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To date, 37 projects from 25 local authorities have been approved for funding through the Recycling Improvement Fund (RIF) and the Fund’s Small Grant Scheme.

A list of local authorities and projects approved through the RIF is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/recycling-improvement-fund .

A list of local authorities and projects who have been approved for funding through the RIF Small Grant Scheme is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/recycling-improvement-fund-small-grant-scheme .

Zero Waste Scotland is in regular contact with local authorities to support new applications.

The impact assessments for the E&S portfolio were prepared collectively and reflected in the Education and Skills portfolio analysis section in Annex B of the Equality and Fairer Scotland statement available at this link Scottish Budget - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The National Standardised Assessments for Scotland - National Report (2022-23) is currently being drafted by the assessment platform supplier and quality assured by the Scottish Government and will be published shortly.

National level reports on the NSA were not commissioned in 2019-20 or 2020-21, due to Covid-19 related disruption. The National Report was also not commissioned in 2021-22, as the handover process from the phase one SNSA supplier (ACER), to the current phase two supplier (AlphaPlus Ltd), was underway.

The National Standardised Assessments for Scotland are designed to provide valuable diagnostic information to teachers, schools and local authorities, on children’s progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy.

The UK Autumn Statement was a worst-case scenario for Scotland and confirmed that the Scottish Government Capital Block Grant is forecast to contract by almost 10% in real terms over 5 years (2023-24 to 2027-28). Capital spending pressures across the Scottish Government far exceed available funding. This means that it will take longer to deliver all our capital commitments. Difficult decisions, including reducing the ‘Travel Strategy and Innovation’ line, were also required in order to achieve a fiscally sustainable capital budget. As such, we targeted the limited capital funding available towards supporting employment and the economy, achieving our net zero ambitions and maintaining high-quality public services across Scotland.

A significant proportion of the expenditure in the portfolio is legally and contractually committed, and the budget ensures that those commitments are met in full in this budget as well as allocating funding to support critical maintenance and renewal expenditure to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to a safe and reliable transport system.

The budget process also considered equalities and fairer Scotland duties and progress towards our statutory targets for climate change and child poverty in prioritising the budget available to me. I refer to the Equalities and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement and Carbon Assessment published alongside this budget.

In the updated Climate Change Plan, we undertook to embed circular economy principles into our wider green recovery, prioritising areas with the biggest opportunities: construction; agriculture/food and drink; energy and renewables; procurement; skills and education; and plastics.

Last year we consulted on our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which sets out the Scottish Government’s vision for Scotland's energy system to 2045 and a route map of ambitions and actions that, coupled with detailed sectoral plans and the forthcoming Climate Change Plan, will guide decision-making and policy support over the course of this decade.

We also published discussion papers on land use and agriculture Just transition in land use and agriculture: a discussion paper - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster Just Transition: Grangemouth (www.gov.scot) and the built environment and construction sector Delivering a Just Transition for the Built Environment and Construction Sector Delivering a Just Transition for the Built Environment and Construction Sector (www.gov.scot)

We are also consulting on a Circular Economy and Waste Route Map which sets out the clear actions we need to take to deliver sustainable use of our resources and progress a circular economy in Scotland by 2030 Circular economy and waste route map to 2030: consultation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This includes a package of measures to embed circular practices in the construction sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24336 on 30 January 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 .

The Scottish Government has not done any modelling of any increase in HGVs on the A96 as a result of the Cromarty Firth Freeport announcement. However, the areas currently proposed for development as part of the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport largely align with those that were allocated for development in the 2015 Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan. The A96 Corridor Road Assignment Model (CRAM) which is the transport model applicable to this stretch of road, was last updated in 2019 and includes these allocations.

This information is published annually in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Reports (available at: https://sustainablescotlandnetwork.org/reports/the-scottish-government and are provided below:

• 2016 - 2017: 127 tonnes;
• 2017 - 2018: 352 tonnes;
• 2018 - 2019: 366 tonnes;
• 2019 - 2020: 217 tonnes;
• 2020 - 2021: 70 tonnes;
• 2021 - 2022: 70 tonnes; and
• 2022 - 2023: 131 tonnes.

As noted in the recently published Draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map , Scotland is highly unlikely to meet its target to reduce food waste by 33% by 2025. To accelerate our rate of progress, the Scottish Government has committed to reset its approach to tackle food waste, and is engaging with key partners across the food and drink sector to identify effective food waste reduction actions.