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The Scottish Government recognises the concerns raised by residents living near major transport corridors, including the M90, regarding environmental impacts such as excessive noise and dust.

We recognise transport noise is a concern, can be distressing, and has an impact on health and well being, and we are committed to working collaboratively in partnership with others to manage this.

As part of the fourth round of noise mapping for Scotland, under the Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006, the Scottish Government have recently completed modelling and mapping to identify key areas impacted by noise exposure in Scotland. This will inform the development of the Transport Noise Action Plan (TNAP) 2025 to 2029.

You mentioned the M90 motorway specifically in your correspondence. Analysis undertaken to date, in preparation for the new TNAP 2025 to 2029, suggests no significant noise impacts have been identified on or around the M90. Where specific noise impacts are identified anywhere on the trunk road network Transport Scotland will review these, and, where appropriate, will apply noise management interventions on a prioritised basis during existing maintenance and improvement programmes where reasonably practicable.

The TNAP will be published for public consultation in due course, and the document will be available on the Scottish Government Consultation Citizen’s Space website, at https://consult.gov.scot/, and on the Transport Scotland Consultation Page at https://www.transport.gov.scot/consultations.

All projects and maintenance works on the trunk road network are robustly assessed for their potential environmental impact. This ensures legislative requirements are met, best practices are implemented, and environmental effects are minimised.

In relation to managing dust, our Operating Companies, sweep our motorways at regular intervals, using water-assisted dust sweepers, to ensure dust is minimised.

We have made £3 million available this year for Police Scotland specifically to work alongside retailers to tackle crime affecting their sector, which costs businesses millions each year and has a knock-on effect on the prices we pay in the shops. This forms part of a record investment of £1.64 billion for policing this year – an increase of £90 million on 2024-25.

Police Scotland’s action plan aims to tackle retail crime through a number of specific actions on how to prevent such incidents and pursue those responsible. The newly-established Retail Crime Taskforce will target repeat offenders of retail crime by using analytical data and intelligence to carry out proactive enforcement activities in areas most heavily impacted.

The team will also engage with retailers to identify ways in which they can enhance security and crime prevention measures in place and reduce incidents occurring.

The Scottish Government’s investment will also be used to develop diversionary programmes aimed at reducing reoffending and youth offending, with a focus on the role of organised crime.

We have also provided over £6 million to implement actions within the Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland, since 2023, which specifically seeks to prevent violence from happening and if and when it does occur, to reduce the harm.

Whilst the Independent Review of the Victim Notification Scheme (VNS) made 22 main recommendations, some of these recommendations included further separate recommendations, for example, recommendation 8 involved nine separate recommendations.

In our response to the review we set out our position on each of the review’s recommendations:

• Agree in principle: 14 recommendations (or parts thereof)
• Agree: 18 recommendations (or parts thereof)
• To note: three recommendations

In our response to the review, the Scottish Government committed to a programme of work that would bring about transformational change to the VNS. We are delivering that programme of work through legislative and non legislative routes.

We have prioritised those recommendations which required changes to primary legislation through the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill (VWJR Bill) as outlined in our letter to the Criminal Justice Committee on 4 March 2025. The Stage 2 amendments were passed by that Committee and we will lodge the amendments at Stage 3 of the Bill. Together these amendments relate to 11 of the recommendations of the review. We will only be able to take forward these recommendations if the VWJR Bill is passed by Parliament.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39529 on 15 August 2025.

Taking Fergusons into public ownership saved the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde, rescued over 300 jobs and ensured Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa would be delivered in Scotland.

The Scottish Government remains firmly committed to supporting Ferguson Marine to competitively bid for future contracts and to securing a sustainable, long term future for the yard.

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.

Shipbuilding is a competitive global market and any direct award of a public contract must comply with procurement rules and be capable of withstanding legal challenge.

Ministers will consider future vessel contracts, including those mentioned, from public agencies at an appropriate time and on a case-by-case basis to determine whether any might legally be open to direct award. Under public procurement and subsidy control rules, direct award of public contracts is only possible in strictly limited circumstances.

We are currently considering the business case and next steps in relation to the Lord of the Isles replacement and will confirm these in due course.

Following work with stakeholders to review the number of specialty training places needed to meet anticipated future service demand and consultant need, since 2014 the Scottish Government has funded the creation of hundreds of additional specialty training places in Scotland across multiple different specialties, including in haematology.

Specialty training expansion has been done in line with recommendations made by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group, largely based on workforce modelling taking into account consultant retirals data to support future annual consultant/GP growth of 1% to meet anticipated increases in service demand.

The Scottish Government undertakes annual reviews of the number of specialty training places needed in order to meet anticipated future service demand and consultant need. Since 2014, the Scottish Government has funded the creation of hundreds of additional specialty training places in Scotland across multiple different specialties, including in specific cancer specialities and haematology.

These specialty training places have been created in response to recommendations made by a stakeholder group which includes NHS Education for Scotland, the British Medical Association, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and various Health Board representatives including regional workforce planners.

The amount paid to polling companies in each of the last five years for which data is available is set out in the following table. Spend information for 2024-25 is currently not held and will be available later this year. Data on which topics the polls were held could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

As I mentioned during the Scottish Government’s response at the debate on 26 June 2025 to Motion S6M-17969: Action to Address the Impact of Gulls in Scotland, I will chair a summit in Inverness later this year.

The Scottish Government is currently working closely with NatureScot on the agenda and final arrangements for the session, including the attendee list. The summit will focus on bringing together those who are managing gulls effectively with those who are facing the most negative impacts of gulls to address the question of how we can mitigate the negative impacts going forward and the actions we need to take ahead of next year.

The ‘Planning and the Housing Emergency – Delivery Plan’ (November 2024) committed to new guidance on housing land audits (HLAs) and this was published in January 2025. HLAs provide information on past housing completions and future programming of new homes in an area. The guidance will embed a consistent approach to monitoring of housing land across all local authorities, whilst still allowing flexibility to reflect local circumstances. At a national level, approval rates for all planning applications and starts and completions are recorded in official statistics.