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The Schools (Scotland) General Regulations 1975 set out the requirements upon schools and education authorities in relation to registration of admissions.

As set out in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and Workforce Action Plan, we recognise that counsellors and psychotherapists are part of the core mental health and wellbeing workforce and play a critical role in delivering the Strategy.

Throughout the development of the Strategy, associated Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan, we engaged with a wide range of stakeholders, including directly with representatives of the workforce.

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA) and the British Psychological Society participated in the consultation processes.

We will continue to engage with them and other representatives of the mental health and wellbeing workforce on the implementation of the Strategy’s Delivery and Workforce Action Plans.

The Scottish Government has no plans to segregate pupils by sex when participating in physical education and sporting activities. Decisions on the teaching of PE rest with education authorities and schools in line with curriculum for excellence.

Following a successful vessel berthing trial on 20 December, ferry services resumed on the Little Minch route on 22 December 2023.

Carrying capacities and route requirements are kept under periodic review by operators and CMAL as the vessels’ owner.

We recognise in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Workforce Action Plan that counsellors and psychotherapists are part of the core mental health and wellbeing workforce and that they have a critical role in delivering the Strategy.

The Strategy, Delivery Plan and Workforce Action Plan were developed in consultation with a large number of stakeholders including representatives of counselling and psychotherapy such as British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA) and the British Psychological Society.

Throughout the implementation of the Strategy’s Delivery and Workforce Action Plans, officials will continue to liaise with key stakeholders and consider relevant frameworks to ensure best practices are shared.

Recruitment and training of registered mental health professionals is a matter for employers such as NHS boards and Local Authorities. These bodies make informed decisions about recruiting counsellors and psychotherapists or training new mental health practitioners, according to the needs of local service providers and working with relevant professional bodies. The Scottish Government expects employers to apply standards and frameworks which are appropriate to the specialism being recruited for.

The number of properties that have provided annual deer cull data to NatureScot in each of the past five years is as follows:

The Scottish Government held a public consultation on its proposals to prohibit the use of snares and other cable restraints which concluded in October 2023.

The consultation highlighted that some individuals and businesses may see cost changes associated with changes to the way that they undertake control of foxes, brown hares and/or rabbits. Snares are a relatively resource un-intensive method of wildlife control compared to other methods such as shooting. The majority of land managers use shooting as their only or main method of control and this will remain a viable alternative.

The Scottish Government will work together with relevant stakeholders to minimise any impacts when a ban on snaring comes into force.

We also invited the Rural and Environment Land Management Group to submit a report on the use of snares by Scottish land management businesses. We considered this report alongside a report from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission. We concluded that other, more humane, methods of wildlife control are available to land managers in most circumstances and that a ban on the use of snares would have a significant benefit for wildlife welfare with only a minor impact on some rural businesses.

Scotland is committed to a just transition to net-zero and decarbonisation of industry is ‘mission critical’. Scottish Government is continuing to deliver the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, which leverages private sector investment from energy intensive industries to deliver energy efficiency improvements to decarbonise industrial processes.

Scottish Government is also strengthening engagement with research networks and energy intensive industries to build evidence-based policy to support industrial decarbonisation. Scottish Government continues to liaise with UK Government on the many reserved policy, fiscal or regulatory levers that influence current incentives for industry to invest in decarbonisation.