Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect data in relation to the turnaround of unsuccessful applications. The following table shows the average processing time in months for successful applications during each of the last six years.

Pay and performance is a matter for CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL). Scottish Ministers have no role to play in any pay negotiations. The information on performance payments to senior staff is reported and available in the David MacBrayne Limited accounts.

Years where performance deductions have been made to the CHFS Contract were set out in my answer to question S6W-10178 on 7 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10177 on 7 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10148 on 7 September 2022 as to the travel support available to displaced people from Ukraine.

I am aware of the importance of bus services to everyone living in rural areas and am committed, in conjunction with operators and local authorities, to looking at ways of improving services to ensure that everyone has accessible public transport regardless of location. The Scottish Government has brought forward a wide toolkit within the Transport Act to enable local authorities to improve bus services in their local area.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government recently consulted on proposals for our new National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including measures to strengthen enforcement measures.

The Scottish Government aims to deliver a strong and consistent enforcement model across Scotland that is fit for purpose, promotes positive behaviours and acts as a proportionate deterrent and effectively stops people from littering and flytipping

We will publish the final Strategy later this year, taking account of consultation responses.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to bus operators through a number of grants during the last five years. Information on the amount of funding provided to bus operators per year is provided for the following funds: Bus Service Operators’ Grant, Scottish Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit Fund, Scottish Green Bus Fund, Smart Pay Grant Fund, Covid Support Grant, Covid Support Grant - Restart, Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme, Scottish Zero Emission Bus fund, Network Support Grant and Network Support Grant Plus.

Due to the number of entries, a spreadsheet containing the requested information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number: 63569).

Transport Scotland actively publishes monthly details of all items of expenditure of a value of £25,000 or over. This information is available at Expenditure | Transport Scotland . Further information on the purpose of these funds is available on the Transport Scotland website: Bus Travel in Scotland (transport.gov.scot) .

Partial information is provided for 2022 but may be subject to change by the end of the financial year, for example where funding is provided subject to a financial reconciliation taking place later in the year to adjust final funding levels.

Scottish Water operates 1,857 wastewater treatment works (WWTW) across Scotland; this figure includes septic tanks.

Scottish Water works closely with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to develop the Chemical Investigation Programmes (CIP). Phase 1 of the CIP2 Scotland project involved sampling at 20 low dilution WWTWs monthly over a period of 2 years. Phase 2 of the CIP2 Scotland project involved sampling at a further 24 WWTWs monthly over a 6 month period for substances identified of further concern. 4 septic tanks were sampled as part of CIP2 Scotland. CIP3 Scotland is sampling at 5 WWTWs for substances of emerging concern monthly over a year starting in June 2022. CIP3 Scotland will be sampling at 5 coastal WWTWs monthly for 6 months.

WWTWs were chosen due to their low dilution as these WWTWs pose the greatest risk of not achieving the Environmental Quality Standard where the substance is controlled by existing legislation or the Predicted Non Effect Concentration (PNEC) where there are no controls in legislation. Dilution varies according to the population served by a WWTW and the volume of water in the receiving watercourse.

The following table gives a breakdown of the WWTWs sampled in each Local Authority Area in Scotland.

This information does not fall within the scope of data gathered through the National Improvement Framework. The 11 key NIF measures assess progress towards closing the attainment gap using indicators from pre-school to school leavers. These are supplemented by 15 sub-measures that reflect the key stages of the learner journey and the breadth of issues that can impact on attainment. Together these provide a wide range of measures covering school leaver attainment and literacy and numeracy but also other, broader, measures such as health and wellbeing, school attendance rates and school leaver destinations.

Under current arrangements, applications to sponsor or host under the Homes for Ukraine scheme are made to the UK Government, and processed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Home Office.

The UK Government regularly publish data relating to the Homes for Ukraine scheme, but has not published data on host or sponsor applications or withdrawals. Published data is available at: Ukraine Family Scheme, Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine) and Ukraine Extension Scheme visa data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

COVID-19 recovery funding is provided via the Network Support Grant Plus and paid as a pence per kilometre rate for each kilometre actually run. Funding is provided by advance payment on forecasts and then payment is adjusted after the scheme ends in October to ensure the final payment reflects actual services operated. This will include recovery of any funding paid to operators for services that did not operate. The scheme has not yet ended so no reconciliation or payment recovery from operators has yet taken place.