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The chief executives of the enterprise agencies meet regularly with Scottish Government ministers. Arrangements are currently being made for future, regular engagement between the agencies and the new Ministerial team.

Crown Estate Scotland are responsible for the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing process.

INTOG developers will be required to submit a Supply Chain Development Statement (SCDS) before they enter an Option Agreement, as set out in the Crown Estate Scotland Offer document (August 2022). As with ScotWind, the SCDS will outline the nature and location of any intended supply chain activity, including details on people and skills linked to their proposed project.Option Agreements will be signed following adoption of the Scottish Government’s Sectoral Marine Plan for INTOG in 2024. Projects which then meet all the requirements of the Option Agreement, including consents, will be offered a full seabed lease.

The Scottish Government is not required to hold this information. As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked Douglas Millican, Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

The average wait time for customers calling Scottish Water’s customer helpline between 1st April 2022 and 1st April 2023 was 19 seconds. The chart below provides information about how many calls were handled by Scottish Water in each year since 2016.

Parliamentary question S6W-15763 asked “how many patients under 18 have been admitted to an NHS facility for vaping-related illnesses or disorders in each year since 2019”. At that time (March 2023) Public Health Scotland (PHS) responded that these data were not currently held. However, PHS are now carrying out work to identify the number of individuals with vaping related illness in Scotland and will publish figures in July 2023.

I’m very much looking forward to meeting with police officers and staff across Scotland as the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs.

My predecessor met with police officers at Wester Hailes Police Station on 14 December 2023 and was pleased to attend the Chief Constable’s Bravery and Excellence Awards at Tulliallan Police College on 10 February.

We are aware of Aberdeen Council’s decision and acknowledge how difficult this is for the libraries, their staff and the communities they serve. The Scottish Government places great importance on public libraries and we believe everyone should have access to library services. As set out in response to S6W-16124 , l ibrary policy is devolved to local authorities, who have a statutory duty to ensure there is adequate provision of library services for their residents.

We recognise the financial challenges that local government are facing and the difficult choices they had to make to balance their budgets. In the most challenging budget settlement since devolution the Scottish Government is providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 Local Government Settlement. Following the flat-cash position set out in the Resource Spending Review, we have listened to councils and are now increasing the resources available to Local Government next year by over £793 million.

In 2023-24, Aberdeen City Council will receive £436.9 million to fund local services, which equates to an extra £27.1 million to support vital day to day services or an additional 6.6 per cent compared to 2022-23.

Please see the data requested on Police recorded forced marriage related offences in Scotland since 2016 in the following table.

Scottish fisheries does not have a historic record of targeted commercial sea bass catches in the Solway Firth. Accordingly Marine Scotland does not conduct assessments or provide advice on sea bass stocks in the Solway Firth.

No Scottish Government official or Minister has been called to give evidence to the Sheku Bayoh Public Inquiry. As the Inquiry is independent of Ministers, it is for the Chair to determine how the Inquiry’s terms of reference are interpreted and direct how the Inquiry carries out its duties. It is entirely for the Chair to consider who to seek statements from and who to call to give evidence to the Inquiry.

We have committed to a pilot of free school meals in secondary schools to inform our consideration of further expansion, and will work with delivery partners to identify appropriate schools to take part in the pilot.