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Our ‘New Deal for Tenants’ consultation sought views on proposals to strengthen the rights of tenants including greater rights to have a pet. We are currently developing proposals for future reform. The timing and content of a Housing Bill is currently being considered as we continue to deliver our emergency response to support tenants through the ongoing cost of living crisis.

The beaver kit dependency period is between 1 April and 16 August and no licences to control beavers have been issued in this period. As such, there has been no legal requirement for carcasses to be submitted to NatureScot for an independent post-mortem.

The legal requirement for licence holders to submit carcasses for independent post- mortem to NatureScot will take effect when new licences granted by NatureScot commence on 17 August 2023 and thereafter.

Advice and support for households is currently accessed via Home Energy Scotland or via local authority-led Area Based Schemes. It is likely that this arrangement will continue in the short term, but we are committed to working with delivery partners, including Local Government to ensure the efficient delivery of advice and support to households.

This year we will publish a Public Engagement Strategy setting out how we will raise public awareness and understanding of the changes we all need to make to our home heating to meet the net zero targets by 2045. We will need to communicate in a coordinated way across all levels, including nationally and through trusted grassroots and local messengers.

This will include taking a place-based approach through working with local government to communicate to the public what the transition will mean for them, informed by upcoming Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plans. This will help to ensure that people know whether they can expect to connect to a local heat network or will need to install renewable technologies such as a heat pump, the steps involved and how they can access any support available. We will use a range of tactics to achieve this, including multi-channel marketing and community engagement initiatives.

Support from the Circular Textiles Fund is available without capital expenditure requirements.Applicants from the first round are currently being supported to develop their proposals further, to make best use of the funding.Further information on support for applicants to the Circular Textiles Fund is available at: - https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/resources/circular-textiles-fund 

The Scottish Government carried out a consultation on the Future of Gaelic and Scots from August to December 2022 and these responses will help shape any future legislation. The responses have been independently analysed and it is hope that these will be published by the Scottish Government on 7 June.

A decision on the timing of the Bill’s introduction to Parliament will be taken by Cabinet in the context of setting the content of future legislative programmes.

Duties relating to secure transport lie principally with the local authority responsible for the child’s placement. Information is not held centrally on these arrangements or the use of handcuffs.

A sub-group of the National Secure Care Group is developing a service specification that can be used consistently by local authorities and sets out the principles and standards wherever secure transport requires to be commissioned. It covers areas such as data gathering and staff training and prohibits the use of mechanical restraints or handcuffs.

The Scottish Government has a contract with GEOAmey to provide secure transport for children convicted on indictment and given a custodial sentence. GEOAmey must ensure that the child being transported, staff and the general public are protected by robust arrangements throughout each journey, including the prevention of escape. Multi-purpose vehicles are used to escort children, rather than the prison vans used to transport adult prisoners. Because of this, handcuffs are used for each journey.

The Scottish Government is clear that scientific age assessments have no place in Scotland. The Scottish Government’s Age assessment: practice guidance strongly advises against use of such techniques on child welfare grounds and their ability to accurately ascertain age.

Scottish Government Officials are engaging with the Home Office on their proposals to scientifically age assess unaccompanied asylum seeking children. In October 2022, Scottish Ministers wrote to the UK Government expressing serious concerns over the UK Government’s plans to introduce medical age assessments under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.

The Scottish Government is clear that the UK Government’s cruel and inhumane Illegal Migration Bill should be scrapped immediately. The Scottish Parliament rejected the Bill during a debate on 25 April. In the debate, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice raised serious concerns about the ethical implications of subjecting children to scientific age assessments.

We continue to monitor the Bill closely as it is considered by the House of Lords.

No consideration has been given to a moratorium on the creation of bus stop bypasses. Local authorities are responsible for management of local roads and paths and the Scottish Government has no authority to make such a mandate.

The Scottish Government is committed to Keeping the Promise and ensuring that families are supported to stay together when it is safe to do so. While we still have more work to do, it is positive progress that the recent Infant's Born into Care Report confirms that the proportion of children entering care before their first birthday in Scotland has fallen since 2018 - from 122 in every 10,000 to 91 in every 10,000 in 2021.

The Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) approach ensures that children and families can access support across maternity, health visiting, family nursing and social work services to help them thrive. Where it is deemed that a child requires statutory support for their care, the Local Authority becomes their Corporate Parent and are responsible for working with partners to ensure that the right services are in place to deliver a personalised plan to meet their needs.

The Scottish Government has provided funding and technical assistance to local authorities to design and deliver projects through the Spaces for People, Places for Everyone and National Cycle Network programmes that are delivered by Sustrans Scotland, and a small number of these projects contain bus stop bypasses.