The Scottish Government believes it is important to support children and young people to have the knowledge and skills necessary to use social media in a positive way.

We provided the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Scottish Children’s Parliament with over £90k of funding to develop the ‘Mind Yer YTime’ web resource, launched in April 2020 and updated in September 2021. This online hub is specifically designed to give children and young people advice on the safe use of screen time and social media use and their impacts on physical and mental wellbeing.

We provided over £160k to Young Scot to deliver a range of positive messages, advice and resources to young people regarding health and mental wellbeing through the ‘Aye Feel’ hub. This includes a range of resources, stories, blog posts and targeted social media content on social media usage and managing screen time.

In February 2022 we supported Young Scot to launch the ‘ National Conversation on body image, screen time and mental wellbeing ’ , with children and young people so that their voices can directly shape our future work in this area.

We have also provided Young Scot with £124,740 to run its #DigiKnow cyber awareness and peer education programme around online safety and security, aimed at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

More broadly, we are aware that some stakeholders have concerns that the UK Government needs to go further in using the UK Online Safety Bill to protect the population’s mental health and wellbeing. We would encourage the UK Government to listen and respond to those concerns so that we can all seek to engage in social media in a constructive and positive way.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06789 on 8 March 2022. The Scottish National Investment Bank’s forthcoming gender equality strategy will include information on how it intends to collect data. 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 .

Over each of the last five years FLS has spent the following on deer culling contracts on Scotland's national forests and land:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06789 on 8 March 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 .

The Scottish National Investment Bank’s first report evaluating its gender equality strategy is due within 2 years of publication of the strategy, as required under the Scottish National Investment Bank Act 2020.

The Scottish Government expects the Scottish National Investment Bank’s gender equality strategy to be published shortly, following approval from the Board when it meets on 3 March 2022.

Transport Scotland has not held any discussions with Network Rail on proposed staff reductions in Scotland.

Network Rail advise that UK wide it has undertaken two rounds of an industry special Voluntary Severance Scheme, focused on management grades where it could be verified there would be no impact on safety, performance or customer service. However, no representations have been made to Scottish Government on this matter.

Decisions on lending and investment are a matter for the Scottish National Investment Bank. I have asked the Bank about how their lending in 2021 aimed to benefit women’s equality in Scotland, and their response is as follows:

“Due diligence of all potential investments includes consideration of gender balance across workforce, management and Board.

“The Bank engages with investees on representation and equality issues, and has required reporting on gender balance (and pay gap) where practical. Moving forward the Bank will aim to have gender equality and gender pay gap reporting for all investments. Where appropriate, the Bank will also consider engagement with investees to enhance opportunities that increase gender equality opportunities in Bank investments.”

As part of the funding arrangements and ongoing work with local authorities on schools/ELC ventilation, the Scottish Government has agreed updated reporting arrangements with local authorities to ensure an appropriate understanding of how and to what extent funding is being used.

We will provide an update to the Education, Children and Young People Committee in due course.

Timing of the Equal Pay Review is set out in the Shareholder Relationship Framework Document between the Scottish Government, as sole shareholder, and the Scottish National Investment Bank.

It states that the Bank is required to complete an equal pay review and report on it to Scottish Ministers at least every 5 years. The first review must therefore take place by 23 November 2025 and the Shareholder will agree the exact timing with the Bank.

The Scottish Government recognises the threat that bycatch and entanglement in fishing gear can pose to our iconic marine life. We therefore welcome the Scottish Entanglement Alliance project which improves understanding of entanglement of sensitive marine species in Scottish waters, and will consider its findings as we explore what further work may be required in terms of the development and testing of mitigation measures. This aligns with actions within the developing UK Dolphin and Porpoise Conservation Strategy and the Future Fisheries Management Strategy.

The Marine Fund Scotland will shortly set out its priorities for funding 2022-23 and we would encourage exploration of these opportunities by the creel sector.