The Scottish Government, its partners and agencies, have undertaken a range of measures to address the reported decline in capercaillie populations. This includes providing funding through schemes to support capercaillie conservation directly.

Funding has also been awarded to projects that would indirectly benefit capercaillie conservation. This could include supporting new pine wood planting in capercaillie areas, the management and improvement of existing habitat as well as its extension through actions such as controlling deer numbers, fence marking or removal, and thinning to improve light levels. Funding has been awarded to estates as well as eNGOs and individuals and we expect this to continue.

NatureScot is working closely with the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) to support capercaillie conservation in Scotland. Last year NatureScot’s Scientific Advisory Committee provided advice on possible measures that could be taken to save capercaillie.(Measures to save capercaillie)

In June 2023, the Scottish Government requested that the CNPA and NatureScot work with stakeholders to look at ways to improve capercaillie populations. The publication of this work, known as the Capercaillie Emergency Plan 2025-2030, was published on 30 September 2024 and can be found on the CNPA website here .

The plan identifies priority actions that public, private and third sector organisations will take to promote capercaillie numbers within the Cairngorms National Park. These actions include looking at expanding and improving habitat; reducing the impact of predation; removing and marking; reducing disturbance; capercaillie monitoring; and reinforcement feasibility. We will work with NatureScot and the CNPA, as well as other partners, to monitor progress as our efforts to support capercaillie in Scotland continue.

The Scottish Government is continuing to look into this matter and awards to TN Trawlers or associated companies over the periods of time covered in the BBC’s recent reporting.

The Scottish Government are committed to the eradication of violence against women and girls (VAWG), and this is why we are implementing the Equally Safe Strategy.

However, the Scottish Government are not responsible for the training of justice system staff. As independent organisations, they are responsible for their own learning and development.

The Scottish Government often provides additional funding for training to support the implementation of new legislation and initiatives, for example, additional funding of £825k was provided to Police Scotland to support officers and staff respond to and investigate the new Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 offence.

Justice organisations are subscribed to the Equally Safe Strategy and are included in the membership of the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board who are responsible for driving change in relation to the aims and priorities of the Equally Safe Strategy and its implementation. Our Equally Safe delivery plan, which was published in August 2024, contains a commitment to develop a streamlined approach to trauma-informed workplace practices that promote and enhance VAWG knowledge, skills, and expertise. Partners from the justice system will be engaged in the development of this approach.

The Vision for Justice in Scotland (2022) prioritises women and children and reiterates a commitment to make improvements to the justice system which benefit and empower women. The Justice Board, which represents many of the key national justice organisations, overseas the implementation of the delivery plan. The Vision ensures that Equally Safe is a key component in the route to a transformed justice system and commits to working across boundaries to improve outcomes for individuals to address causes of crime and reduce offending.

Social landlords (local authorities and housing associations) are responsible for the allocation of social housing. They must develop and publish allocation policies, within a broad legal framework for social housing allocations. Our Social housing allocations in Scotland: practice guide was published in 2019 and provides practical assistance to staff with responsibility for reviewing, monitoring and updating allocation policies and procedures to ensure they comply with current legislation. This includes having an allocation policy that recognises some people will need an adapted or accessible property and ensure that people requiring one of these properties are given priority.

The Young Person’s Guarantee Implementation Progress Report (July 2021) and Update Report (March 2023) both highlight progress made over the 2 years. The links for these reports can be found below.

Young Person's Guarantee - implementation: progress report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Young Person's Guarantee: update report March 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government publishes quarterly statistics on its devolved employability services which can be found at the link below.

https://www.gov.scot/collections/scotlands-devolved-employment-services-statistics/

These statistics show that through the No One Left Behind approach, 12,204 (35%) participants aged under 25 have entered employment, with 6,599 (19%) entering Further or Higher education and 5,350 (15%) gaining a qualification.

From April 2023 the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities. We therefore do not hold data on retention rates of young people completing the Young Person’s Guarantee.

The Scottish Government collect data on all 16-19 year olds through the Skills Development Scotland’s Annual Participation Measure and publish Labour Market Statistics for 16-24 year olds.

From April 2023 the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities. We therefore do not collect the data requested.

Data will continue to inform our approach to policy-making.

The Scottish Government committed £60 million to the Young Person’s Guarantee in 2020/21, £70 million in 2021-22, and £45 million in 2022-23.

Funding for 2020-21 and 2021-22 came from UK Government Consequentials. From April 2023 the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities.

The Scottish Government continues to provide funding to a wide range of organisations and third sector partners to improve support for young people; this includes more specialist support for young people furthest from positive destinations through third sector partners, many whom work in collaboration such as the Young Person’s Consortium (Barnardo’s, Princes Trust and Action for Children) and Inspiring Scotland.

From April 2023 the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities.

Although the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering and commissioning services at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated health and social care partnerships. Local authorities are distinct corporate bodies whose powers and duties are set out in statute and are separate from the Scottish Government. As long as they act lawfully, it is up to each authority to manage its day to day activities, including the planning of services, in accordance with these responsibilities.

The previous UK Government had committed £8m of Union Connectivity funding for the Scottish Government to take forward design development and assessment of options for the realignment of the A75 around the settlements of Springholm and Crocketford. This funding was over the period of 2024/25 to 2026/27 of which £1,480,500 was received for 2024-25.

However, the UK Chancellor in her recent statement announcing £22 billion of cuts, also included a number of investment projects that will now no longer proceed as planned but will need to wait for the conclusion of forthcoming spending review process.. The earliest point at which we will know whether or not the UK Government is able to commit to this funding over the relevant future financial years, allowing the design development and options appraisal for these by-passes to be concluded is Spring 2025. We have therefore been offered no guarantee that such funding will be available.

The Scottish Government is disappointed that this lack of commitment by the UK Government is impacting on our ability to make meaningful and demonstrable progress for the people and businesses of the South-West of Scotland who rely on this vital route.

Transport Scotland officials have progressed a robust procurement process to appoint a technical advisor to take forward the design development and assessment work, however, re-confirmation of the UK Government’s funding position is awaited prior to awarding the contract.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving safety, resilience and reliability on the A75 for all users traveling on this important route to benefit not just the people of Scotland but those from the wider UK too. As such, the Scottish Government will continue to engage positively and collaboratively with the UK Government on our shared priorities for transport.