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The expansion of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) for deferrals is a legislative commitment. From 1 August 2023, if a parent or carer of a child that is still 4 years old on the date they are eligible to start school defers their entry to school for a year, they can automatically access an additional year of funded early learning and childcare. Details are available on the Scottish Government website: Deferred school entry and eligibility from 1 August 2023 - Early learning and childcare: statutory guidance - July 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

From 24 October 2022, the requirement to book seats in the Historical Search Room has been removed. No further requests are being taken for bookings and all currently active requests will be allocated a booking prior to‎ 24 October 2022. The maximum current waiting time for active requests is around 6 weeks.

The Scottish Government has had no direct involvement in any scheme to extend the National Cycle Network (NCN) route 73 between Stranraer and Cairnryan. The NCN in Scotland is managed by Sustrans who, as custodians of the NCN, gave intentions to explore improvements to NCN 73 in the south west which are included within Sustrans’ 30 year National Cycle Network Plan. However, the Scottish Government is currently investigating the feasibility of a shared use path south of Cairnryan to the A751 junction from the new Trunk Road active travel budget.

The Scottish Government has funded Sustrans with £10.6 million in 2022-23 (increased from the £4 million award in 2021-22) to undertake National Cycle Network Plan work.

Programme for Government in 2016 and 2017 addressed potential transport issues in South West Scotland and extensive stakeholder engagement was undertaken to inform the South West Scotland Transport Study; the initial appraisal report was published in January 2020, and included 23 recommendations for consideration in Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), including one to develop the Strategic Active Travel Network in the South West of Scotland and better connect communities to key destinations with cycle paths parallel to trunk roads and improvements to the NCN. This intervention is currently subject to detailed appraisal as part of Phase 2 of STPR2.

Information about the change is available in the Joint Implementation Plan . Letters have been sent to local authorities and sector representative bodies to remind them of the upcoming change and encourage them to review local processes and communications. An evaluation of the pilot areas is ongoing and will inform discussions and advice in Spring 2023.

The earliest date for implementation of this bill, as with all other bills, is wholly dependent on the agreed bill process and how quickly that can be completed, and meet Parliament’s as well as the Scottish Government’s requirements for appropriate bill scrutiny and consideration. Once the local visitor levy bill is introduced to Parliament, the bill timetable will be agreed and the earliest implementation date will become clearer.

The First Minister announced the Programme for Government 2022 to 2023 on 6 September 2022, which set out the action to ‘Establish a dedicated Food Security Unit within the Scottish Government with a view to monitoring ongoing supply chain vulnerabilities and linking with future food security work’. The Food Security unit is in the process of being established.

Work is also being taken forward on other recommendations from the Short Life Food Security and Supply Taskforce Report and Supply Taskforce Report, some of which have already been completed such as the launch of a digital gateway, specifically designed for the food and drink sector to access additional business support.

In the Historical Search Room situated in General Register House, the current occupancy is set at 8 desks for consulting original records, 3 desks for use of NRS on site PCs and 1 reception desk for use by 3 staff members. Appointments are offered on a daily basis up to maximum current occupancy levels of 11 desks.

Ventilation levels are monitored on an hourly basis and remain under the required level.

There are no local authority commissioned communal night shelters currently operating in Scotland and we are not aware of any congregate night shelters being operated by third sector organisations in Scotland.

We have worked closely with local authorities and third sector partners to end the need for communal night shelters in Scotland by scaling up rapid rehousing and Housing First, which was a key commitment in our Ending Homelessness Together action plan.

Given that some form of emergency accommodation will always be needed, since 2020 we have provided over £690,000 of funding to support local authorities and third sector partners to establish rapid rehousing welcome centres (RRWCs) in Glasgow and Edinburgh as an alternative to night shelter provision. RRWCs provide short-term, safe and self-contained rapid access accommodation alongside multi-agency services, with the aim being to support people at risk of rough sleeping to move on to more settled accommodation.

Culture is an important asset for our international offices in strengthening our links and visibility with key countries. Our in-country presence can open new opportunities for Scottish artists and cultural organisations.

The Scottish Government has not been consulted or invited to engage with the UK Government on its 5-year acquisitions programme, including where this involves artists who are based in Scotland. At this time, there are no plans to establish a scheme similar to the X-UK acquisitions programme.

The Scottish Government is however working to secure the benefits of international engagement for our culture sector and has committed to develop a strategy to this end.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children who grow up in Scotland feel safe and protected. We recognise that where children and young people demonstrate harmful behaviour, the victims of their actions are often children themselves.

In June 2021 we published our Vision for youth justice in Scotland. The Vision sets out our priorities for young people who come into conflict with the law, including continuing to ensure that children, young people and their families are supported at an early stage through early intervention and preventative approaches in order to address the child’s needs and the circumstances which have led to their harmful conduct. This also includes priorities around how best to support child victims, such as improving support and information for child victims and their families, whilst respecting data protection and confidentiality, and ensuring support is trauma-informed and meets the needs of victims. We continue to work with partners to deliver the priorities within the Vision and to deliver a preventative approach which improves life chances for young people and which has seen dramatic changes in the youth justice sector.

We are also committed to preventing all types of harmful sexual behaviour and sexual offending involving children and young people. Collaborative work with statutory and third sector organisations across Scotland is underway to drive forward action in this area including initiatives to prevent children from becoming involved in harmful sexual behaviour through the publication of resources along with continued funding of services offering support.

We continue to implement the proposals from the Expert Group on Preventing Sexual Offending Involving Children and Young People and develop harmful sexual behaviour policy.