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The Scottish Government funds delivery of 1140 hours of high quality funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) to all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds. This entitlement is regardless of the working status of their parents - putting children first.

We recognise how important both early learning and school age childcare are for families, especially those experiencing poverty. Within this year’s Programme for Government we have committed to work with local government and partners in the ELC sector to expand our childcare offers.

We are already delivering school age childcare services to around 1,000 priority families through our early adopter work in Glasgow, Dundee, Clackmannanshire, and Inverclyde - and through our Access to Childcare Fund projects.

Over the next year we will expand our early adopter work to include Fife and Shetland and also to broaden the work to include younger children. This work will provide us with a clearer picture about what approaches deliver the greatest impact for families.

In parallel we will continue to work with local authorities and our partners in the sector to support up-take of the existing two year old offer, to ensure as many children as possible receive the benefits of high quality ELC. We will also begin the work necessary to plan for an expansion of funded ELC for more families with a two year old, focused on those who will benefit most.

We know that the needs of younger children are different to those aged three and four and in developing our plans for an expansion we will be guided by what the evidence tells us is best for children and families.

The Energy Consents Unit has increased its staffing resource in response to increased application volumes. Resourcing requirements are kept under review, with a view to addressing the expected intake of applications.

The Programme Delivery Board last met on 31 January 2024. The Board discussed the Programme’s progress to date, including an update on the status of the NCS Bill and subsequent planning across the programme for 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24710 on 5 February 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 .

The Scottish Government is working with the other UK governments to legislate to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging. Among other benefits, this will create a strong incentive for producers to reduce their use of packaging and drive more sustainable design choices.

The main legislation for packaging EPR will be a Westminster SI, with supporting legislation in Scotland where required. The draft text of this SI was made available for public consultation from 28 July 2023 to 9 October 2023 and is available online at the following link: Draft producer responsibility obligations (packaging and packaging waste) regulations - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk

The Scottish Government has not provided any funding directly to Counselling and Family Mediation Western Isles since 2019.

Relationships Scotland have received Scottish Government core funding since 2016 which will continue until March 2025 via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning & Empowering Communities fund (CYPFEI & ALEC). Relationships Scotland operate a network of 21 Member Services across Scotland and Counselling and Family Mediation Western Isles is part of that network.

The Scottish Government is committed to working collaboratively with partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to reduce the significant harm caused by the illicit drugs trade to communities across Scotland.

We are also rolling out the Medication Assisted Treatment standards, which is a key component of our National Mission to reduce drug deaths and harm. These set out what people should expect from services, improvements to accessing services, choices of treatment options and wrap-around support for the people most at risk from drug harm and drug-related death.

The following tables set out how many Beaver licences were issued in the last five years; broken down by the (a) year issued, (b) category of the licence and (c) duration of the licence:

The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

In an extremely challenging financial climate, and following a worst case scenario UK Autumn Statement in which UK Ministers prioritised tax cuts over public spending, we have had to take difficult decisions in setting this budget. The amount Scotland has available to spend is still largely driven by the block grant, which is derived from the UK Government's spending decisions and continuing constraint on public expenditure. The block grant has fallen by 1.2% in real terms since 2022-23 and, because of the UK Government's failure to inflation-proof capital budgets, our capital spending power is due to contract by almost 10% in real terms over 5 years.

Despite this, I am pleased that this Government has committed £4.7 billion in capital and resource in 2024-25 for activities that will have a positive impact on delivery of our climate change goals, and funding of almost £3.9 billion for transport across Scotland. The total budget for my portfolio increases by £47.7 million in 2024-25, which is a £27.9 million (0.6%) reduction in real terms using GDP deflators published in November 2023.

A significant proportion of the expenditure in my portfolio is legally and contractually committed, and I have ensured that those commitments are met in full in this budget as well as allocating funding to support critical maintenance and renewal expenditure to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to a safe and reliable transport system.

I have considered equalities and fairer Scotland duties and progress towards our statutory targets for climate change and child poverty in prioritising the budget available to me. I refer to the Equalities and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement and Carbon Assessment published alongside this budget.