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Data covering the period 2020-23 is available via the published National Statistics on the Scottish Prison Population.

Data covering the period 2020-23 is available via the published National Statistics on the Scottish Prison Population.

The Scottish Government has ambitious plans to make it easier for people to walk, wheel and cycle for everyday journeys, with record levels of investment over this Parliament and significantly ahead of anywhere else in the UK. Our biggest focus is on delivering physical infrastructure on the ground. But we also have important programmes to support people to change behaviours and choose active travel, and to access a range of bikes, including adapted bikes. At present, and over the course of next year, to make sure that people in Scotland get maximum benefit from that investment, Transport Scotland is transforming the delivery models for active travel interventions across the infrastructure, behaviour change and access to bikes programmes. This will see the end of some long-standing programmes, funded on a year by year basis, and a shift towards funding and control moving to local authorities, as the strategic transport authorities for their area, and regional transport partnerships.

Part of the Active Travel transformation process has involved the Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme closing, but behaviour change projects remain a high priority in our Active Travel programme. We are developing a new system of funding for 2024-25, and Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships, and the third sector Active Travel Delivery Partners are all involved in the design of that solution and we continue to see a vital role for our delivery partners in turning our record investment into the transformative change we all want to see.

The figures quoted in these questions are both correct. The first figure of sites sampled from 2013-14 to 2019-20 is from a published assessment, and the second figure is from the number of sites visited within the raw data that has been published to date (2013-14 to 2021-22).

The Scottish Government microplastics monitoring programme began in the winter of 2013, and has undertaken annual surveys since that time. The sample sites are distributed throughout the 11 Scottish Marine Regions and the Offshore Marine Regions. Not all Regions were sampled in every year and the number of sampling sites visited also varied between years.

In reference to question S6W-23231, the microplastics in surface water assessment in Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020 used data from 2013-14 to 2019-20. For this assessment data from 398 sample sites were included. This assessment can be viewed at https://marine.gov.scot/sma/assessment/microplastics-surface-water

The raw data from the monitoring programme is publicly available but not all of this data is yet included in published assessments. In reference to question S6W-23887, the number of sites sampled up to and including 2021-22 is 479. The dataset can be viewed at https://data.marine.gov.scot/dataset/dataset-sources-sinks-and-hazards-micro-plastics-scotland%E2%80%99s-seas-2013-present/resource#{query:{from:400},view-grid:{columnsWidth:[{column:!season,width:157},{column:!date_deploy,width:149}]}}

Data for 2022-23, and the current sampling year of 2023-24 have not yet been published. Once raw data has been collected it needs to undergo quality control and processing before it can be used and published. The 2022-23 data is currently undergoing this process. The 2023-24 data collection season has not yet concluded, and the processing will commence when the data for the whole year is complete.

The Scottish Government has discussed the Red Sea shipping crisis with the Department for Business and Trade and we will continue to monitor the situation, as it develops.

This is an international concern, and we're aware of the potential challenges Scottish businesses and consumers might face due to the delays and rising logistical and insurance costs. This is a direct outcome of the security threat and commercial decisions to reroute vessels from the Red Sea to a safer but longer route around the Cape of Good Hope.

We expect a short period of adjustment for supply chains, with potentially some delays due to additional sailing times, but there will still be very regular vessel arrivals, and continual supply of goods arriving into the UK and Scotland. Operators are working to mitigate any potential impact on consumers, and the shipping and supply chain sectors are well practiced at putting contingencies in place to continue to meet their customer needs.

The combination of additional costs to the operators and changed market conditions (e.g. capacity) is seeing rate rises for container pricing. To what extent these cost increases are absorbed or passed on is a commercial decision.

The First Minister constantly keeps the performance of cabinet under review and meets regularly with his Cabinet Secretaries to discuss objectives. Should it arise that a mandate letter objective has not been met, the First Minister will hold a discussion with the Cabinet Secretary in question to (a) understand the reasons for the objective not being met and (b) agree the most appropriate next steps.

Writing the national Good Food Nation Plan required an extensive internal drafting process, co-ordinating input from across multiple areas of government. This is the first iteration of the Plan and so there was a large amount of feedback on the initial draft, which we had to carefully consider and incorporate.

It is our intention to publish the draft national Good Food Nation Plan for consultation shortly.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The 2023-24 mandate letters (published in September) set out the First Minister’s intention to hold six monthly discussions on progress. The First Minister is currently in the process of meeting with each Cabinet Secretary to discuss progress against 2023-24 mandate letter objectives. These meetings are due to be concluded over the next month.

The Scottish Government has identified nine priority areas within our values-led Inward Investment Plan, including the decarbonisation of transport, and we would consider the Scottish aspect to an investment from Chery Automobile Co Ltd into the UK.

Engagement with individual companies is the remit of our economic development agencies collectively through Scottish Enterprise’s international arm, Scottish Development International (SDI), which has operational responsibility for attracting inward investment. The Scottish Government works with its enterprise agencies to ensure robust due diligence is undertaken on potential inward investments.