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The Scottish Government is fully committed to improving the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful and to engagement and meaningful dialogue with directly affected communities and other stakeholders. I am grateful for the continuing interest the A83 Rest and Be Thankful Campaign Group has in the scheme development process and I will continue the positive engagement the Scottish Government has had with them to date. Subject to parliamentary business, I would be pleased to meet with the group to discuss the scheme and our commitment to developing an infrastructure solution to address the landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful.

In 2022-23, £6.554m was spent on the continuing maintenance and short-term measures for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful, and £3.913m was spent progressing the design and development of the both the medium and long term solutions to the landslip risks at the Rest and Be Thankful.

The Scottish Government is tackling marine litter with actions detailed in our Marine Litter Strategy, which aims to address the amount of litter entering the marine environment, to achieve ecological, economic and social benefits. Our Strategy and action plan was refreshed in September 2022 and focuses on the most problematic types of marine litter including fishing and aquaculture gear, sewage-related debris, and plastic pellets. The Strategy will drive forward our work over the next five years and co-ordinate the efforts of our stakeholders and partners, working at a national and international level to help tackle this global problem.

The many actions include: improving the management of end of life fishing and aquaculture gear to reduce litter and improve recycling rates, contributing to our circular economy; working across the UK administrations to put an end to pollution caused by wet wipes containing plastic; and developing international solutions to prevent spills of plastic pellets (nurdles), which can be found on our beaches and risk the health of our marine wildlife. In addition to preventative actions, we are also supporting litter removal, whether off shore through the funding of KIMO’s Fishing for Litter scheme, or at our rivers, with Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Upstream Battle project.

ScotRail implemented the consulted timetable in South West Scotland in May 2022 and advised this was a new starting point and passenger use would be closely monitored. As a result, in May 2023, a further five additional services will operate during the day between Ayr and Kilmarnock, improving access to employment, education, healthcare and leisure facilities for communities in south west Scotland, as many of these services originate or terminate at Girvan.

ScotRail advise that there are currently no plans to change the five trains per day which currently operate between Girvan and Stranraer – these operate at the times customers told ScotRail were most useful to them. ScotRail will continue to monitor passenger use of rail services to Stranraer and engage with communities to ensure the service level meets local needs.

Across Scotland safety cameras are deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding. This is in accordance with criteria contained in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook.

There are a range of sites along the A75 where mobile safety camera resources are deployed.

An annual site prioritisation exercise is underway to assess the performance of all existing safety camera sites across Scotland and to identify locations which meet minimum criteria requirements. If new locations are identified on the A75 which meet minimum criteria requirements then consideration will be given to deploying additional camera resources on the route.

Transport Scotland officials regularly meet with the A77 Action group, to which representatives from the ferry operators are invited. Meeting invites to these meetings are sent to PO Ferries, Belfast Harbour and Stena Line.

The last meeting of this group was held on 3 February 2023, however, the last meeting attended by ferry operators was in September 2022.

Representatives from Transport Scotland’s operating company AMEY also meet the ferry operators on an ad hoc basis, as part of the consultation process around planned roadworks on the trunk road network.

The Scottish Safety Camera Handbook is kept under continuous review by the Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board which provides strategic support and direction to the Scottish Safety Camera Programme. This acts to ensure safety camera resources continue to maximise their casualty reduction potential to communities across Scotland.

International trade and import controls are matters reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government has limited powers to reduce the amount of food imported. However, our Vision for Trade strategy clearly shows, we are committed to a balanced and nuanced approach to trade, and we know that imports are an important source of food for Scotland, offering products that cannot be produced domestically and protecting us against shocks to production. Our approach to trade preserves food security by protecting our sensitive agricultural sectors but also enabling us to comply with our World Trade Organisation obligations. We continue to press the UK Government to adopt this approach and take in account food security when negotiating trade deals, specifically market access aspects. The Scottish Government are disappointed that the UK Government has repeatedly postponed introducing checks on imports coming from the EU which causes an unacceptable risk to health and welfare. For example, the lack of checks on pork imports is currently of particular concern given the number of cases of highly contagious African Swine Fever. We have continually raised this issue with UK Government and will continue to press for checks on imports.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of domestic food production and the ongoing challenges faced by our farmers and crofters through the continued impact of Brexit, COVID-19, the ongoing situation in Ukraine, and now the cost crisis.

