The Scottish Government is committed to delivering medium and long term solutions to address the landslip risks at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful.

Delivery of a permanent and resilient solution is a priority and we will continue to seek ways to achieve that as quickly as possible. Following identification of a preferred option last year, the next step for the permanent solution, which is the detailed development and assessment of the preferred option, is progressing at pace and will conclude with the publication of draft Orders for comment, currently expected by the end of this year. As with all infrastructure projects, delivery of the scheme can only commence if approved under the relevant statutory authorisation procedures and thereafter a timetable for construction can be set.

At the same time, improvements to the existing Old Military Road (OMR) through the Glen Croe corridor are being made to make it a more resilient diversion route until the long term solution is in place.

The Scottish Government has spent the following amounts each year on the necessary design and assessment work for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful project:

Through the £30 million EV Infrastructure Fund, the Scottish Government has provided each Local Authority with up to £140,000 to support the cost of carrying out analysis to identify future public EV charging requirements for cars and light commercial vehicles. This analysis is being used by each Local Authority to support bids for further funding to partner with private sector charge point operators to continue to expand the network. Funding for Dundee, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray and Highland Councils has already been announced, with further announcements expected later this year.

The Scottish Government will publish a draft Vision Implementation Plan by the end of 2024 for a public charging infrastructure network that works for all. The plan is being developed with input from owners and operators of light commercial vehicles, among others, to ensure that public charging meets the needs of users of cars and vans.

Electric charging for heavy vehicles is likely to be owned and operated by the private sector. The Scottish Government is working with transport operators including the HGV sector, charge point providers, electricity networks and trade bodies to develop a shared understanding of the energy infrastructure that will be required in the future. The first iteration of this work will be published shortly. Scottish Government will convene discussions with interested parties following this research to explore how to progress.

The second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund, announced in July 2024, will deliver more than 200 new charger guns in bus depots across Scotland before 2026. Where possible these will be made available to other road users in addition to supporting the 252 new zero-emission buses delivered through the scheme.

Non-domestic rates are administered by local councils, and the Scottish Government does not routinely hold information on the amounts actually paid by individual businesses or properties. However, we are able to estimate the amounts some property types would have been liable for in some years where individual property level relief data has been collected nationally.

Table 1 presents estimated historic rateable values and estimates of net non-domestic rates income for hotels, public houses, and restaurants. Property level reliefs data, and therefore net income estimates, for years before 2012-13, and for 2014-2015, 2017-2018, and 2023-2024 are not available, and are not yet available for 2024-2025.

Hospitality premises are identified by property classes “public houses and restaurants” and “hotels”. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property. There may be properties within those classes which are not actually used for hospitality, and properties within other classes which are used for hospitality. Rateable values are as at 1 April in each financial year, and do not take into account any subsequent changes, even if backdated. A revaluation occurred in 2017-2018, and in 2023-2024. Reliefs information is derived from councils’ billing data, as at end April 2012, 1 October 2013, 8 October 2015, 5 October 2016, 1 June 2018, 31 May 2019, 1 July 2020, 1 June 2021, and 1 July 2022. The relief percentages reported in these billing data snapshots are applied to the gross income estimates based on rateable values on 1 April in each year to derive the net estimates. Net income in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 was affected by the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure (RHL) relief introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. RHL relief awarded in 2022-2023 is not included, as this relief was not reported on the 2022 billing snapshot. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Table 1: Total rateable value and estimated net NDR income related to hotels, public houses, and restaurants

All Scottish quota is issued in line with the requirements of the UK Fisheries Act 2020.

On 7 June 2024, the Scottish Government published the outcome of its consultation on the allocation of Additional Quota. Additional Quota is the extra quota the UK receives following EU exit.

As part of Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030, the Scottish Government committed to the maintenance of FQA system as the primary method of allocating Exiting Quota (the UK’s established share of quota prior to leaving the EU) following stakeholder feedback.

Pension Credit is reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of DWP. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice has written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ask her to do more to increase take up rates.

The Scottish Government is keen to see further details of plans by the UK Government to merge the administration of Housing Benefit and Pension Credit, which should simplify the application process and improve take-up rates.

Pension Credit is reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice has written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ask her to do more to increase take up rates. We have also offered to work with the DWP to improve take-up rates. This will include working with stakeholders across Scotland to increase awareness of Pension Credit and the link to eligibility for Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.

Our welfare advice services, supported by Scottish Government investment, also work very closely with people who may be entitled to benefits, devolved or reserved, but have not yet applied. These efforts include increasing the awareness and take-up of assistance to support people who are struggling financially.

This is why we have committed to investing over £12 million for the provision of free income maximisation support, welfare and debt advice services in 2024-25, including support for the Citizens Advice Scotland Money Talk Team Service, which last year supported over 9,000 older people.

As announced on 21 August as part of emergency budget controls, the Fairer Workplaces Fund 2024 to 2025 has been cancelled.

This is just one of a number of spending plans that we have been forced to withdraw due to the extremely challenging financial position faced by the Scottish Government following the continuing effects of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis, alongside UK Government spending decisions. This does not in any way change our commitment to Fair Work or desire to promote Fair Work in Scotland. We continue to take forward the range of actions within the Fair Work Action Plan and to embed Fair Work throughout the delivery of the programme for government.

The Scottish Government remains committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children.

The Scottish Government worked with AssistFM and the Improvement Service from September 2023 to June 2024 to map breakfast provision across Scotland at both local authority and school level. A survey of all primary and special schools showed that almost half are already delivering breakfast provision. We will use the information provided by this mapping exercise to develop plans to build on this provision in line with our commitment.

In addition, we are delivering free or subsidised school age childcare through our Early Adopter Communities and Scottish Football Association ‘Extra Time’ projects, many of which include free breakfast club places for children from families most at risk of living in poverty.

It is the responsibility of Local Authorities to plan, develop and deliver flood protection schemes and other flood resilience actions.

It is best practice for options development to be carried out by local authorities using an appraisal framework. The options should go through a robust and transparent appraisal of costs and benefits, and positive and adverse impacts in order to deliver best use of public money taking full account of economic, environmental and social priorities

The breakdown of CalMac scheduled sailings defined as (a) on time, (b) Level 1 Lateness and (c) Level 2 Lateness in each month since March 2023, including performance deductions incurred, are available in a table placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib Number 62561.