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Graeme Dey MSP holds two distinct and separate Ministerial roles within the Scottish Government. These are Minister for Higher and Further Education and also Minister for Veterans.

Mr Dey is a previous holder of this post. As Minister for Veterans from 2018 to 2021, he was widely recognised as a highly effective Minister for Veterans. At that time he also held the role of Minister for Parliamentary Business.

Keith Brown MSP, a veteran himself, was also Minister for Veterans from 2021 to 2023 whilst also being the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

As with all previous posts there is no overlap between the two positions. As with all Ministerial appointments, the final decision on responsibilities rests with the First Minister.

The Scottish Government published a series of refreshed GIRFEC policy and practice guidance to provide practitioners and professionals working with children, young people and their families with the confidence, clarity and practical support to continue to embed the GIRFEC approach.

The Scottish Government does not routinely publish or discuss legal advice received.

During the Parliamentary passage of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020, the Scottish Government committed to establishing a taskforce to look again at the arguments for and against extending wildlife crime investigation powers to the Scottish SPCA. This commitment was re-affirmed in both the 2021-22 Programme for Government and in the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party Shared Policy Programme.

Scottish Ministers note this report, welcoming the very positive evidence of significant progress with outdoor learning in early learning but noting the reduction in access to outdoor learning experiences in primary. We have been working intensively with the outdoor education sector and relevant partners, and will continue to do so, to promote the educational value of outdoor education for both early years and school years education, and to provide schools, nurseries and local authorities with the guidance and agency to effectively take learning outside.

Officials will engage with Nature Scot, Education Scotland and the research team to consider the detailed recommendations from the report, with a particular focus on how it can guide implementation of the government’s strengthened action plan on Learning for Sustainability which will be published in the coming weeks.

Breakfasts are being provided across Scotland by a range of service providers including public, private and third sector. We have begun work with local authorities and key stakeholders to better understand and map that provision in order to assess gaps and better understand the impacts. That process is ongoing and will feed into future plans as they develop.

The following table shows the main differences between Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and the schemes operating in Finland, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia.

Such bike hire schemes are generally run at a local level, and as such the Scottish Government does not record data on their number and we do not directly promote them. We provide grant funding to the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to run the e-bike loan fund which provides interest free loans to help people with the cost of purchasing e-bikes and e-cargo bikes. EST also run on our behalf the e-bike grant fund, which provides small grants to businesses and community organisations to purchase e-bikes and e-cargo bikes. Data on these schemes is held by EST and they are promoted by EST via the Home Energy Scotland advice network, via third party referral and on digital media.

On 18 April 2023, the First Minister announced that Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will now launch on 1 March 2024.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that businesses of all sizes can participate in our DRS. As a part of this the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy, and Biodiversity announced on Thursday 20 April 2023 in Parliament that changes are to be made to the DRS Regulations so that any product which sells less than 5,000 articles a year in Scotland will no longer have to place a deposit on the product and that drinks containers which are smaller than 100ml will be removed from the scheme.

These changes were asked for by business and will apply to producers of all sizes. However, they will particularly help small producers and hospitality businesses.

The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on the 20 April 2023. Information about the Bill can be found on the Scottish Parliament website here .

The powers of the Law Society of Scotland are already well established in legislation, within the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 and the provisions of the Bill are intended to improve and modernise their regulatory function.

The Bill will provide for a modern regulatory framework designed to promote competition and innovation while also improving the transparency and accountability of legal services regulation and the legal complaints system in Scotland.

The Bill introduces a modern set of regulatory objectives and professional principles, while incorporating key aspects of the Better Regulation, the Consumer Principles and the Human Rights (PANEL) Principles, that legal services regulators will require to adhere to. The Bill contains provisions setting out how the independent regulatory committee of the Law Society of Scotland should operate, intended to increase transparency and accountability of legal services regulation. The Bill also introduces provisions about how certain businesses that provide legal services should be regulated, introducing entity regulation and with it stronger protections for consumers, intended to complement existing regulation rather than introduce duplication.

The Bill is designed to take a proportionate approach that seeks to balance and deliver the key priorities of all stakeholders. The Scottish Government has committed to continue to work collaboratively with stakeholders in respect of this reform, and throughout the parliamentary passage of the Bill.

The Scottish Government does not plan to reopen or develop new Help to Buy schemes for first-time buyers.

Key findings from the evaluation of the Scottish Government’s shared equity schemes showed that 80% of Help to Buy buyers would have been able to purchase a property which met their needs without financial assistance.

We continue to support home ownership through various interventions to help first time buyers. This includes our Low Cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers (LIFT) scheme which helps people on low to moderate incomes to buy their first home either through the open market (Open Market Shared Equity) or new build (New Supply Shared Equity). Support is also available through the Self Build Loan Fund.