We recognise the importance of maintaining support for the sector; this is why we have committed to maintaining direct payments. We have also provided additional support to the food producing sector by ensuring payments through the Basic Payment Scheme and Greening payments were made in advance. Annually, the Scottish Government pays out around £420 million through these schemes. We have also established a Food Security Unit within the Scottish Government to develop evidence-based systems to monitor risks or threats to the supply chain to help mitigate future shocks and impacts on food security.

Supporting our local food businesses provides important markets for local food producers: we have provided: £15m funding towards the Scotland Food & Drink Recovery plan over 2020 to 2023; £17.5m to businesses across Scotland over the last two years through the Food Processing Marketing & Co-operation grant scheme; and £500k towards the Scottish Grocers Federation’s “Go Local” programme which has helped many independent convenience operators transform their stores and stock more locally sourced produce.

Scottish Ministers remain committed to supporting Scotland’s fishing sector, which plays such a key role in contributing to our economic prosperity - especially in remote, rural and island communities.

Our Regional Inshore Fisheries Group (RIFG) Network is our main vehicle for delivering stakeholder-led fisheries management projects, as well as providing a forum for inshore commercial fishers and offering them a strong voice in matters that affect them.

Prior to the launch of our initial consultation, on 12 December 2022, Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) were discussed at a number of RIFG meetings –

• 7 October 2021 – All Chairs
• 4 November 2021 – All Chairs
• 5 November 2021 – West Coast
• 3 December 2021 – Outer Hebrides
• 13 December 2021 – North & East Coast
• 24 January 2022 – All Chairs
• 9 May 2022 – All Chairs
• 16 May 2022 – Outer Hebrides
• 17 May 2022 – Outer Hebrides
• 12 July 2022 – All Chairs
• 2 August 2022 – All Chairs
• 11 November 2022 – North and East Coast
• 29 November 2022 – West Coast

Officials also had regular ongoing discussions throughout 2022 with both the Scottish Fishermen's Federation (SFF) and the Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA) to hear their views as we developed our proposed approach to HPMAs. Meetings were held on –

• 11 October 2021
• 4 November 2021
• 10 December 2021
• 14 January 2022
• 4 March 2022
• 1 April 2022
• 29 April 2022
• 20 May 2022
• 24 June 2022
• 22 July 2022
• 26 August 2022
• 14 October 2022
• 11 November 2022
• 9 December 2022

Additionally, officials also had discussions specifically regarding HPMAs with the Communities Inshore Fisheries Alliance (CIFA) on 10 March 2022 and the Scottish Creel Fishermen's Federation (SCFF) on 29 March 2022.

At the moment, we are at the very early stages of developing HPMAs and are yet to consider where they might be located as part of a separate process. There will be further opportunities for those involved in the fishing industry to have their say on where and how we enhance our marine protection.

The Scottish Government commissioned The Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) to adapt the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) diagnostics guidance, to inform a Scotland-specific approach on placental growth factor (PlGF) based testing which was published on Thursday 23 March 2023. The report highlights the potential benefits to pregnant women and their families and demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of testing.

On the day of the SHTG report’s publication, the Scottish Government wrote to NHS Boards asking all NHS Boards in Scotland to take note of the SHTG Recommendations and work to ensure that all pregnant women who need PlGF testing are able to access it as part of their routine maternity care. My officials will continue to work with The Scottish Perinatal Network as it takes forward its work to support NHS Boards in implementing PlGF testing locally.