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As of Sunday 30 April 2023, there had been a total of 62,176,512 journeys made under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme.

The Scottish Government recognises the findings that have been highlighted within the Disability Price Tag 2023 report, that disabled people have been disproportionately impacted by the current cost-of-living crisis.

One of the First Minister’s first acts upon taking office was to increase the budget for our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £30 million for 2023-24 to ensure support is available to households who would otherwise be at risk of self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely. Assistance is provided on the basis of a holistic assessment of individuals’ circumstances, which can include increased energy usage arising from the need to run essential medical devices.

The Scottish Government provide a range of disability benefits to help disabled people and those with long-term conditions. These benefits provide financial support to disabled people to mitigate the additional costs of living with a disability or health condition. In recognition of the cost crisis, all Scottish Government social security benefits were increased by 10.1% in April, except for Scottish Child Payment, which was uprated early, with an investment of around £430 million. This uprating is in line with inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index.

The timing of each legislative stage will be for the Scottish Parliament to decide, once the Circular Economy Bill has been introduced.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children. Understanding the need from children and families for breakfast provision and planning how to respond to that forms part of several civil servant roles within the Directorate for Children and Families. Civil servants operate flexibly across a range of policies and programmes according to the specific requirements of the work at any time. For example, Directorate officials routinely engage with stakeholders, such as providers and partners in school age childcare early adopter communities, to discuss this policy.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Circularity Scotland is a not-for-profit private company established on behalf of the industry to deliver the legal responsibilities of drinks producers under Scotland's deposit return scheme regulations. Requests for information relating to its sites should be directed to them.

In April 2022 increased planning fees came into effect, providing much needed additional resource to Planning Authorities. Whilst the use of this additional resource is a matter for individual authorities, some authorities have reported that the fee increase has allowed them to retain or recruit new members of staff.

Improving the resourcing and performance of the planning system are important priorities and we continue to work with Heads of Planning Scotland, the Royal Town Planning Institute and other stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the Future Planners Project Report which focuses on supporting the growth of entrants into the planning profession.

Through the work of the Building Standards Futures Board, work is being undertaken to support the Local Authority Building Standards Workforce through the development and implementation of a three year workforce strategy. In addition, the Board is overseeing a number of recommendations that aim to strengthen the building standards system. These will require investment in the system and workforce and a public consultation on building warrant fees will be undertaken over the summer.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the ambition. We are working with partners to explore how we can enable the transformational change required to ensure that by 2030 at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spend across Scotland is invested in preventative whole family support measures.

This includes providing £32m of Whole Family Wellbeing Funding on an annual basis to Children's Services Planning Partnerships to shift investment towards timely and sustainable early intervention and prevention activities that are flexible, responsive and proportionate to ensure families can access the support they need, when they need it and where they need it, before they reach crisis point.

A total of £30m of Scottish Government funding is being made available through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund; with the expectation of leveraging an additional £30m from private sources. The Fund is directed at local authorities and assessment of bids will be based on criteria set out in the EV Infrastructure Fund Evaluation Template available on Scottish Future Trust’s website: www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/page/electric-vehicle-charging-network .

The Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund was launched in March 2023 and will run to the end of July 2026 providing £3.8 million over the three-year period to support activity directly tackling social isolation and loneliness. £2 million has already been distributed to organisations directly since August 2021 for work including helplines, befriending, youth work and provision of warm spaces and group activities.

Since October 2021, the Scottish Government has invested £36 million in the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, with around 3,300 grants being made to local organisations across Scotland in the first two years. A further £15 million is committed in 2023-24. The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund supports grass roots community groups in building resilience and tackling social isolation, loneliness and the mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic and, more recently, the cost crisis.

We are also investing over £300,000 in programmes which recognise the role that sports clubs and hubs play in improving physical, mental and social health, including the ‘Changing Room – Extra Time’ and ‘Gain the Advantage’ programmes, and Scotland’s Mental Health Charter for Physical Activity and Sport.

On 4 April I held the first meeting of a group of experts in wellbeing economy, which includes the Carnegie UK Trust, Wellbeing Economy Alliance, and other stakeholders. I have committed to working further with this group as we transition to a Wellbeing Economy. The assessment of the performance measures in the Wellbeing Economy Monitor is currently undertaken by officials, with a clear methodology in terms of measuring change. Given my engagement with the expert group, I am happy to seek their continued views on measuring and reporting. Any updated process should also take account of the conclusions of the ongoing review of Scotland’s National Outcomes to ensure continued alignment. That review is due to conclude in 2024.