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The Scottish Government recognises the importance of soil biodiversity including earthworm populations which bring multiple benefits to both Scotland’s ecosystems and natural environment as well as food production.

We are taking steps to protect the health of our soils and thereby protect and conserve earthworms in Scotland. In the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill, one of the four Objectives is ‘the adoption and use of sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices’, and the Bill states that Scottish Ministers must prepare and publish a Code of Practice providing guidance on sustainable and regenerative agriculture. With actions to promote soil health being the cornerstone of regenerative agriculture, the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill shows the Scottish Governments clear commitment to soil health.

Further to this, the Agricultural Reform List of Measures published in 2023, were drafted to meet Outcomes that included; improving soil biodiversity, and increase soil carbon/organic matter content. This List of Measures gives an indication of the type of soil health measures that are being developed through the Agricultural Reform Programme that will directly benefit earthworms in Scotland. Support is available to farmers and crofters as part of Preparing for Sustainable Farming?(PSF) which is helping businesses prepare for changes with support for conducting soil sampling and analysis.

We recognise the important role that programmes like MCR Pathways can play in supporting young people towards positive outcomes. Coordinators, who are often employed directly by local authorities, play an important role within the MCR Pathways programme, including building relationships with young people and supporting mentors.

Since 2021-22 the Scottish Government has provided approximately £5.5M to MCR Pathways to allow it to expand its programme.

We have already implemented significant reforms to the planning system to reduce pressures by streamlining processes and providing a robust and up to date policy framework. We have significantly extended permitted development rights, to remove certain applications from the planning system, providing certainty and reducing processing for authorities and agencies.

Our current consultation Investing in Planning aims to support improvement in the delivery of planning services, including streamlining the assessments required to support applications, project managing applications, improving engagement and taking a proactive approach.

In addition to system changes, we fund Scotland’s National Planning Improvement Champion who is working with individual planning authorities to pilot a new National Planning Improvement Framework (NPIF) to identify areas of improvement and support authorities to take actions forward.

The Self-Build Loan Fund (“the Fund”) offers short-term loan funding of up to £175,000 to self-builders who are unable to access standard bank lending, to assist with development costs to support build completion. The Fund is not intended to replace market lending and provides short-term loan funding to borrowers who have exhausted finding alternative market options. The focus is on supporting projects with the necessary consents in place to allow work to commence quickly, and already delivers genuinely additional new homes primarily but not exclusively in rural areas.

On 18 April 2024 I wrote to Kevin Hollinrake MP, with a list of 15 straightforward draft amendments to the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill which would have the effect of extending the scope of that Bill to cover Scotland. In doing so I urged him to table these amendments and bring certainty and clarity for those who have suffered wrongful convictions in Scotland.

Minister Hollinrake responded on 22 April 2024 to note that the UK Government was not seeking to extend the territorial extent of the Bill to Scotland, whilst at the same time noting that the UK Government would however be tabling amendments to the Bill to include convictions in Northern Ireland with the Bill's scope.

The UK Bill is due to next be debated on 29 April 2024, and draft amendments to extend the Bill to Scotland have been tabled. Should they not be accepted into the UK Bill then Scottish Government will bring forward Scottish legislation to ensure that sub-postmasters in Scotland receive justice.

As we have done for over a decade, the Scottish Government continues to keep fares comparatively lower on average than across the rest of Great Britain.

Train fares for ScotRail under public ownership have been set having regard to affordability for passengers and inflation which affects the cost of delivery of rail services. The Scottish Government has introduced the trial removal of peak fares in this period to help keep fares affordable in this period of cost of living challenge and to encourage more people to commute by train.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review recommends that bus priority interventions are implemented within Scotland’s cities and towns where congestion is highest and that bus priority measures continue to be identified and implemented on the trunk road and motorway network.

In the case of the trunk road and motorway network, Transport Scotland will progress its plans for the M8, M77 and M80, building on the earlier appraisal and business case work. This will be informed by new post COVID traffic data analysis and will reflect the latest policy landscape which continues to evolve. All of this work is aimed at ensuring that these important changes are fully captured in the development of a robust business case.

In terms of stakeholder interest, Transport Scotland will continue work with Glasgow City Council and partners to identify the schemes which could be supported in the future. This is as part of achieving the Council’s wider aspirations for the M8 around the City Centre and an integrated approach to bus service improvement.

The Scottish Government and its partners have regular engagement with the UK Government to ensure a strategic approach and alignment of activity around Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

We welcome the recommendations from the Harrington Review to increase investment and expansion of the Office for Investment (OFI) and to improve collaboration and understanding of investment strengths between the UK Government and Devolved Administrations through the appointment of regional specialists. We have been engaging with the UK Government on the Review and Scottish Development International now has a dedicated resource in place at the OFI to support collaboration around attracting further investment opportunities to Scotland.

Scotland has a strong record in attracting FDI and our Inward Investment Plan is key to supporting Scotland’s growth clusters. EY’s independent Annual Attractiveness Survey 2023 shows that Scotland has been the most attractive investment location outside of London for the last eight years.

The Dumfries and Galloway (D&G) Out of Hours Service do not operate an 'on-call' model of service.

Whilst the number of GPs working in the Out of Hours service is not collected routinely by the Board, in the 30 days up to the 11 April, when the Parliamentary Question was lodged, there were 240 required shifts at the Dumfries Royal Infirmary base, of which 233 were filled. this equates to 97.08% coverage. In the same period, there were 92 required shifts at the Galloway Community Hospital base, of which 69 were filled. This equates to 75% coverage.

NHS D&G have robust arrangements in place to cover any GP cover shortages, with remote cover being provided from the centre in Dumfries and arrangements in place with A&E to re-direct if this is deemed clinically appropriate. The service maintains the home visiting service throughout and operates a wraparound nursing service to provide Out of Hours healthcare as required.

Despite the powers to mandate community benefits being reserved to the UK Government, through our voluntary approach - supported by our Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy Developments - over £26 million of community benefits have been offered to Scottish communities in the last 12 months.

As part of the Onshore Wind Sector Deal, the sector committed to meet or exceed our Good Practice Principles, which is an important milestone in our work to ensure these principles are universally adopted by developers.

We are currently reviewing our Good Practice Principles for Offshore Renewables, ahead of public consultation in 2024.