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Ministers regularly raise concerns about human rights abuses with the Chinese government. The First Minister reiterated these concerns in his meeting with Ambassador Zheng Zeguang.

The Scottish Government take seriously reports of pressure being put on universities in relation to a proposed arrangement between the City of Edinburgh Council and Kaohsiung. The decision as to whether to enter a friendship arrangement with Kaohsiung is for the elected councillors from the City of Edinburgh Council. The Scottish Government continues to engage with the FCDO, who lead the relationship with the Embassy, on this issue to ensure appropriate action is taken.

No compensation is available, from CalMac Ferries or NorthLink Ferries, for islanders when their trip is cancelled.

Airline passengers should expect air services to operate as scheduled. The aviation regulatory regime is Reserved to the UK Government and the Scottish Government has no power to intervene in the operation of air services. Passenger rights in relation to aviation in the UK, including in relation to service disruption, are overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

In respect of islanders attending NHS appointments, under the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme, financial support for travel to hospital is available for patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. Health boards are responsible for reimbursing patient travel expenses, in line with Scottish Government guidance, and are expected to support patients to identify and access support available.

Ministers considered a range of options for conducting the review of Community Right to Buy. The selected option – a review led by the SG Community Right to Buy team – was chosen as the best, and most cost-effective, way to ensure the flexibility of process required to align with the stages of the Land Reform Bill.

I welcome this report from Zero Waste Scotland, alongside its ongoing circular economy business support service. It is vital that we understand and tackle the barriers Scottish businesses face in adopting more circular operating models, ensuring we value materials and keep them in use for as long as possible. This is key for our efforts to address the climate emergency and nature crises, and create opportunities for investment and economic growth.

To the end of March 2024, 21,092 homes have been delivered towards the target. In the absence of future year budget assumptions we do not have current projections towards the 110,000 affordable homes target. There is additional uncertainty due to the upcoming UK budget on 30 October following the Prime Minister’s statement on 27 September which indicated that the autumn budget would be “painful”.

The Scottish Government through its subsidy, has funded publicly owned ScotRail Trains Ltd., Caledonian Sleeper Ltd and ferry operators, namely CalMac and Serco, in Scotland. This includes meeting their obligations to provide accessible transport as set out in various, relevant legislation.

The National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People provides free travel on local and long distance scheduled bus journeys throughout Scotland for eligible disabled people living in Scotland.

In 2014 the Ferries Accessibility Fund worth a total of £500,000, was launched by the Scottish Government to improve accessibility on Scotland’s ferry network as part of the Ferries Review and Plan 2013-2022; which has successfully delivered a number of projects that improve accessibility across the ferry network.

Although its focus is on supporting bus operators in meeting our Net Zero targets, the second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB 2) funded 252 buses and coaches of various sizes. The majority of these vehicles must comply with the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR 2000). ScotZEB 2 also offered funding towards the installation of wheelchair space in vehicles which did not need to comply with PSVAR 2000 regulations.

In most cases, permitted development rights (PDR) allow certain developments to be carried out without reference to the planning authority – provided the relevant PDR conditions are complied with. Therefore, such developments do not require an application for planning permission to be submitted to and approved by a planning authority and, accordingly, data is not available on those developments carried out under PDR.

However, a small number of PDR are subject to a process known as “prior notification/prior approval”. The planning authority’s determination is limited to the particular matters specified in the relevant PDR class – for example, siting, design or appearance. Although there is no statutory requirement to do so, planning authorities should keep records of prior notification/prior approval cases.

Data on prior notification/approvals form part of the statistics that are submitted by planning authorities and form the basis of the Scottish Government’s Official Statistics available on https://www.gov.scot/collections/planning-statistics/. Most recent figures are available https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-applications-statistics-2022-23-annual-quarterly-october-2022-march-2023/documents/

The information is broken down into certain development types. However, the figures are not broken down by local authority area.

As set out in our National Carers Strategy, the Scottish Government recognises the importance of young carers being identified so that they can be supported in achieving their educational and wider goals.

Under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships are responsible for supporting young carers of all ages. Much of this support is delivered on their behalf by local third sector young carer projects and carer centres, and can include counselling, peer support groups and short break opportunities.

Young carers can also benefit from Scottish Government funded voluntary sector short breaks delivered through four national schemes – ‘Better Breaks’, ‘Creative Breaks’, ‘Time to Live’ and ‘Take a Break Scotland’.

In respect of the Young Carers Package, this is delivered on our behalf by Young Scot through their wider platform for children and young people. Young Scot Membership accounts are limited to young people age 12+, and the content of the package is designed for those aged between 12 and 18.

11 year old young carers can access a limited offline version of the package by completing a short form. Through this they will receive a £50 Love 2 Shop voucher which they can use to access a range of retailers. This is designed to provide a taste of what the package is like and encourage young carers to sign up to the full package once they turn 12.

We would encourage all young carers (including those under 11) and their families to contact their local young carer service, and to also speak with their schools about additional support they can offer.

We fund an Education Officer at Carers Trust Scotland, who works with Education Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Qualification Authority to help ensure education staff are aware of young carers and are able to support them appropriately. This has included producing a free and accredited e-module for all education staff to help them better understand how they can identify and support young carers.

Additionally, school nurses also have young carers as one of their 10 priorities. Once a young carer is referred to a school nurse with concerns, the school nurse may complete a GIRFEC wellbeing assessment, support referrals onto specialist services when needed and support with transitions.

The Scottish Government is taking forward a phased approach to improvement, which will include efforts to enhance the regulatory regime in Scotland, within the limits of devolved competence. We intend on progressing key initiatives, including our approach to inclusive communications, pay gap reporting, and utilising ministerial powers under Regulation 11. We are also considering insights from commissioned international research to inform our policies.

However, after careful consideration, we will not pursue regulatory changes for inclusive communications at this time. I have updated stakeholders on this work in a communication on 14 August, 2024, reinforcing our commitment to equitable outcomes across the public sector.