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Scottish Government has confirmed funding for the Workforce Specialist Service (WSS) for 2024-25 and the current contract will be extended for a further 12 months. WSS provides confidential mental health assessment and treatment for regulated health, social care and social work professionals in Scotland.

Restraint and seclusion should only ever be used as a last resort to prevent the risk of injury. Under existing guidance , all local authorities are asked to have policies in place governing the use of these practices and are asked to monitor their use.

As part of their scrutiny and improvement roles in schools, Education Scotland inspectors consider the impact of practice in relation to the use of physical intervention for children and young people.

To further improve practice in this area, the Scottish Government is developing new human-rights based guidance on the use of physical intervention in schools. We are due to publish the consultation analysis report on our draft physical intervention in schools guidance very shortly. We will then reconvene the physical intervention working group to make final revisions to the guidance.

Progress with this work can be followed via the working group’s webpage .

The responsibility for licensing and regulating operators of public service vehicles (PSVs) and local bus services sits with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. It is for their office to take action against a vehicle operator, bus service operator or driver of a bus or minibus and they can impose financial penalties on registered bus service operators who are unable to maintain the conditions of the licence of the registered route including punctuality of services.

Transport Scotland also provides funding for Bus Users Scotland (BUS) to support this. BUS conduct compliance monitoring to check bus services are running where and when they should be. They also focus on working with government, local authorities, special interest groups, and bus companies to make sure the views and interests of passengers are properly represented.

Additionally, the Scottish Government’s recently published Bus Taskforce report outlines the positive steps taken by operators to address bus driver shortages which can be a factor impacting the reliability of services. The report can be found at https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/bus-taskforce-summary-report/

The Community Bus Fund is intended to support local transport authorities to improve local public transport in their areas. This can include exploring the full range of options set out in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, including Bus Services Improvement Partnerships.

In 2023-24, the Community Bus Fund provided £750,000 in resource funding for transport authorities to complete initial feasibility and preparatory work required for the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. A further £5 million of capital funding was allocated to local authorities, with greater levels of support for rural areas facing different challenges to those in cities.

Scottish Ministers continue to have a positive relationship with the defence industries, and regularly engage with both individual companies and the wider trade associations.

Ministers last engaged with defence industry representatives on 6 March 2024, when I attended Space-Comm Expo at the invitation of ADS Group.

The Chair of the Aerospace and Defence Industry Leadership Group is also a standing member of the Industry Leadership Group (ILG) Chairs’ Roundtable discussions that take place quarterly and was last chaired by the former Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy.

The next ILG Chairs Roundtable discussion is scheduled to take place in early May and will be co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy.

As set out within Housing to 2040, we recognise the importance that good quality, accessible and adaptable housing has in allowing people to live independently with no barriers to participation in daily life, work and their community.

To make sure that we build in accessibility and adaptability to new homes and future proof them, we are carefully considering the public response to our recent consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland’s homes.

Expert advisory groups are set up in response to the specific needs and demands of the individual policy context. Decisions on the need to set up such groups and membership are taken by the relevant Minister.

The UK Government’s equivalent to Bus Services Improvement Partnerships (BSIPs) in Scotland are “Enhanced Partnerships”. Both models take a similar approach to partnership working, ensuring that operators and local transport authorities collaborate to achieve improved bus provision, but there are some key differences which reflect the Scottish context.

For instance, while both BSIPs and Enhanced Partnerships allow for the setting of requirements in respect of service frequency and timings, they take different approaches to addressing overprovision of services.

Also, BSIPs specifically allow for the setting of maximum fares which is not included in Enhanced Partnerships.

BSIPs schemes are required to include either facilities or measures to be provided by the Local Transport Authority (LTA); Enhanced Partnership schemes may include facilities or measures but these are not required.

Both BSIPs and Enhanced Partnerships have an operator objection mechanism based on the number of operators in an area and the registered distance they operate. The objections mechanism allows operators to object to the proposed making, variation or revocation of a plan or a scheme. The criteria for being excluded from the objection mechanism varies between the two models. The thresholds used to determine what constitutes a "sufficient number of persons" for the purpose of the objection mechanism also differs between the two models, to account for network variations across Scotland.

Furthermore, the Enhanced Partnership model allows, and in certain circumstances requires, the traffic commissioner to delegate to the LTA their registration functions as regards the services within the Enhanced Partnership scheme area. That is not included in BSIPs.

Following the Grenfell fire, all Health Boards in Scotland confirmed that none of their buildings above 18 metres used exactly the same cladding type reported to have been used on Grenfell Tower. These checks found a type of Aluminium Composite Material on parts of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital of a similar type to, but not the same as, the material used at Grenfell Tower. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are in the process of removing ACM from the internal atrium of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and replacing it with a non-combustible cladding material. This action was agreed after extensive and regular engagement with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities to manage and maintain their schools.

In 2017, local authorities confirmed that ACM cladding had been used on 30 schools, all were low rise buildings. Assurance was received from local authorities that they had reviewed, fully investigated and, where appropriate, taken immediate action to ensure the fire safety of their schools.

The information requested on the number of public buildings containing ACM is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has supported individuals and businesses across Scotland with over £220 million of interest free loans to support the transition to zero emission vehicles.

In addition, the Plugged-in Communities grant fund has provided community transport organisations with grants worth almost £4 million to procure zero emission vehicles.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the future of its EV incentive schemes, with no final decision yet made.

The Scottish Government has commissioned a study which will look at EV adoption to-date and will model future demand across a number of scenarios. This study will help to inform the ongoing development of Transport Scotland’s strategic framework for the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) and the development of charging infrastructure across Scotland.