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Ministerial correspondence received by the Scottish Government is fast-tracked when a Minister or their Private Office determine that a response should be issued in advance of the typical 20 working day deadline the Scottish Government endeavours to meet. There are no set criteria across the organisation for deciding whether correspondence should be fast-tracked. Decisions about whether to fast-track are made on a case by case basis.

The Scottish Government does not collect or record information relating to the volume of ministerial correspondence that is fast-tracked.

Any correspondence from members of the UK Parliament will be processed by officials in line with the Scottish Ministerial Code.

As is a matter of public record, Stephen Flynn, MP, contacted the then Minister for Energy and the Environment, Gillian Martin, in October 2023 forwarding on information from Flotation Energy. Mr Flynn asked that Scottish Government officials could review the information below and, if appropriate, arrange contact with those involved to discuss these matters further and stated that no detailed response is required just confirmation the below is receiving attention. A written response was sent to Mr Stephen Flynn MP confirming that officials had reviewed the information provided in his enquiry and that officials were in regular contact with the Green Volt project team on this matter and that discussions are ongoing regarding the progress of the Green Volt application.

It is not practicable to publish all correspondence in relation to marine licence and/or consent applications and subsequent determinations, however key information such as application, consultation responses and decision notices are shared here: https://marine.gov.scot/marine-projects.

I meet with Transport Scotland officials on a regular basis to discuss improvements across the entire trunk road network including those located in the North East of Scotland, and most recently met at our regular portfolio meeting on 30 October 2024.

The following table provides the number of injury road collisions recorded by Police Scotland as taking place at or within a half mile radius of the Toll of Birness.

Please note that the figures for 2024 are provisional, as they are based on monthly returns received thus far from Police Scotland in 2024, with the most recent returns being received on 10th October 2024. This may be an incomplete picture of casualties up to that date due to a slight lag between collisions occurring and the data being processed and shared by Police Scotland. These figures are also subject to change due to subsequent corrections and late records.

So far £23,094,147 has been spent on trunk road improvement schemes in the North East of Scotland during the 2024-25 financial year. This figure includes capital expenditure on Minor Improvement works, Structural Maintenance, Strategic Road Safety and Structures improvement schemes. This figure includes Construction, Design and Investigation costs.

An additional £993,181.21 has been spent on Major Project schemes in the North East of Scotland for financial year 2024-25. This figure provided includes spend for taking the various projects through design and statutory process stages, acquisition of land compensation payments, preparatory works, as well as costs associated with construction.

As reported in the Scottish Health Survey Supporting documents - The Scottish Health Survey 2022 – volume 1: main report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) there has already been a significant decline in children’s consumption of non-diet soft drinks once a day or more, from 38% in 2008-2009 to 16% in 2017-2018, and to 5% in 2021-2022.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is much that still needs to be done to further reduce children’s sugary soft drinks consumption, especially in low-income areas. We continue to support the UK Government’s Soft Drink Industry Levy, recognising the positive impact this has made in reducing sugary soft drinks consumption and incentivising industry reformulation.

The Scottish Government is delivering a range of initiatives to further improve the access and affordability of healthier food and drink options, helping children, especially those in deprived areas, to develop healthier nutritional habits that will last them a lifetime. This includes continued support of the Healthy Living Programme, the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations and the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme(SMHSS) Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme - Maternal and child health - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Effective approaches to preventing childhood obesity are focused on population-level measures, and therefore it is important that we can track progress on child healthy weight across our communities.

The universal health visiting pathway includes growth assessment of all children at several points across early childhood and supports interventions that promote healthy growth.

Public Health Scotland and Scottish Directors of Public Health established a short life working group, including expertise from local boards and PHS, to consider the Primary 1 BMI surveillance https://publichealthscotland.scot/population-health/early-years-and-young-people/child-health-data-and-intelligence/child-weight-and-growth/routine-health-review/ model and to catalyse work to improve P1 measurement data usability and coverage.

Robust data is really important not only to exhibit the effectiveness of our policies but to inform continuous improvement. We welcome Public Health Scotland and the wider public health system’s continued support on the range of data that underpins our policies.

Scottish Government are taking forward a range of actions across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better access to weight management services; leadership and reducing health inequalities.

This includes our continued support for convenience stores to increase the accessibility of fruit and vegetables in more deprived areas, supporting businesses to reformulate their products to make them healthier, and maintaining funding to community food networks, to enable them to increase access to affordable, healthier food to their communities and to promote the health benefits of nutrition and physical activity.

Specifically, regarding children, we have updated the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations, strengthening the provision of balanced and nutritious food to children.

Our Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme promotes good nutrition to support healthy physical and brain development through the provision of healthy drinks and snacks in the earliest years. We have continued provision of free vitamin D to children under three, and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Over the last 6 years, in addition to the core funding provided to Boards to support maternal and infant nutrition, we have invested more than £10 million to promote, protect and support breastfeeding to help give children the best possible start in life. Breastfeeding rates at 6-8 weeks are now at 47%. Infant feeding statistics - Financial year 2022 to 2023 - Infant feeding statistics - Publications - Public Health Scotland the highest they have been since records began.