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The Scottish Government has promised a laser like focus on delivery, and we will ensure this happens, by directing energy and resources towards achieving the three missions and supporting the outcomes set out in Equality, opportunity, community: New leadership - A fresh start . Our ambition for an improving, consistent and transparent focus on performance and delivery is shared by Ministers and the Executive Team.

The Scottish Government welcomes the recent Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) report on handheld remote-controlled training devices (e-collars).

The Scottish Government is committed to the sustainable management of fish stocks in our waters. The majority of commercial stocks are managed by the use of Total Allowable Catch (TAC) limits which are agreed with other Coastal States in a variety of negotiations forums. TAC levels are informed by the best available independent scientific advice, and are used with an aim to ensure sustainable fishing levels in the long term. This is a long standing commitment of the Scottish Government and the Fisheries Management Strategy sets out our ambition to fish within limits based on the best available scientific advice, using the precautionary principle, and aligned with the delivery of fishing at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY).

This aligns with our commitments from the Fisheries Act 2020 and Joint Fisheries Statement which outline that sustainable fishing means environmental, economic, and social considerations are appropriately balanced when managing our fisheries to benefit present and future generations.

There are a range of domestic fisheries management measures including technical measures which have now been retained into UK law through the Fisheries Act 2020. These technical measures range from basic Minimum Conservation References Sizes (MCRS) of specific species of fish, to mesh sizes and structure of fishing nets. It is worth noting that while the majority of commercial stocks have TACs set, scallop, crab and lobster are Non-Quota Stocks without a TAC and are managed by domestic management through a range of input controls and technical measures, such as through a national licence, days at sea limits, minimum and maximum landing sizes, and gear restrictions.

The Scottish Government has not held discussions with the University of Strathclyde regarding the procurement procedure for the design and construction of the planned Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) East and West Buildings.

Procurement matters are the responsibility of Higher Education Institutions as autonomous bodies, however they must comply with the terms of their Financial Memorandum with the Scottish Funding Council, and the principles of good governance set out in the Scottish Code of Good HE Governance.

Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers. All Special Advisers are appointed by, and remain under the responsibility of, the First Minister.

As at the date of your request, the following Special Advisers were in post:

Colin McAllister

Callum McCaig

Jeanette Campbell

Gavin Corbett

Ewan Crawford

Jennie Gollan

David Hutchison

Harry Huyton

Ross Ingebrigtsen

Emily Mackintosh

Jack Middleton

The Pay Bands and Pay Ranges for those Special Advisers are as follows:

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency confirm that waste containers collected under the Deposit Return Scheme will not require the creation of a new category for the purposes of waste collection and will be covered by existing European Waste Catalogue classification under "waste packaging".

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.

As of Friday 28 April 2023, there were the following Scottish Government civil servants primarily working on Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

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.

We are providing local authorities with £21.75 million to help families, who are eligible for free school meals on the basis of low income, with the cost of buying food during the 2023-24 school holidays.

This funding forms part of the most generous Free School Meals package anywhere in the UK.

In addition, by the end of this Parliament we are committed to building a system of year-round school age childcare, for those on the lowest incomes, that will integrate food and childcare provision where appropriate.