Our plans to open an office in Warsaw will be considered as part of the wider review of government spending. It is necessary to ensure resources are used economically, efficiently and effectively, and high levels of scrutiny are applied to expenditure.

The Scottish Government launched the Young Person’s Guarantee in November 2020, with the aim of protecting young people against the immediate economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Guarantee was set up to ensure every young person between 16 and 24 had the opportunity of a job, apprenticeship, further or higher education, training or volunteering. Between November 2020 and March 2023 we invested over £175m in additional support from Covid-related funding. 

We have now mainstreamed this work across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities. This includes support for lower income households and to advance equality and inclusion. For example, specialist support continues to be provided to young people from lower income households to enable them to move towards a positive destination through third sector partners such as the Young Person’s Consortium (Barnardo’s, Princes Trust and Action for Children).

The Scottish Government launched the Young Person’s Guarantee in November 2020, with the aim of protecting young people against the immediate economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Guarantee was set up to ensure every young person between 16 and 24 had the opportunity of a job, apprenticeship, further or higher education, training or volunteering. Between November 2020 and March 2023 we invested over £175m in additional support from Covid-related funding to support young people in Scotland towards employment, training and apprenticeships.

We have now mainstreamed this work across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities.

Following the decision by the Court of Session the appeal has been returned to DPEA to be re-determined by another reporter. As the appeal is still live it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits of the case at this stage.

Designation is devolved to Historic Environment Scotland as our lead public body for the historic environment. Historic Environment Scotland will shortly be reviewing the principles and priorities of the designations policy, including the approach to listed buildings. There will be an opportunity for the public to submit their views on these matters to ensure our built heritage can continue to be protected for current and future generations.

National Planning Framework (NPF4) aims to protect and enhance historic environment assets and places and enables positive change as a catalyst for the regeneration of places. It provides that historic buildings are brought back into use, and recognises the social, environmental and economic value of the historic environment to our economy and cultural identity.

The Scottish Government, through its various public bodies is increasing woodland cover on the land that they own and manage and are looking for further opportunities. This includes the landscape scale native woodland creation work being explored by Forestry and Land Scotland at Glen Prosen, and the delivery of significant new woodland by Scottish Water at Loch Katrine. At this time there are no plans to amend the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018 with regards to this policy area.

National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) should be read and applied as a whole. A plan-led approach is central to supporting its delivery and it is a legislative requirement that planning decisions must be made in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

Annex A to NPF4 outlines how to use the document, It states that it is for the decision maker to determine what weight to give to individual policies in the circumstances of each case.

National planning Framework 4 (NPF4) signalled a turning point for the Scottish planning system, placing climate and nature at the heart of decision making. For example, Policy 1: Tackling the climate and nature crises, encourages, promotes and facilitates development that addresses the global climate emergency and nature crisis to achieve zero carbon, nature positive places.

NPF4 integrates these matters into its policies and decision-making processes more comprehensively than previous national planning frameworks.

The Scottish Government has always recognised the importance of Scotland’s international connectivity and we are committed to working with all Scotland’s airports to help grow international connectivity, a commitment recently reaffirmed in our Aviation Statement published in July. The statement also makes clear that the decision on where an airline flies to in Scotland rests entirely with the airline and we do not seek to influence that process. Of the four routes currently being supported, three started at Edinburgh while one operated both to Glasgow and Edinburgh before switching all capacity to Edinburgh. This was a decision by the airline and we are not sighted on what Glasgow Airport did to retain the route, or what Edinburgh Airport did to encourage consolidation.

The Scottish Government take a national approach to route development and our route development work with airlines is carried out strictly on an “airport-neutral” basis, leaving airlines to decide which Scottish airport to use. The role of the Scottish Government is a complementary one with each airport competing on their own merits for new routes and capacity.

The work, advice, and recommendations of the Just Transition Commission (JTC) continue to be an important part of the Scottish Government’s drive towards a Just Transition to our net zero future. We are committed to providing an annual statement to update on the progress of just transition activity, with the date for the next statement yet to be confirmed. The upcoming statement will include information about land use and agriculture as well as the other sectors of importance highlighted by the JTC.

In total, between July 2023 and March 2024, 26 organisations in receipt of grants from the Scottish Government have an approved limited exception to the real Living Wage grant condition. A list of these organisations can be found in the following table.