The following table provides the number of injury road collisions recorded by Police Scotland as taking place at or within a half mile radius of the Toll of Birness.

Please note that the figures for 2024 are provisional, as they are based on monthly returns received thus far from Police Scotland in 2024, with the most recent returns being received on 10th October 2024. This may be an incomplete picture of casualties up to that date due to a slight lag between collisions occurring and the data being processed and shared by Police Scotland. These figures are also subject to change due to subsequent corrections and late records.

I meet with Transport Scotland officials on a regular basis to discuss improvements across the entire trunk road network including those located in the North East of Scotland, and most recently met at our regular portfolio meeting on 30 October 2024.

The Health and Safety Executive is a body exercising reserved powers and the information requested is not held centrally. It would be a matter for them to provide the information requested.

The quality and safety of mental health estates is an important issue for the Scottish Government. We expect Health Boards across Scotland to place significant emphasis on patient safety and the environments mental health services are delivered from.

Consideration is still being given to the bids received by local authorities. We will publish how much funding each local authority received once this has been allocated to them.

The Scottish Government is keen to ensure that local areas provide support at all times and that they assess the needs of people in their areas and work with them to design and deliver services in a way that meets the needs of people impacted by drugs and alcohol, including services being easily assessable and available at weekends.

As well as local contacts, we support national phone lines that are available for anyone to call. Know the Score operate a phoneline which is open until 9pm during the week and then open 10am until 4pm on weekends. This provides free, confidential support for people experiencing issues with drugs, alcohol or mental health.

For families, Scottish Families operate a phoneline which is open until 11pm on weekdays and operates a call back service on weekends. This provides support for anyone concerned about someone else’s drug use with information, advice and linking to local support.

Through our National Mission we are providing an additional £250 million of investment over the course of this parliament to support reduce deaths and improve lives.

The Scottish Government welcomes the news that recently released statistics from SEPA show that in 2023 both the amount of household waste generated, and the carbon impact of Scotland’s household waste, were at their lowest levels since records began in 2011.

The small increase in the household recycling rate of 0.15% to 43.5% in 2023 shows there is work to do to increase recycling and to support our sustainable resource and climate goals. This is why our Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 and draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map set out numerous measures to increase Scotland's reuse and recycling rates.

The Scottish Government works closely with its agencies and partners to explore all viable options to avoid closures and retain jobs in the region. However, despite our best efforts to seek alternative outcomes, this is not always possible to achieve.

The people affected by these announcements are always our immediate priority. The Scottish Government provided support to these individuals through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

In Scotland, employability services are delivered through the No One Left Behind approach, which sees Scottish and Local Government work in partnership with public, private, and third sector organisations to deliver support to those who are at risk of long-term unemployment. Employability support is in place in every local authority area, with decisions on the design taken by Local Employability Partnerships. Between April 2019 and June 2024, 1813 people have entered No One Left Behind support in Inverclyde.

Open Government Licences (OGLs) are controlled and administered solely by the Kings Printer for Scotland. The license is freely available to public bodies, and we support public bodies to use OGL where appropriate. Bodies such as the Care Inspectorate, Nature Scot, Food Standards Scotland and the National Records of Scotland are already using OGLs. It should be noted it is a matter for anyone who wants to use material under the OGL to satisfy themselves that the terms of that licence are suitable to cover any intended use.

Although SEPA official statistics for 2023 show that Scotland’s household recycling rate increased slightly to 43.5%, we know that there is more to do to accelerate progress to meet our circular economy aims.

The Scottish Government’s Recycling Improvement Fund has now awarded over £63 million to 25 local authorities to increase the quantity and quality of recycling across Scotland and we expect to see those projects deliver significant results locally in the coming years.

We are also in the early stages of the co-design of the new Household Recycling Code of Practice. This will deliver new statutory recycling standards and more consistent and easy to use services for households across Scotland. The co-design will enable national and local government to identify if additional resources are needed to achieve our ambitions to drive up reuse and recycling rates.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) is progressing the Small Vessel Replacement Programme Phase One vessels procurement and has confirmed that six shipyards have been invited to tender for the contract.

Scottish Government Ministers have no role in the procurement process or in assessing the bids.

Tender returns are expected in January 2025 with a view to awarding the contract in March 2025.