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Every action is being taken to facilitate an early decision on this funding, following which officials will be in contact with stakeholders.

The Scottish Budget confirmed that the financial outlook for 2024-25 across Government is particularly challenging with future prospects continuing to be volatile. As such, the 2024-25 budget is a single year spending plan and no decisions have been made in relation to the budget for the Strengthening Communities Programme from 1 April 2025.

The Scottish Government fully appreciates the hard work and dedication of partners in Scotland around delivering employability services which support a reduction in child poverty levels and support those facing structural barriers to enter into and sustain employment. Discussions are continuing to finalise allocations, with funding being released as decisions are taken to ensure activities in agreed areas can proceed as soon as possible.

Within the context of the challenging budget position for 2024-25, achieving a balanced budget requires difficult decisions and robust spending control. Discussions are ongoing to work through priorities and finalise funding allocations within budget lines, including the Strengthening Communities Programme (SCP). Funding is being released as decisions are taken so ensuring that activity can proceed in agreed areas as soon as possible whilst this review continues.

However, in response to ongoing discussions with Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS) and other SCP partners, the release of funds to support April salaries costs is being processed for the community organisations supported by DTAS. Officials are in regular communication with DTAS and the other SCP delivery partners on this issue.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) do not undertake any road upgrades, or build new roads, for the purpose of windfarm development. FLS include the right for a windfarm developer to upgrade roads or build new roads, at their expense, within a lease agreement. FLS will only enter into a lease and permit civil engineering works relating to windfarm construction once the development has received planning approval.

Since 2011 Scottish Ministers have invested over £65 million in public EV charging. Scotland now has over 5,000 public EV charge points and is on target to have 6,000 public EV charge points by 2026, through a combination of public and increasing private sector investment. Scotland has the best provision of public EV charge points per head of population of anywhere in the UK, outside of London, and the most rapid charge points per head of population of any region in the UK.

Transport Scotland has also to-date provided £5.7 million to support the installation of 18,861 domestic charge points and £10.8 million to support 1,432 higher powered workplace charge points, complementing the public network.

In June 2023 the Scottish Government published its Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network, highlighting the need for a transition towards a public charging network that is largely financed and delivered by the private sector. In 2024, the private sector is forecast to invest £40 million to £55 million in public EV charging in Scotland.

The Government is investing a further £30 million through our EV infrastructure fund, supporting Local Authorities across Scotland, and prioritising areas of Scotland that are less likely to attract private investment, including rural and island communities.

Since 21-22, the Scottish Government has provided over £15 million of financial support to Local Authorities to support the installing of public EV charge points.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) manage the nursing and midwifery Return to Practice education provision on behalf of Scottish Government.

Although the deadline has passed, the tender process is still live, and NES expects to publish the award on the Public Contracts Scotland website in the week commencing 24 June 2024.

The Scottish Government recognises that certainty of funding is critical to allow Local Employability Partnerships to plan provision effectively and to provide security for the people accessing services through No One Left Behind. That is why the Scottish Budget 2024-25 sets out our commitment to explore future multi-year funding for employability. We will be working to determine the detail underpinning this commitment in the coming months.

An open bidding process was issued in 2023 for projects to support delivery of the Scottish Government’s sexual health and blood borne virus goals. The successful projects were published alongside the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan and include a number of local initiatives which contribute to the aims of the HIV Transmission Elimination (HIVTE) Delivery Plan. Further funding for some actions within the HIVTE plan is still to be finalised.

The Scottish Government has confirmed a budget of around £1.7m per year to deliver the actions contained within the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus (SHBBV) Action Plan 2023-26. This includes a range of projects that support HIV transmission elimination, details of which were published with the SHBBV plan.

Within this, the Scottish Government has also provided funding for the national HIV anti-stigma campaign (£250,000 in 2022-23), the development of an ePrEP clinic (£400,000 in 2022-23), emergency department opt-out testing pilots (£145,000), online postal self-sampling for STIs and HIV (£119,000 in 2023-24, and £300,000 per year allocated in 2024-25 and 2025-26) and the Terrence Higgins Trust HIV self-test service (around £100,000 per year).