The Scottish Government remain committed to increasing the Scottish Land Fund to £20m by 2026. Annual budgets for the SLF are set as part of the annual budget process.

The two schemes are not related.

The decision by the then Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity to progress the Levenmouth Rail Link was based on the findings of the Levenmouth Sustainable Transport Study.

The study was undertaken in line with Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) and provided robust evidence of a Strategic Business Case (SBC) for the Rail Link. The SBC provided the initial stage of the business case for the Rail Link in accordance with Transport Scotland's guidance on the development of business cases, which then progressed through the subsequent stages of the business case process.

The Winchburgh station proposal is developer led. It is for Winchburgh Developments Limited to progress the required business case.

The station proposal is a developer led proposal with planning permission in principle granted by the Planning Authority, in this case West Lothian Council. It is for Winchburgh Developments Limited to progress the above items.

Transport Scotland, utilising its considerable experience of rail infrastructure construction, is currently supporting West Lothian Council and Winchburgh Developments Limited as they look towards identifying a lead promoter, or promoters, and the development of both the station design and business case process.

West Lothian Council (WLC) is the Planning Authority, who granted the planning permission in principle for the Winchburgh development in April 2012.

As a statutory consultee, Transport Scotland, acting on behalf of Scottish Ministers, provided a response prior to this decision which included reasonings for why it did not support the provision of a station, at that time.

The content of the Section 75 Agreement and Decision Notice was decided upon by WLC.

Transport Scotland does not have the powers to prevent WLC applying Section 75 developer obligations.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the Orkney Ferry Replacement Task Force, which is supporting the Council address its fleet replacement challenges.

Transport Scotland has fully allocated its budget to rail projects which are currently the Scottish Government’s priorities.

These projects have been subject to review under our Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG).

Deployment of vessels is an operational matter for CalMac, who are looking again at options for the Winter timetabling light of current challenges with the ferry fleet.

Our Islands Connectivity Plan draft Strategic Approach paper, published 1 February 2024, noted feedback that the space for vehicles on busy ferry routes fills up quickly at popular times, especially in summer. At other times, and on other routes, there is space available for more vehicles to be carried and there is almost always space for people on any sailing at any time.

With the introduction of larger vessels and increased services, vehicle deck capacity has already increased and planned vessel deployments and service enhancements will bring further increases during the current decade.

The draft Strategic Approach set out our proposal to publish key baseline data, including on capacity, and that work is coming to its conclusion. Transport Scotland will use this information as the starting point for refreshed community needs assessments. This will support our proposed identification of key “pinch points” on the Clyde & Hebrides and Northern Isles networks and consider options for additional vehicle capacity where this is practical, beneficial and affordable.

Our updated Vessels and Ports Plan, published 1 February 2024, confirms that a “resilience vessel” will be retained in the CalMac major vessel fleet to cover planned and unplanned outages.

I routinely discuss the development of education policy, including in respect of qualifications and assessment, with young people through frequent visits to schools and a range of other events and meetings. The Scottish Government does not intend to publish details of this range of engagements.

I also met with representatives of the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) on the 19th of September, prior to the statement, to provide an overview of the Scottish Government response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment ahead of its publication.

The views of young people have, and continue to be, vital to informing our approach to evolving the qualifications and assessment system and I remain committed to meaningfully engaging with young people (including the SYP) as we take this work forward.