Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law, as far as possible within devolved competence.

Our intention is to bring the Bill back to Parliament for Reconsideration Stage. Preparations for that are well underway and include engagement with the UK Government to try assess whether they are broadly content that the amendments bring with the Bill within legislative competence and to reduce the risk of another referral to the Supreme Court.

We will lodge the motion to reconsider the Bill and publish the amendments to the Bill as soon as possible but cannot yet confirm a timetable.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data. However, some 126,339 properties are connected to Scottish Water’s sewer network in the North region (which includes Highlands and the Western Isles). In 2021, the National Records of Scotland reported the total number of households in the Highlands and Islands as:

• Highland Council – 110,743
• Na h-Eileanan Siar – 12,925
• Orkney Islands – 10,758
• Shetland Islands – 10,554

Therefore approximately 13% of domestic properties may have private sewerage arrangements in the Highlands and Islands. Overall, the Scottish Government estimates that 8% of households across Scotland have private sewerage arrangements.

The Scottish Government intends to achieve the required Aberdeen to Central Belt project outputs by the end of 2026.

“Approval in principle, Asset Manager accepts design” is an internal Network Rail approval stage. This signifies the point at which designs are at a sufficient level to be approved to move forward to be designed for construction. A revised date for when the design will be approved following the refinement of the scope referred to in answer to question S6W-12919.

I therefore refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12919 on 21 December 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 Government is planning to deliver the identified Aberdeen to Central Belt funding by the end of 2026. The funding will be spent on a series of infrastructure upgrades including signal enhancements and specific capacity alternations to facilitate the operation of more and faster trains on the same route.

Historic Environment Scotland responded to the High Level masonry issues at Properties in Care in line with their statutory responsibilities and corporate approach and continue accordingly to manage the properties .

The context for the risk management approach to Properties in Care is set by their statutory obligations under a range of health and safety legislation and regulation, common law obligations and their corporate approach to management of risk.

At present there are no plans to re-evaluate the criteria used by Historic Environment Scotland to risk assess the Properties in Care.

Section 53 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 provides that local authorities must provide, or secure the provision of, a school lunch free of charge to pupils who meet the eligibility criteria set out within that Act. The national eligibility criteria for free school meals is available through the following web link: School meals - mygov.scot.

In addition to this, free school lunches are available to all children in primaries 1 to 5 and in special schools. This applies to all schools either run by a local authority or which are directly funded through a Scottish Government grant. This policy is not set out in legislation and is delivered through a joint agreement between the Scottish Government and local authorities.

Local authorities also have the flexibility to make discretionary offers of free school meals to children and young people from families who do not meet the national eligibility criteria where they are experiencing financial hardship due to exceptional circumstances. There is nothing within legislation to say when such discretionary offers should be made, since we believe that local authorities should be given the maximum flexibility to consider each approach based upon its own individual circumstances.

Transport Scotland officials have regular discussions with UK Government Department for Transport officials regarding a number of maritime issues, including direct ferry links to Europe.

Questions regarding day-to-day operational matters of Historic Environment Scotland, including the number of stone falls that have occurred at Historic Environment Scotland sites, are best answered by Historic Environment Scotland.

There were no specific questions on drive-through developments in the consultation on Draft NPF4. Despite that, five local authorities directly referenced drive-throughs in their responses to Question 45, which related to ensuring Scotland’s places will support low carbon living and for people to live well locally. Several of these responses supported the policy approach towards drive-through developments.

Most authorities made broader comments strongly supporting the town centre first principle and limiting out of town development. Other respondents raised particular issues about drive-throughs, including suggestions that their development must be limited to prevent the cumulative effects of carbon emissions by vehicles.