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

SPS does not operate minimum prison officer staffing requirements. SPS has agreed prison officer staffing complements which are tailored to the needs of each establishment and agreed in partnership with the Prison Officers Association (Scotland).

SPS workforce data is produced monthly after the conclusion of the previous month, the most up to date data available is as follows:

On 2 February 2023, SPS had 70.9 prison officer vacancies (a 2.2% vacancy rate) across the prison estate.

On 2 February 2024, SPS had 59 prison officer vacancies (a 1.8% vacancy rate) across the prison estate.

Management of the Post Office is a reserved matter for the UK Government, and the Scottish Government has no role in the investigation of miscarriages of justice, which is a matter for the independent Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Issues regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system were in the public domain from 2009.

The first record the Scottish Government has of any official or minister being made directly aware of any concerns regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system, is in an email from a member of the public dated 23 January 2020 addressed to the then First Minister. This email related to calls for a Public Inquiry into the Horizon IT system, a matter which is reserved and falls into the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government was first formally made aware of concerns regarding the Post Office’s Horizon IT system by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) on 2 July 2020, at quarterly sponsorship meeting with Scottish Government officials.

Following this, on 29 September 2020 the then Cabinet Secretary for Justice was made aware by officials in the Scottish Government that the SCCRC intended to write out to 73 people with criminal convictions potentially affected by issues arising from the Post Office’s Horizon computer system, and encouraging all those who may have suffered a miscarriage of justice to make contact with it.

Officials are moving at pace, with the rest of the UK to bring forward the correct mechanisms to ban Single Use Vapes. As this is an area of devolved competence, decisions on whether to act in this area rest with the respective Governments in each part of the UK.

I wrote to the NZET committee on the 26th of January informing them that the Scottish Government intend to bring forward Scottish regulations under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to enact a ban on the sale and supply of single-use vapes in Scotland. In doing so, we will conduct a full impact assessment which, depending on its outcome in relation to the impact on different groups or communities, may require consideration of limited exemptions to a ban.

We will continue to work with UK Government and other Devolved Governments as we develop this legislation and will engage with Parliament as appropriate and necessary during this process.

As outlined in the draft route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km by 2030, achieving this commitment relies on a package of over 30 interventions. The route map does not apportion a specific reduction in car km to any single intervention such as the Bus Partnership Fund, which is one of a number of route map interventions which aim to encourage the use of public transport.

Bus Partnership Fund spend will proceed as planned for 2023-24 to complete the delivery of the bus infrastructure underway for the benefit of passengers and operators, and conclude appraisal work that could inform future investment. The pausing in 2024-5 presents an opportunity to recast bus priority work within a longer term more integrated public transport vision.

The Scottish Government is committed to making sustainable travel a more attractive option, which is why we invest over £2bn annually to support public transport including over £420 million allocated for bus services and concessionary fares in 2023-24 providing over 2 million people in Scotland with access to free bus travel. Our firm commitment to bus travel continues with almost £430 million in funding for concessionary travel and bus services planned for 2024-25.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail.

The Scottish Government home education guidance sets out the legal position on home education and provides advice on the roles and responsibilities of local authorities and parents in relation to children who are home educated.

This guidance is currently in the process of being updated following consultation with local authorities, other public, community and voluntary sector bodies and home educators and their relevant representative bodies. Scottish Government will engage further with stakeholders part of this process and we expect the publication of the refreshed home education guidance to be later this year. Officials will ensure that stakeholders and the public will be notified of the publication date.

Statistics from the ONS Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy (LCREE) survey provide estimates of renewable employment statistics in Scotland. No data is available to provide additional geographic breakdowns below the Scotland level at present.

As the following table shows, the estimated number of direct jobs in renewable electricity was 9,200 in 2021, up from 5,600 in 2017.

We are engaging with a range of stakeholders including local authority employers, university providers and the teaching unions to work collectively to raise the profile of teaching as a highly rewarding career.

Work is ongoing and we would expect to confirm a set of actions by the end of this academic year.

We continue to work with partners on the development of a digital strategy for education.

Since 2021 the Scottish Government has provided funding to local authorities for the removal of core curriculum charges for all primary and secondary pupils, with £8 million being provided for 2023-24 and another £8 million outlined in the Scottish Budget 2024-25, published on 19 December 2024. This funding aims to remove limitations on participation in the core curriculum by pupils whose families are not able to meet such costs.

The scope of this funding covers class based activity within the 8 core curriculum areas in the broad general education phase and activities associated with preparation for SQA qualifications in senior phase. For example, this includes (but is not limited to) art and technology materials, and ingredients for home economics. Schools may still choose to charge for costs which are not core curriculum, for example the cost of after school clubs.

Responsibility for implementing the removal of charges for core curriculum rests with individual local authorities.