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The Scottish Government have no current plans to change the fine balance of rights and responsibilities in relation to access which was agreed by the Parliament and is set out in the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. NatureScot work with the National Access Forum (NAF) to address access issues that do arise though providing new guidance, resources and advice.

The UK Government regulates public electric vehicle (EV) charging and publishes Official Statistics on public charging infrastructure on a quarterly basis by local authority area. The most recent data was published in April this year and showed 109 public charge points in the Scottish Borders. Further data may be available from the UK Government upon request.

Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electric-vehicle-public-charging-infrastructure-statistics-april-2025

The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee issued Decision VII/8s in October 2021, which found that Scotland and the UK are not compliant with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention in relation to access to justice. The UK was required by the Compliance Committee to submit an action plan and progress reports detailing how compliance was to be achieved.

The Scottish Government contributed to the action plan submitted in July 2022 and the progress report submitted in October 2023. A final progress report was initially due to be submitted in October 2024, however following changes in the UK Government an extension was agreed for submission of the final progress report to November 2024. The Scottish Government contributed to the final progress report. May 2025 represented an informal opportunity to provide any additional substantial updates ahead of the meeting of the Compliance Committee on 2 June. The Scottish Government continues to work towards strengthening compliance but had no substantial updates to add to the update already provided in November 2024.

The Northern Isles Ferry Services contract sets out the requirement for a Revised Base Case exercise. Transport Scotland and Serco NorthLink completed the contractual requirement to rebase the bid submission figures for Contract Years 7 & 8. As the costs were agreed by Ministers the contract runs to 30 June 2028.

Neither Transport Scotland nor the Scottish Government have ordered any buses in the past five years.

Since 2020, Transport Scotland has supported the Scottish bus sector with over £150 million of grant funding to support operating companies to acquire 800 zero emission buses and their supporting charging infrastructure. This is a rapid increase from the 20 zero emission buses on the road in 2020, and we have been right to set ambitious targets for the sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38765 on 4 July 2025. 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 Ministers require that those who deliver public contracts adopt fair employment practices for all workers engaged on delivering these contracts. Crew on board the freight vessels MV Helliar and MV Hildasay continue to benefit from the principles set out in the Fair Work Framework such as; access to training, genuine workforce engagement and payment of at least the Living Wage. Transport Scotland hold regular meetings with SNF to cover a variety of matters, including updates on union and employment issues. Scottish Ministers regularly engage with Trade Unions.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38764 on 4 July 2025. 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.

There have been a number of court cases in recent years relating to gender. Some of them did not relate to gender self-identification. In one of them, the Scottish Government was the pursuer rather than the defender. I list the position in relation to four cases below.

The cost of defending the judicial review of the original definition of “woman” for the purposes of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 was £216,063.60.

The For Women Scotland Ltd v the Scottish Ministers case determined earlier this year by the UK Supreme Court concerned the statutory guidance issued by the Scottish Government under the 2018 Act. This guidance referred to the legal sex of persons with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) and the correct interpretation of “woman” in that context. The current system for obtaining a GRC is not a form of gender self-identification. Costs for this case are still being calculated and will be published in due course.

In the judicial review challenging the Section 35 Order made by the Secretary of State for Scotland which prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from proceeding to Royal Assent, the Scottish Ministers were the petitioners rather than the defender. The final costs of this case will be published shortly.

In November 2021, Fair Play for Women brought a judicial review in relation to guidance issued by National Records of Scotland, a non-ministerial department of the devolved Scottish Administration, for the Scotland’s Census 2022 question ‘what is your sex?’. In February 2022, the guidance was found to be lawful. Upon appeal, this decision was upheld. Fair Play for Women were found liable to pay Scottish Ministers’ expenses to the sum of £69,500.

The information requested is not held by Scottish Government, SPS or NHS.

The term learning disability covers a wide spectrum of clinical and supportive needs which vary on an individual basis. A holistic, person-centred approach is taken to support people with their healthcare and any additional learning support needs. An assessment is made of specific individual needs and a care plan will be tailored to these.