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No date has been set for the electrification of the City Union line, however, in line with the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan this route will be considered for future electrification by Transport Scotland.

The Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all passenger diesel trains being replaced; the order and programme in which that is done will depend on business cases and available budgets. The Plan is a dynamic document, with a refresh of the Plan scheduled for 2023.

The evaluation of the Deferral pilots will be published in May 2023. The report has been slightly delayed to allow for an extended recruitment and data collection phase of the research, as the response rate was lower than expected during the original phase.

Interim reporting from the pilot local authorities on the number of ELC places needed for children deferring entry to P1 has been used to inform budget settlement decisions for 2023-24. The final evaluation report will be published in May 2023 and will provide information about implementation in pilot areas and explore the impact of the pilot on parental awareness and perceptions of the entitlement.

The Scottish Government’s new Hate Crime Strategy for Scotland has been published today. The strategy sets out our vision for a country where everyone lives free from hatred and prejudice and where our communities are empowered, inclusive and safe.

It has been developed in partnership with organisations with expertise in tackling prejudice, building cohesive communities and advancing human rights and sets out our strategic priorities including supporting the implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805253709

The Programme for Government 2022-2023 set out a commitment to introduce a Scottish Aggregates Levy Bill within this Parliamentary year. The Bill will set out key arrangements for a devolved tax on the commercial exploitation of aggregates in Scotland, including to provide for its administration by Revenue Scotland.

Consistent with the Framework for Tax, the Scottish Government is consulting and engaging with stakeholders to help inform development of the Bill.

Following public consultation and taking stakeholders’ views into account, the Scottish Government concluded that further work is needed to ensure that decisions on Bill provisions are based on optimal evidence. An advisory group has been formed to assist with this process.

Given this, the Bill will now not be introduced before the end of the current Parliamentary year.

Crown Estate Scotland will announce today (24 March 2022) the outcomes their evaluation of applications to the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas decarbonisation (INTOG) offshore wind leasing round.

In total 13 projects were successful and will be offered exclusive development rights over areas of seabed in Spring 2023.

Five new innovative wind projects (with a potential generation capacity of 449MW) were successful, providing opportunities for the new growth sector of hydrogen production, novel commercial solutions and stimulation of the supply chain.

To support secure energy supplies and the decarbonisation of fossil fuel production and extraction in Scottish waters, eight projects (totalling 4.96GW) providing green electricity directly to oil and gas platforms were also successful.

A full sustainability appraisal to support the INTOG planning process is underway and a public consultation later in 2023 will be carried out by Scottish Government, on a draft Sectoral Marine Plan. INTOG projects in the final adopted plan will be offered full Option Agreements by Crown Estate Scotland in 2024 and the consenting process can then proceed.

The Scottish Government has today launched a survey seeking views from anyone with an interest in Scotland's world-class event industry on the review of the national events strategy, Scotland the Perfect Stage. The strategy was first published in response to Scotland's burgeoning potential to be a global leader in the events industry and was last updated in 2015. The event sector has recently experienced a period of unprecedented disruption, presenting a number of challenges and potential opportunities for the sector in Scotland. A refreshed strategy is needed to address these.

The survey seeks views on spreading economic benefits, a just transition to net zero, skilled workforce and fair work practices, the wellbeing benefits of events, and measurability and sharing good practice. Boosting equality, promoting diversity and showcasing Scotland on the international stage also sit at the heart of the strategy review. The review's priorities and the survey paper have been developed with representatives from the event sector, public bodies, local authorities and trade unions.

The survey will be open for 3 months, closing on 30 June 2023, and can be found at found at

https://consult.gov.scot/culture-tourism-and-major-events/national-event-strategy-review-and-refresh . In parallel, VisitScotland and the Scottish Government will be undertaking a number of engagement events with stakeholders around Scotland to explore emerging themes in more detail. It will be essential for this work to draw strongly on the knowledge, expertise and experience of those working in and taking part in events, and I would encourage engagement to the greatest extent possible.

The Scottish Government will agree the date of the first meeting in due course, following confirmation of representatives and proposed structure.

Meeting frequency will be determined by the Taskforce when it meets. We envisage that there will be a series of meetings and separate subgroup meetings focusing on the key themes within the terms of reference, and the frequency will vary by workstream, and as work progresses.

The Investing in Communities Fund will support over 100 organisations receiving a share of £27 million over the three years 2023-24 to 2025-26.

There was significant interest in the fund, with a total of 801 applications submitted which were assessed in line with the process that was set out in the fund’s published guidance, concluding with the Independent Assessment Panel.

The assessment process fully allocates the available budget and as such the fund’s guidance made clear that the Panel decision was final and there is no appeals process.