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The Scottish Government notes the UK Government’s plans in the King’s Speech to remove barriers that currently limit bus franchising powers in England only to metro mayors. We will review the new UK Government’s proposals in relation to franchising in England when the Better Buses Bill is published.

In Scotland, all local transport authorities have the powers to commence the franchising process. The Scottish model includes an independent panel to consider proposed franchising frameworks, which was approved by the Scottish Parliament as part of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. To ensure transparency, the panel will consider whether the local transport authority adhered to the franchising process, had regard to the statutory guidance which will be issued by the Scottish Ministers, given appropriate weight to matters prescribed by Scottish Ministers, and reached a reasonable conclusion in deciding to make their proposed franchising framework.

All licences issued by NatureScot to date, for the use of more than two dogs for a hunt, as provided for under section 4 of the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023, have been for preventing serious damage to livestock, woodlands, and crops. No licences have yet to be issued for environmental benefits.

NatureScot publishes a summary of licences issued on their website at https://www.nature.scot/doc/summary-licensing-data

Licence applications to NatureScot, for the use of more than two dogs for a hunt, as provided for under section 4 of the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023, only requires the details of the dog handler and any potential assistants. There is no requirement for any mounted hunt associated to be named within the application.

The Small Business Bonus Scheme Evaluation Short-Term Working Group was established to inform advice to Scottish Ministers in respect the recommendations made in the Evaluation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme Report , and in particular “that the Scottish Government begins to collect new information that will make a more robust assessment of the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) (and potentially other reliefs) possible in the future.”

This Group met twice and minutes of the meetings are published on the Scottish Government website . Members were clear that SBBS relief is of great benefit to many small businesses, and also raised concerns about the burden that the collection of any additional information would entail.

Recognising these concerns, the Scottish Government has not introduced any additional information-sharing requirements for this relief at this time and the Small Business Bonus Scheme remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK.

The Scottish Government has not given any consideration as to how users of bird-dissuading mesh may be incentivised to maintain the mesh so that the safety of birds is not threatened.

It is the responsibility of those installing the bird-dissuading mesh to comply with any necessary legislation, such as the Wildlife and Countryside (Scotland) Act 1981.

Bus operators use their own commercial judgement to decide on service routes, frequency and fare structure, including booking procedures. Any changes must be consistent with the processes enforced by the Traffic Commissioner.

Day to day operational activity and booking processes are the responsibility of individual bus operators in line with their conditions of carriage. The choice to offer advanced booking and charge a fee to passengers including National Entitlement cardholders is at the operator’s discretion.

Where a booking fee is charged it is not part of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme reimbursement process and the Scottish Government does not cover the cost.

We continue to explore, with our partners on the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), how best to deliver the balance required for preparation and contact time.

Any changes to teachers’ terms and conditions require tripartite agreement through the SNCT.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The prison population rose by around 400 between March and May and by around 13% since the beginning of 2023, resulting in the need to take a variety of actions to deal with the unprecedented high prisoner numbers. These actions will ensure the safety and well-being of SPS staff and those in our care, allowing prisons such as Barlinnie to continue to function effectively and accommodate those who pose the greatest risk of harm.

Despite being above its design capacity, HMP Barlinnie is currently operating below its extended operating capacity.

The provision of education is the responsibility of Local Authorities and so the detailed approach to lesson planning is a matter for individual schools – however it has always been the case that Scotland’s teachers are entrusted to plan their lessons as they see fit. There are a variety of different approaches which may be deployed in the development of lesson plans and it would not be the role of central Government to dictate how that might look in individual classrooms.

In relation to avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy, the Statement from HM Inspector of Education from 2016 remains in place. That Statement sets out what teachers and practitioners are expected to do to effectively plan learning, teaching and assessment for all pupils, and also suggests what should be avoided. The guidance is available at the following hyperlink: https://education.gov.scot/media/m1nlboum/cfe-statement.pdf

To further support effective lesson planning, Education Scotland continues to provide advice and support to educators on lesson planning with the provision of resources on the Education Scotland website and using their subject-specific networks, professional learning events and professional support visits.

While employment practice is a matter for local authorities as employers, the Scottish Government values teachers and recognises concerns around teacher workload. That is why we remain which is why we remain committed to reducing class contact time by 90 minutes giving teachers more time out of the classroom.

We continue to explore with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) how we can best progress the commitment to reduce class contact time.

To help inform this discussion the WPI report which was published on 7 May contains a number of high-level future scenarios and assesses their broad compatibility with any changes to teachers’ contracted class-contact time. These scenarios will help to facilitate our discussions with SNCT partners on how we can best deliver this commitment and ensure effective and evidence-informed workforce planning.

Any changes to terms and conditions for teachers in Scotland are a matter for the SNCT.