From May 2021 until the end of March 2023 £4,367,055 was spent on 3,800 bikes distributed under the Free Bikes pilot. This figure includes the costs associated with various methods of providing maintenance of the bikes and we are unable to disaggregate the figure into parts (a) and (b) of the question.

In the year 2023-24 we have provided £900,000 of funding to the Cycling Scotland Free Bikes Partnership to continue the scheme, in the first quarter of the year the partnership confirmed £219,000 to 13 organisations that will deliver 612 bikes throughout the year, further funding will be confirmed as the programme continues.

The number of full time equivalent pupil support assistants by Local Authority is available in the school support staff statistics: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

A summary of the changes from 2018 to 2022 is provided in the following table.

Island and rural carers will benefit from the introduction of Carer Support Payment, which will replace Carer’s Allowance in Scotland, including through support from Social Security Scotland’s local delivery service and better signposting to wider support available to carers. Island communities will also continue to benefit from the extra support only available in Scotland from the Carer’s Allowance Supplement. By the end of this year, carers in Scotland continuously in receipt of the Carer's Allowance Supplement since its introduction in 2018 will have received over £3,300. The Carer Support Payment is being delivered in the context of wider cross-governmental work to positively impact rural and island communities, such as the commitments in the National Islands Plan to tackle the higher costs of fuel, transport and housing as well as to drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Further planned improvements for Carer Support Payment are set out in the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation published on 24 March 2023. We will continue to engage with rural and island carers and organisations in developing Carer Support Payment and to ensure our plans to join carers to wider carer support services, such as income maximisation, meet the needs of island and rural carers.

Whilst responsibility for recruitment and retention of pharmacists and the wider team in community pharmacies is a matter for individual community pharmacy contractors, the Scottish Government has increased the number of pharmacist pre-registration training places available from 170 to 224 currently. A further 44 places will be available by 2024-25.

In order to aid retention of pharmacists in community pharmacy we have developed a Community Pharmacy NHS Post Registration Foundation Programme, which sees up to 130 places made available for a two and a half year programme for early career pharmacists. The programme is an experiential learning programme designed to develop confidence in pharmacy practice specific to Scotland, building on the skills and resilience established during the pre-registration Foundation Training Year. A Scottish NHS community pharmacy contractor will employ post-registration pharmacists qualifying in the summer of each year as pharmacists in a permanent role.

We are also already investing in and providing a greater mix of enhanced experiential learning in clinical practice for undergraduate pharmacy students, including in community pharmacy, to help them gain valuable experience in this setting. This is a key addition in preparing students with the relevant skills and experience for the changing demands of the workforce, including collaborative practice. It is also an important first step in helping to build a career pathway for pharmacists.

I would refer initially to the statement I made on this topic to Parliament on 7 September.

Where the presence of RAAC is confirmed in a public building, we expect the owner to take appropriate measures to assess and manage any risk identified, following the Institution for Structural Engineer’s current guidance on this process.

We remain in regular contact with organisations across the public sector to seek reassurance on this matter, directly and through our cross-sector working group.

Information on RAAC and the work of our cross-sector working group, as an activity of the Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety, will be published on our website.

Decisions about the commissioning of individual community justice services, such as the 218 Service in Glasgow, are a matter for local authorities.

Community justice funding is primarily based on a local model, with the Scottish Government providing funding to local authorities which then provide or commission services according to local needs. Even where aspects of that funding are targeted at more specific needs, the commissioning and management of those services - including any re-tendering exercises - is a matter for the relevant local authority.

The Scottish Government has not reduced the overall funding available for community justice services across Scotland nor asked local authorities to reduce any specific funding within that.

The Scottish Government is committed to expanding electronic monitoring use across a broader range of licences and community orders, including exploring use of remote alcohol monitoring as provided for by the Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act 2019.

Following passage of the Act a new national contract was procured that would allow for use of new technology. The majority of the Act has now been commenced and from 17 May 2022 provisions were commenced to allow electronic monitoring as part of bail and to allow electronic monitoring with Community Payback Orders at first disposal. As work continues to embed these recent changes, we are now engaging with justice partners to explore the potential uses of new technologies, including remote substance monitoring technologies.

The Scottish Government has welcomed the recommendation of the UK National Screening Committee (NSC) that the UK nations should move towards implementing a programme of lung screening for those between 55-74 with a history of smoking. However, careful consideration and planning is required given the complexities of rolling out such a programme – the complexities of implementation were acknowledged by the NSC and resulted in the establishment of a four nations expert Lung Task Group.

The Scottish Government has now established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group (SEAG), which will assess the specific challenges and opportunities for a Scottish lung screening programme. The SEAG met for the first time in August, and represents an important first step in ensuring that a Scottish programme is developed with long term sustainability and effectiveness at its heart.

We have also provided funding for LungScot, the University of Edinburgh’s study into the feasibility of targeted lung health checks for high risk individuals. This work will support the considerations of the SEAG.

It is important to note that the complexity of the challenge means a national screening programme will take years rather than months to implement. However, lung cancer remains a national priority, which is why we have a dedicated chapter in our £114.5m National Cancer Plan, and last December we redesigned lung cancer diagnostic services to help ensure patients receive faster access to treatment.

Zero Waste Scotland has worked with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise to produce three reports , published in 2021, forming the series ‘Battery use in Scotland now and in the future’.

Further to the original three reports, Transport Scotland (in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland) commissioned a report to explore actions required to support the establishment of a circular economy for batteries in Scotland, which will be published in due course.

The enterprise agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank have a key role in promoting and scaling up circular economy practices and business models.

We do not hold information in which country each vehicle was manufactured.