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The Scottish Government has supported bus operators acquire a total of 548 zero emission buses through the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) and the Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS) combined, meaning there will be 548 fewer diesel buses on our roads. Full details are available on the Transport Scotland website at Scottish Zero Emission Bus challenge fund | Transport Scotland and Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme - completed bids | Transport Scotland .

Scottish Government maintains good relations with the angling community through its interaction with Angling Scotland. This helps in ensuring that any issues and opportunities for recreational sea angling in Scotland are brought to our attention and can be appropriately considered alongside other priorities.

Between 2016 and 2021 the Scottish Government supported the UK-wide Sea Angling Diary, which saw anglers as ‘volunteer diarists’ contributing data on recreational catches. Scottish Government, taking into account limited feedback from stakeholders, considered that the Scottish data collection was not providing good value for taxpayers’ money due to the limitations of the output, and will no longer contribute to the UK survey.

Instead, it will review its approach to sea angling data collection and examine other means by which they can be obtained in the future. Data specifically tailored towards the Scottish situation can then be made available to inform measures to promote sea angling, whilst monitoring any impacts on commercial fish stocks.

Transport Scotland is continuing to engage with operators, delivery partners and other key stakeholders on the current Scottish Government Covid-19 guidance and recommended safe behaviours to ensure that the appropriate messaging is cascaded across the transport network. This engagement, which includes promoting the Scottish Government`s National “Covid sense” campaign, is supporting passengers to return to public transport with confidence as more people begin to return to workplaces and travel for leisure purposes more often.

The Scottish Government provided support for the acquisition of zero emission buses, and the associated charging infrastructure, through the Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus Scheme (SULEBS) and its successor, the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB). SULEBS provided 75% of the cost of infrastructure, and ScotZEB Phase 1 offered up to 75% of the cost of battery-electric infrastructure or 85% of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.

In total to date, through SULEBS and ScotZEB, the Scottish Government has awarded £30.4 million to bus operators to upgrade depots with the necessary infrastructure for zero emission buses.

The Scottish Budget for 2022-23 provides up to £93.5 million in support for bus services, including £40 million in additional funding to support recovery. As we navigate our way out of the pandemic, it is important that the support we give transport operators through the Network Support Grant adapts and evolves, to make sure it remains fit for purpose and represents value for money.

Passenger numbers have been increasing since Covid restrictions eased earlier this year. We continue to engage with operators and local government to monitor patronage and service levels and to consider whether to adjust the level of support as passenger numbers recover. This ensures that our funding is financially sustainable and helps services to adapt to new travel patterns and demand as we emerge from the pandemic.

I would also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08555 on 26 May 2022 for further information on how the Scottish Government are assisting operators in encouraging people back to bus.

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 Scottish Government engages with the sea angling community through Angling Scotland, the umbrella organisation formed by the three Scottish Angling Governing Bodies: the Scottish Anglers National Organisation, the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling and the Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers.

Recent engagement has concerned the commencement of angling activities in the run-up to and following the lifting of covid restrictions, with angling being recognised as a low impact activity that improves health and well-being. The last engagement with sea angling stakeholders concerned the use and usefulness for Scotland of the UK-wide Sea Angling Diary, however there was limited feedback.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08555 on 26 May 2022. 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 .

As of March 2020-21, there were approximately 3,700 public service buses in Scotland. 605 will be zero-emissions and the remaining 3,095 are not zero-emission buses. The Scottish Government does not hold any further information on the fuel type of these buses and any requests for further information should be made directly to bus operators.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to review the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017.

The fact that a particular type of development is not specifically mentioned does not necessarily mean it falls outside the scope of the Regulations. Guidance on establishing whether EIA is required is set out in Scottish Government Planning Circular 1/2017: Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations. The circular is available on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-circular-1-2017-environmental-impact-assessment-regulations-2017/ .

The Scottish Government recognises that some people have found the application process for their National Entitlement Card complex. We therefore continue to work closely with the Improvement Service, which is ultimately responsible for the National Entitlement Card, to make further improvements to this process. Once these improvements have been implemented, we aim promote the scheme with a national marketing campaign.

In the meantime, we have undertaken extensive communications activities to increase awareness of the scheme; including sharing our robust communications toolkit with over 300 organisations who directly engage with young people and their families, and launching freebus.scot - providing simplified information regarding the application process and additional resources to promote the scheme.