Chamber and committees

The Programme for Government 2022-2023 set out a commitment to introduce a Scottish Aggregates Levy Bill within this Parliamentary year. The Bill will set out key arrangements for a devolved tax on the commercial exploitation of aggregates in Scotland, including to provide for its administration by Revenue Scotland.

Consistent with the Framework for Tax, the Scottish Government is consulting and engaging with stakeholders to help inform development of the Bill.

Following public consultation and taking stakeholders’ views into account, the Scottish Government concluded that further work is needed to ensure that decisions on Bill provisions are based on optimal evidence. An advisory group has been formed to assist with this process.

Given this, the Bill will now not be introduced before the end of the current Parliamentary year.

The NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board met for the first time on 1 December 2022 and aims to meet fortnightly. It last met on 23 March 2023, it will next meet on 11 April 2023.

The Assurance Board has previously met on the following dates:

• 1 December 2022
• 13 December 2022
• 10 January 2023
• 24 January 2023
• 7 February 2023
• 22 February 2023
• 9 March 2023

Updates from the Assurance Board, including minutes, and other materials associated with the group, are available on the Scottish Government website: NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16001 on 24 March 2023. 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

a) Details of Ministerial travel and gifts are proactively published on a monthly basis and can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .

b) The breakdown by route and calendar year for civil servants is as follows:

Interim reporting from the pilot local authorities on the number of ELC places needed for children deferring entry to P1 has been used to inform budget settlement decisions for 2023-24. The final evaluation report will be published in May 2023 and will provide information about implementation in pilot areas and explore the impact of the pilot on parental awareness and perceptions of the entitlement.

We are aware that, currently nine Health and Social Care Partnerships have fully implemented the guidance on the provision of short-term wheelchair loans, with a further three in the early implementation stage.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15841 on 24 March 2023. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15841 on 24 March 2023. 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 partnership will seek to deliver direct community benefit as a result of the investment, in line with the expectations of the Scottish Government’s Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital. This will include full consideration of community wealth building opportunities and exploring potential ways the investment could support more diverse land ownership, drawing on current and emerging advice from the Scottish Land Commission. No assessment has been completed at this stage as the project partners are in ongoing dialogue about how the investment model will work. However, assessments will be published after completion of the project design phase.

The Scottish Government has increased public investment and support in our natural capital through a variety of methods. This includes the £65 million Nature Restoration Fund, and the Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) that was launched in February this year. However, the Global Biodiversity Framework that was agreed at COP15 last year identified leveraging responsible private finance as a key target, and in Scotland alone it is estimated that there is a finance gap of £20 billion to meet nature-related outcomes.

For the purposes of this agreement, NatureScot entered into discussions with Hampden & Co., Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium and mutually agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding would best define the ways of working and respective roles of parties, as is commonplace.