As trunk road maintenance costs are held on a whole route basis we are unable to provide figures for the section of the A90 trunk road from Dundee to Aberdeen.

However, please see the following table for details of how much was spent on improving drainage on the whole of the A90 trunk road for the financial years 2019-20 onwards. These works are in addition to regular asset inspections undertaken through the maintenance contracts, which then develop and prioritises programmes of works.

We are investing £752 million in affordable housing in 2023-24 to increase the delivery of more affordable homes, the majority of which will be for social rent, including supporting a £60 million national acquisition programme.

To effectively meet housing need and support affordable housing priorities across different areas we want to support all tenures whilst still prioritising social rented homes.

We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 70% will be for social rent and 10% in rural ands island areas.

The Chief Executive of Ferguson Marine provided the most recent costs for completion of the vessels to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee in September 2023.

The Chief Executive also informed the NZET Committee in January that the estimated total cost to complete both vessels was being reviewed and the outcome would be notified to the Committee and Scottish Government before 23rd February.

Following a period of berthing trials and crew familiarisation the MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) is set to be operational eight weeks after handover. The handover date is also in the process of being revised by Ferguson Marine and we expect this to be notified with the updated forecast costs.

The Scottish Government has a broad range of delivery programmes which make advice and funding support on energy efficiency and low carbon heating available to households and businesses across Scotland. The Home Energy Scotland (HES) and Business Energy Scotland (BES) advice services offer free, bespoke, impartial advice, and also act as the gateway to our flagship fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland, and to other Scottish Government funding schemes such as the HES Grant and Loan and the SME Loan and Cashback.

Scotland’s Heat Network Fund (SHNF) supports the construction of new zero direct emission heat networks and communal heating systems, as well as the expansion and decarbonisation of existing heat networks across Scotland.

Registered Social Landlords are encouraged to make use of available funding sources for retrofit, which includes the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund. This fund supports both the deployment of clean heating and ”fabric first” enhancements, helping landlords deliver warmer and more energy efficient homes.

Communities and local council areas are also supported through Area Based Schemes (ABS), delivered by all local authorities in Scotland, which target fuel poor areas to provide energy efficiency measures to a large number of Scottish households and help reduce fuel poverty, and the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) which provides advice and funding to communities across Scotland looking to develop renewable energy, heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects.

No individual has been or will be, invited to lead the maths curriculum review by Scottish Government. The appointment of a national maths specialist will be open and transparent, following established Scottish Government recruitment procedures.

The Scottish Government is providing a variety of ways for teachers and practitioners to feed into the design process, including working with the following stakeholder groups:

• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

• Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE)

• General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)

• Association of Directors of Education (ADES)

• Professional Associations and Trade Unions; including EIS, SSTA, NASUWT, SLS and AHDS.

• Scottish Government Strategic Board for Teacher Education

• Scottish Council of Independent Schools (SCIS)

• National education bodies

• Early Learning and Childcare representatives

• Community Learning and Development representatives

Children and young people with additional support needs continue to achieve and we continue to prioritise reducing the attainment gap in Scotland. The Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data shows that the attainment gap between mainstream school pupils with additional support needs and those pupils with no additional support needs, across all primary stages and for S3 Third Level or better, has reduced since 2021-2022.

Since 2019-20, we have continued to invest £15m per year to support local authorities and schools to respond to the individual needs of their children and young people. In 2022, 307 additional pupil support assistants were recruited as a direct result of this investment, supporting our ongoing commitment to reduce the attainment gap. We also provide over £11m of funding to directly support pupils with complex additional support needs and their families.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving the experiences and outcomes for young people with additional support needs, which we have outlined in our Programme for Government 2023-24. Ministers will work with teachers to provide additional professional learning opportunities while seeking to build on the Additional Support for Learning Action Plan.

As announced in the statement to the Scottish Parliament on 12 December 2023, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education has arranged for HM Inspectors to carry out a national thematic inspection of mathematics in 2024. The report from the thematic inspection will be published in autumn 2024.

HM Inspectors have recently written to local authorities to outline the approach that they will take for this national thematic inspection.

The final thematic report will be developed by HM Inspectors and will be published on the Education Scotland website and shared with schools and local authorities. The document will summarise the findings of HM Inspectors and highlight what is working well, and what needs to improve.

As announced in the statement to the Scottish Parliament on 12 December 2023, the review of the maths curriculum framework will begin this year (2024), with a revised maths curriculum to be tested with teachers before the end of the year.

The Royal Blind School receives annual grant funding from the Scottish Government, which is used to support the direct delivery of specialist education and care provision for children and young people with complex additional support needs, including those with visual impairment. The key recurring grant objectives set out for the school in their annual grant letters since 2019-20 are:

• Provide high quality education and / or care to the children and young people who attend the Royal Blind School and Sight Scotland education outreach services.
• Continue to develop the delivery of peripatetic support to local authorities, children and young people with visual impairment.
• Identify collaboratively, the development objectives with all pupils, staff and stakeholders.
• Evidence and maintain the Royal Blind School’s leading position and its value to the provision and enhancement of good practice in education, learning and care for school age children with Visual Impairment and particularly those with complex additional support needs.
• Ensure the ongoing viability of the school, continue to be committed to attracting and developing alternative sources of income through commercial activity and partnership working.
• Improve and develop partnership opportunities with all stakeholders of the Royal Blind School.
• In addition to the core objectives set out above, two further objectives were set within specific years. These were not recurring objectives and were met within the years set.
• Throughout 2020-21 implement the actions/activities in the School Improvement Plan to ensure children and young people who attend the Royal Blind School receive high quality education and care.
• To continue to develop and operate the Learning Hub in order to provide support to local authorities, children and young people with visual impairment and their families and other agencies with visual impairment across Scotland; and provide by 31 March 2020 an evaluation of progress in the 2019-20 outcomes report.