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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.

The Scottish Government wants to see an increase in pollinator friendly gardens as opposed to hardscaping of garden space in towns and cities. We place significant value on high quality blue and greenspace and play spaces. Addressing the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss requires a ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach. Everyone can play their part and the NatureScot ‘Make Space for Nature’ campaign provides practical tips for everyone in making space for nature, reverse nature loss and fight climate change.

Through our Draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) we proposed draft new planning policies and proposals to expand blue and green infrastructure, biodiversity and natural spaces to make places greener, healthier and more resilient to climate change.

Under current constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom immigration, including the Afghan resettlement schemes, are reserved to the UK Government and handled by the Home Office.

The UK Government has published statistics on the number of people who have arrived in the UK under the Afghan resettlement schemes since 2021. This does not currently include a breakdown of Afghan refugees in temporary and permanent accommodation by local authority, however, the Home Office have committed to providing more detailed data in their quarterly immigration statistics going forward. Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest published data (25 August) shows that across the UK 9,667 people are in temporary accommodation and 7,385 people are in settled accommodation. This does not include people who have made their own accommodation arrangements.

Any future procurement activity to secure new rolling stock for Scotland’s Railway will be governed by the Public Procurement Regulations , as all such procurements are.

By adhering to these regulations, ScotRail Trains Ltd will ensure that the Scottish supply chain, including those which specialise in hydrogen-related equipment, is given every opportunity to engage with these opportunities.

There have been no recent discussions between Scottish Government and National Records of Scotland regarding access to the Historical Search Room and no discussions regarding service user requests for a new transparently-established users group.

Under the Mortgage to Rent scheme, the Scottish Government subsidise up to 60% of the property value. The total grant includes the purchase subsidy and the cost of repairs required to bring the property up to the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. Further details on how subsidies are calculated can be found in the linked guidance HOSFGN/005 . The following table shows the total and average subsidy paid by the Scottish Government to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) for each year of operation of Mortgage to Rent.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10637 on‎ 22 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Scottish Government support for islands, and progress made towards delivery of the National Islands Plan, including strategic objectives one, two and three, is recorded in our annual report, presented to parliament each year. The first of these was the National Islands Plan: annual report 2020 , published 23 March 2021. The most recent report was the National Islands Plan: annual report 2021 , published 23 March 2022.

Furthermore, within the National Islands Plan, Scottish Government committed to publishing a detailed Implementation Route Map that addresses each of the 13 Strategic Objectives and accompanying commitments listed in the Plan.

The Implementation Route Map details how we will deliver our priorities over the lifetime of the National Islands Plan. It identifies the methods we will use to monitor progress towards fulfilling the many commitments in the NIP and sets out how we’ll deliver our work over the short, medium and long-term.

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.

Local authorities provide information to parents and carers about how they can register their child for early learning and childcare (ELC) and primary school. Parents and carers are encouraged to talk to their local authority to discuss their individual childcare and education needs. The Scottish Government’s Parent Club website has information about starting school and ELC, which is updated regularly. Parent Club also includes links to the individual local authority websites that provide information about how to apply for ELC: What’s your child entitled to? | Parent Club