The frequency of Working Group meetings will be decided by the group itself when it meets, as it will depend on the issues to be considered.

The roll out of Road Equivalent Tariff (RET), which delivered significant reductions in ferry fares, was completed on the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Service network in October 2015 and led to an estimated average fare reduction of 34% for passengers and 40% for car traffic and it continues to save travellers around £25m a year. We are also continuing work to explore options to introduce RET on all Northern Isles routes.

The 2021-22 Programme for Government (PfG) also reiterated our commitment to maintain Road Equivalent Tariff on all current island ferry routes, helping make ferry travel more affordable and more accessible, and enhancing island economies.

A review of ferry fares policy will be conducted as part of the upcoming Islands Connectivity Plan, to be published by the end of 2022. Consultation and engagement will be central to the development of the Plan and the review provides the opportunity to ensure that our fares policy continues to address the needs of island residents, businesses and communities.

Scottish Government only holds information for chargepoint units that have been supported by funding from Scottish Government and added to the Chargepoint Scotland network or where funding has been provided from schemes managed by Energy Saving Trust on our behalf.

2018-2019 - 1506 units

2019-2020 – 2333 units

2020-2021 – 4411 units

2021-2022 – 3753 units

These figures include domestic home charging units and charging units installed by Local Authorities, businesses and other organisations.

There may be addition units installed that Scottish Government would have no information on as the host/owner may not have appointed the Chargepoint Scotland Network as there back office provider or received funding from Scottish Government.

Through the establishment of a Rail Recovery Task Force, attended by Transport Scotland and our rail delivery partners, the focus of the restoration of rail services has been aligning capacity with demand taking into account changing and emerging travel patterns and insight into passengers’ expectations/concerns.

We have supported bus operators throughout the pandemic, providing up to
‎ £42 million until the end of this financial year. Operators receiving our funding enter into public service contracts and are required to meet certain conditions including running services close to 100% of pre-COVID levels and consulting with local transport authorities in keeping services under review.

In addition, the Government continues to support island and remote communities, working closely with ferry operators and other stakeholders throughout all stages of the pandemic including the approach to recovery.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

We are well on our way to achieving our commitment to introduce more than 80 additional counsellors in colleges and universities. Funding for the 2021-22 Academic Year, set at £4.23 million, an increase of almost £0.6 million on last year’s budget, will help address the issue of equity of access, a key commitment in our Student Mental Health Action Plan.

Over the coming months, the Scottish Government will work closely with sector and wider stakeholders, to further ensure equity of access to counsellors and to take forward our commitments to embed mental health and wellbeing into the curriculum, through the development of a Student Mental Health Action Plan.

Our primary focus is on reducing waste and increasing the proportion of waste we reuse and recycle. As set out by the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport in May 2021 and in the shared policy programme agreed between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party, we will review the role incineration plays in Scotland’s waste hierarchy, including the need for new incineration capacity. To that end, we will appoint an independent chair to oversee the review, with a view to having a chair in place in October. And will update Parliament with a statement.

We intend that the review will prioritise consideration of national capacity requirements for incineration, given the Scottish Government’s ambitious targets for waste reduction. The review will also have scope to consider how emissions from existing incinerators can be reduced and residual heat may be reused; and consider the societal impacts of residual waste treatment, including health and community impacts. The independent chair will determine the detailed shape of the review.

The timeline for the review will be agreed with the independent chair. However, we are aware that the outcomes of this review will be important to inform ongoing discussions around local authority planning decisions and wider investment decisions. Therefore, we aim to begin to invite evidence for the review in November and to review available evidence between December 2021 and March 2022. We will publish the review as soon as possible once the review has been completed.

In line with our Programme for Government commitment, the paper outlining the principles and commitments that underpin our care and support for people with long COVID has been published today, 30 September 2021. This is available on the Scottish Government website at www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802013559 .

On 13 September, we announced £300,000 of support for the 16th conference of youth—COY16—the UN’s official youth event for COP26. For the first time, five young people from Scotland will join participants from around the world and will help to shape the conference’s statement. We also support the Young Scot-led Scottish youth climate programme, which enables Scottish children and young people to host a climate youth summit ahead of COP26 to design the legacy that they want from the conference and to act as local champions across the country.

The recruitment and retention of teachers is a matter for local authorities.

However, I am determined that teachers have strong job opportunities. We have provided significant additional funds for the recruitment of additional teachers and I have committed to increasing teachers numbers by 3,500 during the course of this parliamentary term.

We have provided £240 million of additional investment to local authorities to support the recruitment of additional education staff to support education recovery. We have also allocated £145.5 million annually to the local government settlement which will support councils to employ additional staff on permanent contracts.