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The Scottish Government has committed to introduce a Register of Buildings by the end of this Parliament. The Register of Buildings will hold information on buildings that have been assessed though the Cladding Remediation Programme. Single Building Assessment reports and remediation activity will define the information that needs to be held in the Register. As this work progresses we are developing the information base for the Register.

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) was an annual sample survey which monitored national performance of school children at P4, P7 and S2 in literacy and numeracy in alternate years. Operating costs are set out in the following table and are broken down by element of spend. As Support Assessors were funded to facilitate group discussions between pupils as part of the Listening and Talking assessment, these costs are only associated with the years that the literacy survey took place.

Buildings within the scope of the Cladding Remediation Programme will be subject to a process of increasing assessment scrutiny.

A baseline assessment will identify those buildings which require a full assessment based on an evaluation of fire risk.

The proportion of buildings identified as requiring a full assessment is likely to be low when considering the total number of eligible buildings. This assessment is in line with a House of Commons analysis of the scale of the problems in England.

Single Building Assessments are demand-led and are free for all buildings with residential flatted properties regardless of tenure.

NatureScot has worked with partners on red squirrel conservation, including work to control grey squirrels, for many years. In particular, the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrel (SSRS) partnership project has been working in strategic areas to protect, maintain and promote existing red squirrel populations since 2007. With support from project staff, professional Grey Squirrel Officers (GSOs) have been working with volunteers and landowners to deliver strategic grey squirrel control.

NatureScot, Scottish Forestry and Forestry and Land Scotland are currently providing core funding for these roles. It remains a priority for the Scottish Government to ensure the important work undertaken by Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels continues.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14269 on 7 February 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The data used was the last full year of data prior to modelling, wherever possible. This was not always available and, in those circumstances, Zero Waste Scotland agreed with the Local Authority the most appropriate data to be used. The model was then handed over to the Local Authority, allowing updates to be made if more appropriate or recent data became available.

The draft budget for rail passenger services for (a) 2023-24 is £458 million, as published in December and remains subject to the Parliamentary approval process.

The following table sets out (b) budget against expenditure and explanations for variances that are included in the published outturn statements within the Scottish Government consolidated accounts each year.

The Lockerbie bombing remains the worst terrorist atrocity ever committed on UK soil and the effects continue to be felt around the world. The investigation into this terrible atrocity has been conducted jointly by Scottish and American prosecutors and law enforcement for 34 years. 270 people lost their lives that terrible night and 21 countries lost citizens. It has always been an international investigation and I welcome the significant step taken by the United States in obtaining custody of Mr Masoud.

Having been transferred to US custody, Mr Masoud will stand trial in a United States Court, subject to United States laws. That does not diminish the loss suffered by Scotland and many other countries. The 190 American lives lost that night give the United States of America criminal jurisdiction to prosecute Mr Masoud, just as the scene of this terrible crime in Lockerbie and the lives lost here, gave Scotland jurisdiction to prosecute Mr Al-Megrahi and Mr Fhimah under Scots law at Kamp Zeist.

There are no current criminal proceedings in Scotland against Mr Masud. Scottish prosecutors and Police Scotland are dedicated to supporting the US prosecution, just as American counterparts, with assistance from countries around the world, supported the trial at Kamp Zeist to its successful conclusion in 2001.

In December I travelled to Washington DC where I attended a memorial ceremony and met with the US Deputy Attorney General. We discussed how we can continue to work together to obtain justice for all of the victims and their families, and I assured the Deputy Attorney General of Scotland’s unwavering support in this international effort.

The following table sets out the number of Architecture and Design Scotland staff, broken down by pay banding, permanent staff, fixed term appointments (FTA) and full time equivalent (FTE).

There has been one occasion in which the landowner has failed to respond to a formal request under section 10(2) of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 to cull deer.

This is in relation to the recent NatureScot intervention in Loch Choire, where the landowner has failed to respond to Section 10(2), resulting in NatureScot staff undertaking culling on the property under Section 10(4) authorisation. NatureScot are currently determining next steps in relation to the use of statutory powers.