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Scottish Government guidance on pupils changing their names and pronouns is contained within the Supporting Transgender Pupils In Schools Guidance. This is available from Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS does not record this information.

Information has been shared in response to similar questions many times (at least annually) since Roseanna Cunningham answered on 15 August 2017, most recently in response to Willie Rennie MSP on 9 November 2023.

The following formal flood protection schemes are complete.

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. 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. To make sure that people in Scotland get maximum benefit from that investment, Transport Scotland is transforming the delivery model for active travel interventions across infrastructure, behaviour change and access to bikes. This will see the end of some long-standing programmes and a shift toward 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 from April 2024, including the Local Authority Fund which received funding through both the Sustainable Transport Budget and the Active Transport Budget.

We are developing a new approach to delivery and are actively engaging with Local Authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships, and Active Travel Delivery Partners. . Our greater emphasis on local authorities working alongside national delivery partners means a continuing focus on local transport solutions.

Whilst I welcome the outcome and the specific agreements secured at COP28, as global action is needed to reduce emissions and the impacts of climate change, Scotland’s own climate ambitions exceed those required by the Paris Agreement. I welcomed the COP text’s explicit reference to transitioning away from our current reliance on fossil fuels, in a manner which is just, alongside the specific target to triple renewables and to double energy efficiency by 2030. Scotland, as a world-leader on renewable energy, is prepared to continue to play its part in meeting these crucial targets.

Scotland remains absolutely committed to reaching net zero by 2045. Whilst this legal commitment goes faster than the rest of the UK, we have been clear that we will seek to work collaboratively with all administrations in the UK to implement mutually beneficial policies and we continue to call on the UK Government to match our ambition by acting on reserved matters that directly affect Scotland’s ability to reduce our carbon emissions.

The Scottish Government has been monitoring UCAS figures, which exclude Open University and Honours programmes, and we thank our Higher Education Institutions who have worked hard to promote their programmes by visiting schools, attending careers fairs and promoting the range of opportunities via their social media channels.

The attraction and retention of students into nursing remains a key focus for the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce - not everyone will begin their career by participating in an undergraduate programme and these are not the sole solution to filling workforce vacancies. That is why we are already considering alternative career pathways, such as apprenticeships and ‘earn as you learn’ routes, that can attract candidates and encourage existing staff to join supported education programmes that enable them to reach registration with the relevant professional bodies.

As set out in our Health and Social Care: National Workforce Strategy we are committed to taking all the appropriate steps to support staffing levels across our Health and Social Care settings.

Since October 2021 we have provided c. £18m funding to Health Boards to recruit 1,250 international nurses, midwives and AHPs by the end of this financial year with over 1,000 successfully recruited thus far.

However, we are not complacent, that is why we have convened the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce to co-produce tangible and realistic recommended action with its members, including the RCN, to address areas for improvement identified by the nursing and midwifery professions. The Taskforce’s Listening Project is now well underway to gather the views of staff to help shape those recommendations.

The Scottish Government knows that Changing Places Toilets make a real difference to disabled people and their families. We are committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets during this parliamentary term, in order to increase the provision of these fundamental facilities across Scotland.

We will look to make a new £10 million fund available across the financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26. We will undertake the necessary development work, alongside key stakeholders, to open the fund by the beginning of 2025.

The draft budget for 2024-25 was announced in Scottish Parliament on 19 December 2023 and stated that the direct programme budget for Mental Health will be £290.2 million. Allocations from this budget, including for the Changing Places Toilets fund, are under consideration and will be confirmed once the budget has been approved by Parliament.

The economic impacts of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, which contains provisions to licence the activity of grouse shooting, are set out in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill, and in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment

The Scottish Government has no plans to start publishing monthly Affordable Housing Supply Programme finance, approval, starts or completion statistics.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes financial information at Autumn and Spring Budget revisions, Provisional Outturn, Final Outturn and Final Accounts. When annual financial year expenditure is concluded and finalised we publish an Affordable Housing Supply Programme annual out-turn report. This reports actual spend compared to original resource planning assumptions alongside wider programme performance information.

The Scottish Government publishes figures relating to the supply of affordable homes across Scotland, on a quarterly basis, which can be found online at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-for-scotland-new-house-building/