.

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme team works closely with stroke services in all NHS boards to use learning from the Scottish Stroke Care Audit to support improvement across the whole stroke pathway, including timely access to thrombolysis.

We have established a National Stroke Engagement Forum, with representation from every NHS Board, with the aim of tackling common challenges in the delivery of stroke care and sharing best practice and novel approaches to care delivery. Improving thrombolysis times will be a focus of the National Stroke Engagement Forum.

Officials met with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on 26 June, where Places for Everyone was included as part of the discussion.

Transport Scotland has already provided £46.7 million of funding to Sustrans for Places for Everyone for 2024-25 which will deliver a range of active travel infrastructure this year. More broadly in 2024-25 more than £145 million has been provided for Active Travel.

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 faces a financial position that is extremely challenging. It is always necessary to ensure resources are used economically, efficiently and effectively, and increased scrutiny and spending controls are in place across all expenditure. As with all programmes across Scottish Government, further funding for Places for Everyone will need to be considered in this context for 2024-25. This consideration is currently on-going and once concluded will enable further decisions to be made.