No discussions have taken place between ministers and Local Authorities regarding the wearing of safety helmets by delivery drivers.

As outlined in the Highway Code (a matter reserved to the UK Government), riders are recommended to wear a correctly fitted cycle helmet. However, this is not a legal requirement and remains a matter of personal choice.

However, the Scottish Government takes road safety seriously. Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 (RSF2030) was published in February 2021, with the goal of Scotland having the best road safety performance in the world. It adopts the ‘Safe System’ approach to road safety which is recognised internationally as best practice in road safety delivery. It sets challenging targets for the years ahead, with a 50 per cent reduction in fatal and serious injuries and a 60 per cent reduction in child fatal and serious injuries by 2030.

As a result of £65m of public investment since 2011, and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has one of the most comprehensive public EV charging networks of any part of the UK, with over 5,800 public EV charge points, and is on target to have 6,000 public charge points by 2026. On a per head of population basis Scotland has more public charge points than any other part of the UK except London, and more rapid charge points than any other part of the UK.

The Scottish Government does not collect information about how many public EV charge points are suitable for any particular vehicle type. However, EV charge point parking spaces designed to accommodate passenger cars should also be able to accommodate the majority of light commercial vehicles which have broadly similar dimensions. Engagement with industry suggests that many larger fleets do not intend to make use of the public EV charging network in Scotland and are instead working with commercial charge point operators to develop fleet-specific solutions.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the UK Government and Petroineos. Most recently the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Net Zero convened a trilateral discussion with the UK Government and Petroineos on 2 September. The Scottish Government has used these engagements to consistently convey to the business that refining must continue at Grangemouth for as long as practicable.

The estimated number of Full Time Equivalent operational staff for 2025/26 is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Workforce figures up to the year 2023/24 are available on the SFRS website at Statistics | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk)

The Grangemouth Future Industry Board continues to meet regularly with the last meeting of the programme board taking place on 19 August. At the invitation of the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Net Zero, the leadership forum will now be co-chaired by the UK Government Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Figures for the full time equivalent (FTE) number of operational staff in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service at year end 2023-24 can be found at the SFRS published Fire Safety and Organisational Statistics 2023/24. These are a snapshot of the organisation on 31 March 2024 Fire Safety and Organisational Statistics, 2023-2024, Statistics | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk).

For ease of reference the figure of FTE operational staff at the end of 2023-24 is 3419.

The Scottish Government workforce size has had to grow over several years to deliver on newly devolved powers, the implications of EU Exit, responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and now supporting our recovery from that. More recently the Government has had to respond to the conflict in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis and the establishment of ScotWind within our wider Net Zero commitments, as well as the introduction of a National Care Service.

Devolved powers relating to certain aspects of social security to the Scottish Government in 2018 and Forestry in 2019 have also seen growth in the three related agencies to take on this additional work – Social Security Scotland has grown by 3,425 FTE since 2019, and Scottish Forestry and Forestry & Land Scotland have grown by 1,310 FTE since 2019.

In support of the wider Public Sector Reform agenda and budget constraints, Scottish Government is proactively addressing the need to reduce in size to remain fiscally sustainable, and we have seen further reductions in overall workforce in the 12 months since March 2023.

Recruitment controls have been in place since April 2022 and have been successful in controlling growth within the Scottish Government and ensuring any recruitment activity is aligned to Ministerial priorities.

Support with travel costs for music instructors in rural local authority areas is ultimately the responsibility of local authorities as their employer.

Music instructors working in remote schools or who are employed in a school on a distant island, receive a remote school or distant islands allowance as stipulated by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers Handbook (SNCT) in addition to the normal salary. These payments are made directly by the relevant local authority. There are, however, conditions to these allowances which are outlined in the SNCT handbook (Appendix 2.5).

Despite the real terms budget cuts introduced by the previous UK Government, in 2024-25 alone we have committed £4.7 billion to support the delivery of our climate change goals.

We are committed to tackling climate change through the existing actions we have set out as part of government policy, and through the development of our next Climate Change Plan. Work has already started on planning and delivery of a number of measures in key areas of the Climate Policy Package.

We continually review staffing and resourcing, to support Programme for Government and forthcoming Budget commitments to ensure that the government’s ambition for climate change is delivered.

Our Net Zero Assessment aims to assist Ministers and public sector leaders to make better informed decisions on budgets and policies by providing information on impact on climate targets and signposting areas for enhanced emissions reduction effort. The intention is, on completion of the current pilot within Scottish Government, to roll the pilot out across all significant new Scottish Government expenditure decisions from the end of 2024.

The Assessment will support an enhanced formal advisory role for the Global Climate Emergency Programme Board and the Cabinet Sub-Committee for the Climate Emergency on the climate impact of future Scottish Government proposals.

Our fast-growing offshore wind industry provides us with significant opportunities to attract inward investment, generate green jobs and grow our regional and national economies, not least in our Green Freeport areas in Inverness and Cromarty Firth and the Firth of Forth.

There is a range of public sector commercial and grant funding avenues, alongside other dedicated support, available to all potential inward investors, including Vestas. We work closely with partner organisations to make sure companies are aware of these and can access them easily.

For example, investors at Green Freeport tax sites can benefit from a range of devolved and reserved tax reliefs which would constitute revenue forgone by UK and Scottish Government respectively.