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The recommendations of the ongoing Active Travel Transformation Project will be made publicly available. It is intended that these will be shared in the coming months.

A report which summarises the work undertaken and lessons learned from the first stage of the Project will be also published. This report will include learning from Project workshops, and summarises issues surfaced through wider Project engagement.

The Scottish Government has provided funding for 215 properties through the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan Scheme since the Scheme was established in April 2020. 

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.

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.

The Agricultural Reform Route Map sets out the proposed timescales for information and interaction with the agricultural industry. As we continue to make progress with the Agriculture Reform Programme, there will be further opportunities to share key information with farmers, crofters and landowners to help them plan and prepare for change.

Scottish Government officials have been sharing information about RAAC with local authorities’ Scottish Heads of Property Services (SHOPS) and Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) networks since July 2022. Scottish Government officials shared the latest guidance from the Institution of Structural Engineers with the SHOPS and ADES networks in May.

In recent weeks, I have personally met with COSLA to discuss RAAC on 31 August, 5 September, 11 September and 21 September. We have agreed to continue doing so weekly during this phase of the response. Minutes of such meetings are not routinely published.

I wrote to local authorities regarding RAAC on 2 September and 5 September, along with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Building safety is a matter for the owner - who in this case would be individual local authorities - acting in accordance with the relevant health and safety legislation. Moreover, health and safety legislation is not devolved to the Scottish Government.

It is imperative that there is transparency around the schools where RAAC has been identified and the mitigations that are in place. This is why, on 8 September, a list of the 16 local authorities where reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found in some schools was published in a Scottish Government news release ( Local authorities publish RAAC data - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).

Ministers were provided with an interim analysis on 23 February 2023 prior to a finalised report being provided on 4 May 2023.