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The Register is a significant transparency measure that will shed light on who makes decisions about Scotland’s land. It has been live since 1 April 2022 and there is no charge to make a submission to the Register. For some, there may be a resource cost for the time taken to gather the information they require as part of their preparation prior to making a submission. The greater the number of properties owned, the greater the effort required is likely to be.

The Church of Scotland are one of the largest owners by volume of property titles held. This makes it important for the integrity of the Register that they comply with the RCI.

On 16 March 2023 the Scottish Parliament unanimously supported a 12-month extension to the transitional period to 1 April 2024 before offence provisions take effect. This is easing the burden by allowing those in scope to spread it over the coming year.

In letters of 16 February 2023 and 27 March 2023, the Scottish Government offered the Church of Scotland the option of another meeting with Registers of Scotland and Scottish Government officials to discuss how they can work together to help achieve compliance. The Scottish Government has not yet received a response to that offer, however officials will be in touch with the Church of Scotland to follow up on this.

The Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland are working together to deliver an additional engagement plan to help support stakeholders through the registration process. This will include additional awareness raising and a review of the existing guidance. It will not include further legislative intervention or legal advice.

The Scottish Government chair and provide secretariat support to the Eskdalemuir Working Group (EWG). This group was originally formed in 2012 and commissioned seismic study work that was co-funded by the Scottish Government, UK Government and Ministry of Defence to a total sum of £257,744.11 (exclusive of VAT). The Scottish Government’s share of this work was £50,137.00 (exclusive of VAT).

Following re-formation of the group in 2018, the Scottish and UK Governments and Ministry of Defence have been working constructively together through the Eskdalemuir Working Group. Scottish Government has commissioned a series of technical studies over the course of 2020 to 2022, on behalf of the working group, in order to provide updated wind turbine data that can be used in the noise budget allocation calculation.

This work was conducted over a series of five phases, with the total sum of work to date coming to £462,851.60 (exclusive of VAT). Of this amount, Scottish Government have paid £171,184.94 (exclusive of VAT). The results of these studies are publicly available and are hosted on the Scottish Renewables website.

The Eskdalemuir Working Group has recently gone through a second re-formation, with membership being refined to ensure resource pressures are minimised and constructive discussion on this issue can take place.

The Scottish Government remains committed to finding an enduring solution that ensures safeguarding of the Eskdalemuir Seismic Array and maximisation of onshore wind deployment in the surrounding area and therefore allocates appropriate resource to the Eskdalemuir Working Group to ensure effective engagement can continue.

In January, it was confirmed by local authorities that all circa 50,000 learning, teaching and play spaces were equipped with a CO2 monitor.

The Scottish Government has allocated significant funding of £13.8 million to local authorities in relation to improving ventilation in schools.

Ministers have very much appreciated opportunities to visit the GWCT Scottish Game Fair in previous years.

I am currently considering attendance at the GWCT Scottish Game Fair alongside other Parliamentary commitments and will respond to outstanding invitations in due course.

We plan to publish the proposed new cancer strategy in early Summer 2023. We do not have a specific date.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Officials and Ministers are in regular contact with business, including some of the biggest producers, and sector organisations in relation the delivery of the Deposit Return Scheme. The lack of clarity around an Internal Market Act exclusion has regularly been raised at these meetings and causes uncertainty and inhibits planning and preparation.

All Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s resources are reviewed regularly by the clinical team supporting HIS. The high risk medicines framework has been reviewed and has been identified as a useful resource for teams to use within their local settings. These are live resources and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme team welcomes feedback or suggestions for further developments.

As Circularity Scotland is a private company, any compensation to businesses they have arrangements with is a matter for them and it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to intervene in such commercial arrangements between private companies.

I recognise the impact that delays and disruption have regrettably had on our island communities and I am committed to investing in our ferry services. Indeed, my focus currently is on building resilience within the network.

I have noted the calls for compensation however, any such scheme would need to be carefully considered. It would require stark choices around how such a scheme would be prioritised for funding, over efforts to provide that network resilience.