The Programme for Government 2024-25 reaffirms the Scottish Government’s commitment to advance human rights protections in Scotland. We will continue work to further develop and strengthen proposals for legislation to incorporate international treaties into Scots law, with the intention of taking forward legislation in the next Parliamentary session.

The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn. The BSL National Plan 2023-29 is a cross government plan containing 45 actions under the 10 priority themes. The actions will address barriers faced by BSL users in their daily lives. Ensuring equal access, opportunity, representation and inclusion are key components of our plan stemming across areas such as education, health, justice and culture.

To inform the delivery of the National Plan, an Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) consisting of representative organisations of the deaf and deafblind communities was established to help advise on the delivery of actions and provide accountability on the overall plan.

The group has met twice since the publication of the National Plan. The next meeting is due to take place at the end of October.

Up to 2022, around 280,000 digital devices had already been provided to learners by local authorities and the Scottish Government, along with 14,000 connectivity packages.

As set out by the Finance Secretary, the £10m budget for purchasing additional digital devices for hard pressed families will be available from the financial year 2025-26.

The Green Industrial Strategy recognises ports are key enablers for the energy transition. Ports have a critical role to play in supporting the growth of Scotland’s offshore wind sector and growing our hydrogen production and export capabilities, which are two of the five priority opportunity areas identified in the strategy.

The Scottish Government is engaging and collaborating with ports on the opportunities from offshore wind and engaging with key industry bodies including the recently formed Scottish Offshore Wind Ports Alliance (SOWPA) and the British Ports Association’s Scottish Ports Group.

The Scottish Government is working closely with both Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and Forth Green Freeport which will play a crucial role in our commitment to a just transition to net zero, by creating clusters of high-tech manufacturing excellence in low carbon sectors, including offshore wind and renewable hydrogen.

The Green Industrial Strategy recognises ports are key enablers for the energy transition. Ports have a critical role to play in supporting the growth of Scotland’s offshore wind sector and accelerating investment in related infrastructure, manufacturing and fabrication. Ports will also play a key role in growing the hydrogen sector to facilitate the export of hydrogen and hydrogen products to external markets in the UK and in Northern Europe. Both Wind and Hydrogen are priority opportunity areas identified in the GIS.

The requested information on how many staff have joined NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in each year since 2020 can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Turnover tab).

Scottish Government officials have regular engagement with officials from the Department for Business and Trade. As you are aware, Subsidy Control is a reserved matter and it is our understanding that UK Government have no current plans to amend the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

Scottish Ministers are bound by this UK legislation and also have a legal obligation to comply with World Trade Organisations rules. The Subsidy Control Act 2022 and World Trade Organisation rules are in place to promote fair competition, and prevent any distortion in competition or negative effects on trade and investment within the UK, or between the UK and another country.

Scotland’s agricultural land and farming sector have a critical role to play in Scotland’s food security, producing food for consumption in Scotland, and increasing our economic resilience through exports of food and drink worth £7.6 billion in 2023.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) Policy 5 (Soils) sets out that development proposals on prime agricultural land, or land of lesser quality that is culturally or locally important for primary use, as identified by the local development plan, will only be supported in limited circumstances. This includes for the generation of energy from renewable sources where there is secure provision for restoration and the layout and design of the proposal minimises the amount of protected land required.

All development proposals are subject to site specific assessments.

Putting in place the remaining fisheries management measures remains a top government priority. We want to achieve this as soon as possible, however developing the evidence based and effective fisheries management measures for over 180 sites is a complex and challenging process.

We launched the 8-week consultation on proposed fisheries management measures within Scottish 20 offshore marine protected areas (MPAs) on 19 August 2024.

Social, economic and environmental impact assessments are currently being undertaken for inshore MPAs and we will consult within the current Programme for Government timeframe.

The Scottish Government has not had discussions with the forestry sector regarding any potential future reduction in the maximum threshold for planting of a single species below 65%. The fifth edition of the UK Forestry Standard sets the maximum threshold of 65% across the UK and will be implemented in Scotland from 1st October 2024.