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The 2025-26 budget commits to spending £3 million to develop the systems needed to deliver mitigation of the two-child cap, which could lift an estimated 15,000 children out of poverty in Scotland.

The detailed work of building the system and developing legislation to do that has started, however implementation requires, not just the co-operation of the UK Government, but also legislation in the UK Parliament. Officials from both governments have already met to discuss this, and myself are seeking a Ministerial meeting so that this vital policy can be progressed as a priority.

We will start paying families as early as possible in 2026.

The abundance of fish in Scottish waters means that a varied industry has developed over time, with many different types of fishing vessels operating as part of a mixed fishery. There are different target fish species, depending on the type of fishing vessel and where it operates, and different issues around unwanted catch. Discarding in the nephrops trawl fishery does occur as whitefish may be caught alongside nephrops. Since the introduction of the landing obligation, this unwanted catch can amount to a disproportionate cost for fisherman who have to land and then dispose of it. As such, the Scottish Government have utilised lawful exemptions to the landing obligation for these fish, in order to lessen the financial burden on these small nephrops vessels. These exempted fish are fully accounted for in quota calculations and factored into stock assessments.

As part of the policy development of our Future Catching Policy, we have been working with industry to explore pragmatic technical and spatial measures to support fishers to reduce discarding. We also know there are improvements we can make to the implementation of the landing obligation that will make the rules around discarding more effective and will work with industry and others to develop this.

Legislation surrounding the use of e-bikes and e-Scooters is a reserved matter for the UK Government.

For an e-bike to be legal for use in the UK, they must be electrically assisted pedal cycles and the electric motor should not be able to propel the bike when it’s travelling more than 15.5mph. This ensures speeds similar to that of other bicycles.

In Scotland, it is illegal to ride an e-scooter on a public road, pavement, cycle paths, shared paths or any public place. It is lawful to use e-scooters on private land with the landowners permission. The previous UK Government had intended to bring forward legislation to fully legalise e-scooters in 2022, however this was paused due to a change of Prime Minister and a Cabinet reshuffle.

As such, electric scooters are covered by the same UK-wide laws and regulations that apply to all motor vehicles. It is every road and path users responsibility to respect others and the Highway Code outlines both rules and guidance for everyone.

The health and wellbeing of MSPs, their staff and SPCB staff is a priority for the SPCB. The SPCB promotes a wide range of health and wellbeing resources on its intranet, including those provided by Spectrum Life, the SPCB’s employee wellbeing partner. These resources include cancer awareness and prevention and cancer survivor podcasts as well as information about World Cancer Day. The SPCB is aware of Fight Bladder Cancer’s awareness raising campaign. The SPCB will consider how it might raise awareness of this disease during bladder cancer awareness month in May.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with Scottish Renewables to discuss a wide range of matters related to renewable energy. On 4 December 2024, I met Claire Mack, the Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, to discuss the broad parameters of the draft Scottish Budget 2025-26 in relation to offshore wind and wider renewables.

Local authorities are responsible for the developing and delivering flood protection schemes, supported by Scottish Government funding. The 2015-2021 Flood Risk Management Strategies published by SEPA prioritised 42 flood protection schemes. These schemes require complex planning and consultation and often take years to complete, so it has always been recognised that completion of construction work on all 42 schemes might not have taken place by 2021.

In addition to an annual £42 million provided to local authorities for flood resilience, Scottish Government has committed to an additional £150 million over the course of this Parliament.

Since 2015 this investment has led to the completion of 18 flood resilience projects, including Millport Coastal, one of three completed in 2024. An additional two projects are in an advanced stage and nearing completion.

The National Flood Resilience Strategy published in December underscores Scottish Government’s long term commitment to tackling climate-related challenges. An additional £15 million has been set aside in the draft 2025-2026 Scottish Budget to support the delivery of the Strategy, wider flooding resilience and coastal adaptation work.

Transport Scotland officials have regular discussions with ScotRail regarding various matters. ScotRail continuously reviews its services to best meet the passenger demand with the resource it has available.

Nationally, more services run on a Sunday in the December 2024 timetable than before Covid. In particular, for the Glasgow area, following the introduction of the new December 2024 timetable, late night Sunday services have been enhanced on the Springburn line in Glasgow, and from Exhibition Centre.

Transport Scotland officials have regular discussions with Network Rail regarding various matters. Performance of Network Rail is a matter for the Office of Rail and Road who holds Network Rail to account for delivering a safe, high-performing, and efficient railway.

The judgements and issues in the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan are informed and influenced by recent developments in UK Government energy policy and by court decisions.

This is a rapidly changing landscape and we are taking time to reflect on those developments before drawing any conclusions and publishing a final strategy.

The Scottish Government continues to engage with a range of international organisations and stakeholders, including the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance as part of a wider programme of analysis and engagement on energy policy. The Cabinet Secretary is the European Co-Chair of the Under2 Coalition, and as such is already heavily involved.

Data on the usage of the noted material could be obtained through a range of activity including population surveys, waste composition analysis, cross-border trade analysis and studies of the weight and carbon impact of typical products.

It should be noted that, as the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 place restrictions on supplying the single-use plastic products in question in the course of a business, sales data in Scotland would therefore be of limited value in ascertaining usage.