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The Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% (R100) programme is being delivered through three key strands of activity – the over £600 million R100 contracts (North, Central and South), the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and continued commercial coverage which includes newly emerging technologies such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connections.

As a result, all homes and businesses in Scotland should now be able to access a minimum of a superfast broadband connection today.

As at 30 April 2024, around 3,890 premises were still expected to be connected through the R100 South contract in the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area. The R100 South contract remains on track to complete build in 2025.

As the R100 SBVS is a demand-led scheme, it is up to eligible property owners or residents to decide whether or not to secure a connection in this way. As a result, it is not possible to say how many properties will ultimately be connected through the R100 SBVS in Dumfries and Galloway.

As part of the work to deliver the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste, Zero Waste Scotland commissioned a report which included an updated capacity analysis.

Zero Waste Scotland is currently reviewing the report to ensure that it does not contain commercially sensitive material, and publication of the report is likely to follow the General Election.

While the Scottish Government recognises the need to ensure that we have effective infrastructure and technologies to enable the increased recovery of critical minerals, we acknowledge the complexities of critical mineral markets. Data is often not readily available, markets can be volatile, and supply chains are fraught with environmental, social and governance issues.

Better data availability is in all our interests to support well-functioning markets and responsible, traceable supply chains, to help de-risk investments and development of new projects. We are working with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments and regulators to implement a UK-wide mandatory digital waste tracking service. The digital waste tracking service will improve the quality of waste data and make it easier to identify opportunities to keep materials in use for as long as possible and ensure nothing is wasted.

While not in direct response to the report, between 28 December 2023 and 7 March 2024, the Scottish Government, along with the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments, held a consultation on reforming the producer responsibility system for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). This consultation sought views on a number of policy reforms, including the introduction of a producer financed household collection system for small and large items of WEEE, enhancing retailer obligations to provide a free collection on delivery service for large appliances, extending obligations to online marketplaces, creating a category for vapes to ensure that treatment and collection costs are borne by vapes producers, and establishing a new WEEE scheme administrator.

As at 30 April 2024, over 4,900 premises had been connected through the Reaching 100% (R100) South contract in the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area with over 1,400 additional premises connected beyond the contract scope. The R100 South contract remains on track to complete build in 2025.

Through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) 198 connections have been delivered so far across Dumfries and Galloway.

COPFS has commenced work in relation to the areas identified in the His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (HMIPS) report and is identifying the necessary work that will require to be undertaken and the resource requirements needed to implement the recommendations.

COPFS has agreed to provide HMIPS with regular updates on the work undertaken in implementing the recommendations contained within the report and anticipate that an update on progress could be provided in 6 months.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27757 on‎ 7 June 2024. 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 .

Instances of stalking in 2023-24 will be published within the Recorded Crime in Scotland 2023-24 accredited official statistics on 25 June 2024. The most recently published data shows there were 872 crimes of stalking recorded by police over the year ending December 2023.

We do not hold information on the specific proportion of stalking cases recorded by the police that led to a prosecution. This is because the recorded crime and criminal proceedings statistics are not operationally linked. Recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland, while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases once they have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year and court proceedings concluded in a subsequent year. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only a single conviction for the ‘main charge’ (the one receiving the most severe sentence) would be counted in the court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility a crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

Noting the above, the latest published Criminal Proceedings in Scotland accredited official statistics show 401 people were proceeded against in court for a crime of stalking in 2021-22.

COPFS has commenced work in relation to the areas identified in the His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland (HMIPS) report and is identifying the necessary work that will require to be undertaken and the resource requirements needed to implement the recommendations.

COPFS has agreed to provide HMIPS with regular updates on the work undertaken in implementing the recommendations contained within the report and anticipate that an update on progress could be provided in 6 months.

The following table shows the level of Mode Shift Revenue Support grants awarded by the Scottish Government since the introduction of the scheme plus details of the committed traffic.