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The honey industry and honey production is dependent on maintaining a healthy population of honey bees. The Scottish Government has a dedicated Bee Health Team, including bee health inspectors, that works in close partnership with the Bee Health Improvement Partnership (BHIP) which is made up of stakeholders with an interest in honey bees in Scotland. The objective of the BHIP is to achieve a healthy and sustainable population of honey bees for pollination and honey production in Scotland.

Scottish Government contributes to the funding of BeeBase, a database designed for beekeepers which supports inspections and health programmes in Scotland, England and Wales and provides a range of apicultural information for beekeepers. Scottish Government Bee Inspectors also collect samples of honey from beekeepers and honey producers in Scotland for medicine residue analysis as part of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate statutory surveillance scheme .

Scottish Government have worked with the key trade bodies across the food and drink sector to develop a COVID-19 recovery plan, which was announced in November 2020. We have committed support of £10m over in 2020-2022 towards the plan which contains 50 actions to support all sectors of Scotland’s food and drink industry to recover from Covid and Brexit. The focus is on two overarching aims: stimulating more demand in key markets; and supporting businesses to capitalise on this demand. Scotland Food & Drink lead on the delivery of the recovery plan and any honey producer looking for advice or support can contact them at info@foodanddrink.scot

In addition, a new £10.2m round of the Food Processing and Marketing Cooperation (FPMC) grants scheme was launched on 9 May 2022 with applications closing on 19 June 2022. Further information on the funding round can be accessed at https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/all-schemes/food-processing--marketing-and-co-operation/ and we would encourage any honey producers who fit the eligibility criteria to consider applying.

In response to the amended Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, Draft National Planning Framework (NPF) 4 sets out policy proposals which aim to deliver positive outcomes for biodiversity from development.

A key element for the successful implementation and delivery of NPF4 is having a robust monitoring process in place, to be actively applied through the period of the framework. The Scottish Government has committed to working with relevant stakeholders, to develop an approach to monitoring of NPF4, making links across the national, regional and local levels.

The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to develop an online platform for members of the public to access information on the average waiting times for a range of treatments within their health board area. We expect the platform to be available this summer.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08571 on 30 May 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

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08571 on  30 May 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

A report on the STEM Education and Training Strategy will be published on the Scottish Government website today - www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804353592

The report highlights progress made on a range of STEM-related education and training initiatives; including those areas where progress has been more challenging. Among other things the report notes recent work on responding to the Logan Review of the Scottish Technology Ecosystem, progress on the Young STEM Leader awards initiative and a new round of STEM education grants.

The report also sets out our intention to continue to operate under the current STEM strategy until 2025, and we will continue to publish annual reports until then.

The Scottish Government has supported bus operators acquire a total of 548 zero emission buses through the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) and the Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS) combined, meaning there will be 548 fewer diesel buses on our roads. Full details are available on the Transport Scotland website at Scottish Zero Emission Bus challenge fund | Transport Scotland and Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme - completed bids | Transport Scotland .

Scottish Government maintains good relations with the angling community through its interaction with Angling Scotland. This helps in ensuring that any issues and opportunities for recreational sea angling in Scotland are brought to our attention and can be appropriately considered alongside other priorities.

Between 2016 and 2021 the Scottish Government supported the UK-wide Sea Angling Diary, which saw anglers as ‘volunteer diarists’ contributing data on recreational catches. Scottish Government, taking into account limited feedback from stakeholders, considered that the Scottish data collection was not providing good value for taxpayers’ money due to the limitations of the output, and will no longer contribute to the UK survey.

Instead, it will review its approach to sea angling data collection and examine other means by which they can be obtained in the future. Data specifically tailored towards the Scottish situation can then be made available to inform measures to promote sea angling, whilst monitoring any impacts on commercial fish stocks.

Transport Scotland is continuing to engage with operators, delivery partners and other key stakeholders on the current Scottish Government Covid-19 guidance and recommended safe behaviours to ensure that the appropriate messaging is cascaded across the transport network. This engagement, which includes promoting the Scottish Government`s National “Covid sense” campaign, is supporting passengers to return to public transport with confidence as more people begin to return to workplaces and travel for leisure purposes more often.

The Scottish Government provided support for the acquisition of zero emission buses, and the associated charging infrastructure, through the Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS) and its successor, the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB). SULEBS provided 75% of the cost of infrastructure, and ScotZEB Phase 1 offered up to 75% of the cost of battery-electric infrastructure or 85% of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.

In total to date, through SULEBS and ScotZEB, the Scottish Government has awarded £30.4 million to bus operators to upgrade depots with the necessary infrastructure for zero emission buses.