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Scottish Ministers meet regularly with UK Government Ministers on a range of topics, however there have been no specific requests from Scotland Office Ministers to meet regarding the A75 and A77, therefore no meetings on this specific topic have taken place.

The new powers under section 34 (provision of bus services by local authorities) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 do not affect the entitlement to free bus travel for people who currently receive it.

The next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands is scheduled to take place on Monday 3 October 2022.

Meetings of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands are open to the public and MSPs are welcome to attend and observe the proceedings.

When determining applications for marine and European Protected Species licences in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance, Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team (“MS-LOT”) includes conditions on the licences to control the methods, as well as conditions which require the licensee to provide reports with specific detail on the methods used. When the reports are submitted, MS-LOT then reviews the reports against the conditions to understand whether the activity has been conducted in accordance with the licences.

On receipt of the reports submitted by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited as requirements of its marine and European Protected Species licences in respect of unexploded ordnance clearance, Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team (“MS-LOT”) sought advice on the reports from NatureScot, the statutory nature conservation body, and Marine Scotland Science which provides internal scientific advice to MS-LOT. No concerns were raised as regards the craters identified within the reports.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on the number of people staying in community based bail accommodation. Officials are currently exploring what further data could be practically recorded beyond the current information collated annually on total bail orders by gender and age and bail supervision cases by Local Authority areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening alternatives to remand and this year, alongside introducing electronic monitoring for bail, increased investment by £3.2m. We are continuing to work with partners to explore improvements, including the potential to further develop community based bail accommodation in the future .

Marine Scotland – Licensing Operations Team requested advice from Marine Scotland Science ("MSS") and NatureScot on the reports provided by Seagreen Wind Energy Limited. MSS and NatureScot advised on the specifics of the noise monitoring carried out in respect of each clearance event with reference to National Physical Laboratory guidance; the mitigation implemented to reduce impacts to marine mammals and lessons learned that could be applied to future campaigns. Due to the small number of unexploded ordnance to be cleared, NatureScot advised that overall impacts from the clearance activity in terms of exposure to noise and behavioural disturbance were lower than predicted and well within the scope of the assessment submitted in support of the licence applications.

The local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and they will allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The overall funding package for local authorities of almost £12.7bn this year represents a rise of £1.06bn or 9.2% in cash terms, or 6.3% in real terms compared with 2021-22.

Falkirk Council are leading the delivery of the A801 Avon Gorge scheme, which will replace the Torphichen Bridge and are responsible, along with West Lothian Council, for ensuring that the business case remains robust and for setting the final timetable for delivery. The Scottish Government remains committed to funding its proposed 50% contribution towards the construction of the upgrade.

The number of passenger complaints received by ScotRail, through their official complaints process, is set out on the table below for the period 1 and 30 June 2022. The complaints may involve incidents that occurred before 1 June 2022.

The average recorded number of complaints per period for previous years is as follows:-

2019-2020 - 1,664 complaints

2018-2019 - 2,064 complaints

The figure for 1 April to 30 April 2022 is 1,144. The figure of 1,493 complaints for June 2022 is higher than April 2022 as during May and June 2022 several services were impacted due to driver shortages and the subsequent temporary timetable that was introduced on 23 May 2022. The temporary timetable that was in place until 20 July 2022 aimed to provide the best possible service to as many passengers as possible with the available resources.

ScotRail do not record staff complaints and therefore the information is not available.