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The recruitment and retention of markers is an operational matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) in its independent role as an examination body.

SQA works closely with the wider education system to promote and source markers, who are all experienced teachers and lecturers. There are established contingencies in place, should this be required, to ensure marking is completed on time.

While competitive scheme Nature Restoration Fund projects must provide details of project finances which include staff costs, we do not collect data on the total number of jobs supported or created by the Nature Restoration Fund on a programme-wide basis.

The Scottish Government provides funding to support bus services nationwide, and does not hold the information required to identify support to rural services. Our commitment to bus travel includes investment of over £370 million to support concessionary bus travel and funding for our Network Support Grant of almost £50 million to help ensure our bus operators can continue to provide access to affordable transport in the de-regulated market across all of Scotland.

Under the Transport Act 1985, local authorities have a duty to identify where there is a social need for particular bus services and can subsidise these at their discretion. Funding is provided to local authorities in their annual settlement to support services they consider socially necessary and for all community transport services, including rural transport networks. In 2022-23, local authorities in Scotland spent £53 million on supported services nationwide.

The number of sailings where all cabins were fully booked on the Aberdeen – Lerwick passenger vessels for each Contract Year is displayed in the following table, which also includes the number of passenger vessel sailings each year.

As part of the Scottish Government's response to the Education, Children and Young People Committee's Inquiry on Additional Support for Learning, I committed to undertaking a literature review to ascertain the current knowledge on masking for children and young people with additional support needs.

The scope of the literature review is currently being considered by my officials and I will up-date the Education, Children and Young People Committee on progress of this work as soon as I have received a substantive update.

The Scottish Government welcomes the work of the independent Green Heat Finance Taskforce and looks forward to receiving its Part 2 report shortly. Following publication of its Part 2 report, the Scottish Government will formally respond to the Taskforce, setting out the actions we will take, in partnership with others, on recommendations from both Taskforce reports.

Our response will be informed by the New Deal for Business sub-group on Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) which will, alongside other matters, consider how non-domestic rates levers support Scotland’s transition to net zero.

As set out in the Agricultural Route Map, the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) is expected to continue until at least 2026 to deliver elements of Tier 3 of the new framework until the Elective Support is implemented from 2027.

The Route Map is a living document that sets out the phased transition from legacy Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support to our new four-tier framework.

We have committed to keep the Route Map updated and will continue to provide more clarity as and when it becomes available following continued co-development with rural partners.

The Scottish Government has had no applications for consent under s36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct an electricity generating station that uses biogas as its fuel source and has therefore not been required to assess any environmental impacts in relation to anaerobic digestion and biogas infrastructure.

The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 requires those preparing qualifying projects to undertake and prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report. An EIA Report is required to describe the factors specified in Regulation 4(3) within those 2017 Regulations that are likely to be significantly affected by the development. This can include population, human health, biodiversity, land, soil, water, air, climate, material assets, cultural heritage, including architectural and archaeological aspects, and landscape.

The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 (legislation.gov.uk) creates a statutory obligation for those preparing qualifying public plans and programmes to assess their likely environment effects and to seek ways to minimise adverse effects, if they are likely to be significant. A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) offers an opportunity to judge the likely environmental impacts of plan, programme or strategy across a number of receptors, including biodiversity; population; human health; fauna; flora; soil; water; air; climatic factors; material assets; cultural heritage, including architectural and archaeological heritage; landscape; and the inter-relationship between these topics.

The Scottish Government supports the expansion of anaerobic digestion and biogas capacity, where it adheres to the guiding principles for bioenergy use as set out in our draft Bioenergy Policy Statement (BPS). These include the use of biomass, when in compliance with SEPA environmental regulations and stringent sustainability criteria. Bioenergy use must support emissions reduction and facilitate Scotland’s sustainable development goals.

The draft BPS also sets out that in the longer term, bioenergy should be prioritised towards applications with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) - which will support decarbonisation across relevant sectors and contribute to efforts to meet Scotland’s net zero targets.

Since the Scottish Digital Academy was established in 2018, there have been 206 registrations from the third sector.

2018 (0)

2019 (10)

2020 (12)

2021 (8)

2022 (63)

2023 (54)

2024 to October end (59)