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The Scottish Government engages regularly with COSLA, both at official and Ministerial level, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our shared commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people and communities of Scotland.

As part of the Verity House Agreement, the First Minister has committed to meeting with the COSLA Presidential Team at least twice a year. Most recently this included a meeting on 30 August to discuss the forthcoming Programme for Government and 14 September to discuss progress on a range of topics.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information.

All local authorities in Scotland have a statutory responsibility to manage and maintain their school estate and the Scottish Government expect them to provide an accessible environment for all school users.

The Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Strategy is clear that learning environments should support the wellbeing of all learners, meet varying needs to support inclusion and support transitions for all learners.

The Scottish Government has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Danish Government to promote collaboration on zero emissions heat, heat networks and energy efficiency, plus onshore and offshore wind energy and hydrogen economy.

In September 2023, I led a trade delegation of Scottish companies to Denmark to promote the Scottish renewables sector, exchange best practice, and develop key stakeholder relationships.

During meetings with the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish Parliament’s Climate, Energy and Supply Committee the onus on developers to provide meaningful community support, engagement, and benefit was discussed. In meetings with industry, this was further raised, with me impressing the importance of developers needing to develop proposals that deliver lasting tangible benefit to local communities when proposing new projects.

I was interested to hear about the work taking place in Denmark on cooperative and community ownership. Scottish Government officials are working with Danish Government officials to share lessons and better understand the Danish model, to inform Scottish Government thinking.

The information requested on the number of bike pump tracks is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

We understand the significance of sports and leisure facilities in helping to achieve our vision of a more active Scotland.

The Cycling Facilities Fund was launched in October 2020 with £8million of funding made available to drive a legacy from the UCI Cycling World Championships 2023 held in Scotland. Over half of the fund has now been invested by sport scotland in 36 cycling projects across Scotland to meet the real demand for community facilities of this kind; 25 of the 36 projects awarded funding are for bike pump tracks.

Local groups can apply for capital funding via sport scotland’s application-based funding programme, the Sport Facilities Fund. The Sport Facilities Fund provides investment in capital projects that create new or improved places for clubs and communities to participate in sport and physical activity, including cycling facilities such as pump tracks.

There are five recommendations for the Scottish Government in the report. These include improved data gathering, setting standards and funding for out of area placements. We will consider these recommendations in detail and provide a full response to the Mental Welfare Commission in due course.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Mental Welfare Commission’s report and will carefully consider its recommendations in full.

We expect each NHS Board to have a clear understanding of their patient caseload, whether they are treated locally or elsewhere. Initiatives like our Coming Home Implementation Report makes clear it is essential that Scotland provides support and services in a way which ensures that human rights are respected and protected.

We continue to work in partnership with NHS Boards in order to ensure our NHS increases capacity, delivers reforms in the delivery of care, and gets everyone the treatment they need as quickly as is possible.

Equally Safe is Scotland’s strategy to take action on all forms of violence against women and girls. By this, we mean violent and abusive behaviour directed at women and girls precisely because they are women and girls. We know that VAWG can have a devastating impact on victims, and we are committed to eradicating VAWG in all its forms.

This is why, through our Delivering Equally Safe Fund, we are supporting 121 projects from 112 organisations that focus on early intervention and prevention, as well as support services. Included are organisations that support victims fleeing from family abuse. Inspiring Scotland manage DES on behalf of the Scottish Government. A full list of all the DES projects can be found on Inspiring Scotland's website.

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

Permanent In Cell Telephony means individuals in prison can maintain purposeful family contact, including with children, which we know is important for good mental health and wellbeing, and for reducing the risk of reoffending upon return to communities.

The hard-wired in-cell telephones are subject to the same robust security, which governed the use of mobile phones and hard-wired telephones in all residential areas. Those in our care can only call numbers from a pre-approved list, and SPS maintain the ability to monitor and record calls.

Where it is suggested that a criminal act has been committed, this will be reported to Police Scotland.

Proposals for creating new woodland in Scotland are assessed under the Forestry (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017. These regulations require those developing forestry projects to identify and consider potentially significant effects on the environment, including cumulative effects.

Scottish Forestry’s Woodland Creation Application Guidance advises those developing forestry proposals that identifying potential impacts and protecting the environment should be factored into the woodland design before any application is submitted. As a result, forestry proposals are often extensively modified, including where cumulative effects have been identified, during the development process to take account of potential environmental impacts, and applications must be supported by analysis of key environmental information.

Since 2019, no forestry applications have been refused consent as a result of significant cumulative environmental impacts.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are co-owners of Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to eradicate Violence Against Women and Girls. We will continue this joint approach when considering the wide-ranging recommendations of the Independent Strategic Review of Violence Against Women and Girls Services.

The Verity House Agreement provides a framework for both parties to work within when considering the joint response. A detailed analysis, including costing and cost benefit analysis, will be necessary before making definitive statements on individual recommendations.