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The Scottish Government is committed to working to improve the family justice system in Scotland, as set out in the 2019 Family Justice Modernisation Strategy. However, since this Strategy was published, a number of areas of work across the Scottish Government were paused to enable an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst also ensuring core services remained operational. As we move towards recovery from the pandemic, the Scottish Government will prepare an update on the Strategy and look at how best to take forward actions in the Strategy which remain outstanding, including whether amendments are required to the Child Abduction Act 1984.

The Clyde 2020 initiative has brought together both scientific research and practical measures to improve the marine ecosystem of the Clyde. It has achieved a range of outputs and outcomes since 2014, for example to improve the public and stakeholder understanding of current scientific evidence in the form of a Layman’s Guide, analysed scientific outputs from assessments and their impacts, and operated as a sub-group of the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership to provide scientific advice and input to the process of developing a regional marine plan for the Clyde marine region.

The Scottish Government intends to lay the draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) in the Scottish Parliament later in autumn this year for a scrutiny period of up to 120 days. Public consultation on the NPF4 will run alongside the Parliamentary process, and the Scottish Government is keen to hear the views of as wide a range of people as possible.

The final adoption date will depend on the approval of NPF4 by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government is currently aiming to lay a finalised version for approval by summer 2022.

The draft section 8N in the Bill as published for consultation provides that, where a person has obtained ‘overseas gender recognition’ (as defined), the person is to be treated as if the person had been issued with a full gender recognition certificate by the Registrar General for Scotland. But this rule doesn’t apply if it would be manifestly contrary to public policy (for example, in a case where gender recognition was obtained overseas at a very young age).

Whether or not a public policy exception applies will depend on the facts and circumstances, and may in a disputed case be determined by the courts under new section 8P, which provides that a court may make an order determining the question, if the question arises in the course of civil proceedings before the court or on an application to the court by a person having an interest in it. This is set out in the draft explanatory notes to the Bill, which were published as part of the consultation on the draft Bill.

To protect the most vulnerable, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will fit interlinked alarms into owner-occupied homes where the individuals or households are assessed as high risk through their Home Fire Safety Visit assessment process. As of 20 October 2021, SFRS have installed 9,363 linked smoke alarms, 3,506 linked heat alarms and 1,733 CO alarms. This is a total of 3,482 homes assisted to comply with the new standard.

Section 195 of the Equality Act 2010 sets out exceptions from the requirements of that Act in relation to sport. The 2010 Act is generally reserved to the UK Parliament, including section 195, so the exceptions in the section would continue unaffected by the proposed provisions in the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Scottish Government continues to support the rights and protections that women currently have under the Equality Act 2010, and the proposed reforms in the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill do not affect this.

There is an explanatory note for section 195 that can be found here Equality Act 2010 - Explanatory Notes (legislation.gov.uk)

The £0.5 million funding has been granted to Care and Repair Scotland to provide assistance in the business year 2021-22. Information on the number of homes assisted will be collected, and will be available at the end of this period.

The Scottish Government does not provide loans to home owners for the purpose of installing fire alarms that are compliant with the new standard. Local authorities have broad discretionary powers to provide assistance to home owners, in connection with work on private homes, including assistance by way of loans. Local authorities are best placed to determine what types of assistance are provided in their area, subject to local resources and priorities.

We recognise that some owners will have more difficulty, particularly with the option to fit alarms themselves, and we have provided £0.5 million additional funding for Care and Repair Scotland to provide help installing alarms for older and disabled home owners. We have also provided £1 million to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to provide alarms for owners who are considered most vulnerable to the risk of fire.

The latest annual ELC Census data published in December 2020 as part of the Schools in Scotland Summary Statistics report showed that 178 and 123 two year olds were accessing a funded ELC place in North Ayrshire and Inverclyde Council respectively in September 2020.

In December, the Scottish Government will publish Schools in Scotland, Summary Statistics report for 2021. This report will include figures to show the number of registrations of two-year-olds at national and local authority level in September 2021.

Eligibility criteria for 2 year old funded ELC is largely determined by a parents’ receipt of low or no income ‘ qualifying benefits’ which are administered by UK Government. We do not have robust information on the current eligible population at a local authority or national level due to UK Government restrictions on data-sharing. The Scottish Government is working with UK Government departments and the Office for National Statistics to establish a legal gateway through which we can acquire further UK Government held data which will enable us to measure the eligible population more accurately.

The full value of loan and its accrued interest remain repayable.

With the process to return Prestwick Airport to the private sector continuing, it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment further at this time.