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As we expect to see more extreme weather events, and further warming in Scotland, the Scottish Government recognises how important it is to adapt and prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Our land managers and local communities have a vital role in mitigating and responding to wildfires. In line with the Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Operational Guidance Fire and Rescue Service Wildfire Operational Guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) t he Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) continues to encourage and support the formation of local fire groups such as those operating in North and South Grampian as well as Badenoch and Speyside.

At recent significant wildfires, the involvement of partners has been instrumental in successfully managing the incidents. SFRS have, and will continue to, learn from these experiences as well as consider where improvements can be made.

Wildfire mitigation is an important part of land management, and the Scottish Government will continue to engage with communities to ensure we are able to respond to wildfire risks.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of modal shift to help achieve transport emission reduction targets. The Freight Facilities Grant scheme is designed to provide assistance to companies who wish to move freight by rail or water instead of by road. The scheme required State Aid clearance and under the terms of the approval rail and water haulage equipment, including rail wagons, was prohibited from support.

Since its launch, the Plugged-in Communities grant fund has supported 38 community transport organisations across Scotland make the switch to zero emission vehicles, providing over £3.5 million of funding allowing these organisations to procure 53 zero emission vehicles. These vehicles play a key role in their local communities by providing mobility, contributing to improved air quality and reducing polluting greenhouse gas emissions in the communities they serve.

These are unprecedented times with significant pressure on financial resources and difficult decisions had to be taken when setting the 2024-25 Scottish Budget. Given these constraints, Transport Scotland officials are currently considering future levels of funding for the Plugged-In Communities scheme, with no final decision yet made. Eligible community transport organisations can continue to register their interest on the EST website to receive further information.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the provision of high quality child palliative care, regardless of location, supported by sustainable funding of at least £7m per year through CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland).

We are working with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), Health Boards and CHAS to improve the sustainability and oversight of funding for CHAS and to develop a long term sustainable funding model.

The Palliative Care Strategy Steering Group’s Children and Young People’s Working Group is developing new actions to address equity and continuity of access to paediatric palliative care, including the staffing models required to deliver this.

The Scottish Government remains committed to advancing equality for LGBTQI+ people across all areas of life, including the labour market.

We are providing over £1.1 million to organisations working to promote LGBTQI+ equality in Scotland in 2024-25, including for initiatives to tackle discrimination and empower LGBTQI+ people and allies to advocate for LGBTQI+ rights in their workplace.

Through our Fair Work First approach we are leveraging employers’ commitment to fair work for all, including the LGBTQI+ community, by applying Fair Work principles to public sector grants, contracts and other funding, where it is relevant and proportionate to do so. These principles ask employers to commit to creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces and providing channels for effective voice, including trade union recognition. These facilitate open communication with workers to share their lived experiences, advocate for equal rights and ultimately improve workplace culture; and help all workers protect their legal rights and ensure fair treatment.

NHS Boards are responsible for their own spending decisions. Scottish Government regularly review NHS Board financial positions to ensure value for money is being achieved for resources allocated. There will be examples where PR spend is required to communicate essential public health messages, or consultancy spend is required for specialised skills.

Our 110,000 affordable homes target includes that “at least” 10% of those homes will be delivered in rural and island areas. We allocate Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding to local authority areas based on our Strategic Housing Investment Framework agreed with COSLA in 2012. Local authorities then prioritise the use of this funding as outlined in their Strategic Housing Investment Plans. This includes the size, tenure and location of homes.

We are investing in rural and island areas through both our mainstream Affordable Housing Supply Programme as well as demand-led funds including the Rural and Island Housing Fund and the Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund which are part of our approach to addressing the specific housing issues that rural and island areas face. From 2016-2017 to 2022-23 we have supported the delivery of 10,094 affordable homes in rural and island areas. This accounted for 16% of homes delivered over this time period.

We will invest nearly £600m in affordable homes this year including our demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund and Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund.

One of the key aims of the Scottish Government’s new strategy on palliative care, which is currently being developed, is that children living with a life-shortening condition, anywhere in Scotland, will have equitable and timely access to the general and specialist palliative care services they may need.

The development of the strategy has been informed by representatives of palliative care for children and young people on the Strategy Steering Group. A Children and Young People’s Working Group, including experts in neonatal and paediatric palliative care, is developing new actions to address equity and continuity of access to paediatric palliative care across all places of care for babies, children and young people, including care around dying or transition to adult services.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the hard work foster carers do in providing caring homes to vulnerable children. However, there are no plans to extend eligibility for Scottish Child Payment to all foster carers.

Children in foster care are considered looked after by the local authority and, as such, foster carers do not satisfy the legal responsibilities or rights that entitle them to child responsibility benefits. Foster carers receive allowances from local authorities to cover the needs of children living with them.

Steps have already been taken to disseminate the NCA alert to all schools in Scotland.

Education Scotland officials worked with the NCA to ensure a copy of the alert went to all safeguarding leads in each local authority for onward transmission to all schools. In addition, the alert has been circulated to the Personal and Social Education and Health and Wellbeing Network members, who are school teachers, as well as the Registrar of Independent Schools.