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The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland continues to work collaboratively with Police Scotland to understand why a proportion of data is missing and to resolve this issue.

In October 2024, a report commissioned by the Scottish Government projected an initial treatment capacity shortfall for residual waste in Scotland of 600,000 tonnes when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste commences on 31 December 2025.

However, alongside further measures to reduce waste and promote recycling, the construction of planned infrastructure continues, helping to address this temporary gap; and available projections continue to indicate before turning into an estimated capacity surplus from 2027.

Officials continue to work with waste sector partners, including local authorities on these matters.

The Scottish Government highly values the support provided to young people by youth workers. Violence towards youth workers is unacceptable and all employees, including youth workers, have the right to be safe at work and to feel safe at work.

Through introduction of the Violence Prevention Framework, the Scottish Government continue to take action by funding activities for young people to prevent and reduce harm from violence.

The Scottish Government encourages anyone who experiences antisocial behaviour or violence at work to report the incident immediately to their employer and Police Scotland. Youth workers should be fully supported by their employers to understand their organisation’s policies regarding antisocial behaviour and the support available if situations escalate.

Scotland’s Census 2022 results show that around 11,000 people aged 16-64 who had ‘one or more learning disability, learning difficulty or developmental disorder’ were unemployed in 2022. This was 5.7% of all people aged 16-64 with one or more learning disability, learning difficulty or developmental disorder in 2022.

Dualling of the A9 will improve connectivity of the Highlands with the Central Belt of Scotland, reducing journey times and improving journey time reliability. Whilst dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness is likely to support delivery of some of the projects identified in the Project Willow report, where those entail transportation of materials by road to or from the Highlands, it is unlikely that dualling would be necessary for delivery of those projects.

The number of public service vehicles, passenger journeys, and distance travelled by local bus services are published each year within Transport Scotland's Scottish Transport Statistics publication. The most recent version of the bus tables can be found at https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/ea2pp3vv/sts-chapter-02-bus-and-coach-travel-reference-tables-accessible.xls.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of bus services. This information is held by the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, with the most recent figures included in the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain Annual Report 2023-24 available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-annual-report-2023-to-2024.

Ministers have no plans to consider business travel under the Air Discount Scheme, as this would be in breach of current State Aid compliance.

Ministers are currently considering the scope and structure of the Air Discount Scheme review, including how the views of stakeholders can best be taken into account.

A key priority for the Scottish Government is to encourage apprenticeship delivery in island and rural communities to support inclusive growth. Through Skills Development Scotland we introduced a rural uplift for Modern Apprenticeship delivery which is an increased payment to training providers to encourage provision in island and rural areas.

Travel and Subsistence (including accommodation) funding is also available to support Apprentices who must attend structured and formal off-the-job training (outwith normal daily travel requirements) where this is required by the Modern Apprenticeship Framework.

While the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning and providing appropriate social care services at a local level lies with local authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships. This includes the responsibility to reduce the number of people being delayed in hospital unnecessarily.

Since 2015-16, the Scottish Government has provided additional funding for social care and integration. This annual investment has risen to almost £2.2 billion in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget.

However, decisions on how best to deliver services to local communities are ultimately for Health and Social Care Partnerships and locally elected representatives to make.

Project Willow sets out a truly transformative future for Grangemouth and will be possible if the public and private sectors work together. The current 10 year Deal was signed in November 2024, so our focus is on delivering the Growth Deal, which commits £50 million of Scottish Government funding over ten years to projects in the area. The Deal will complement the aims of Project Willow and we will work with partners to progress both the Deal and Project Willow. As previously stated, there are no plans for a further Deal.