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Enforcement of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 is the responsibility of local authorities, who have autonomy to allocate the resources available to them based on local needs and priorities. The Scottish Government is providing an additional £793 million of funding to local authorities in 2023-24.

In addition to guidance published on the Scottish Government website in advance of the Regulations, Zero Waste Scotland delivered an awareness raising campaign in the six months prior to the Regulations coming into force to increase business and public awareness of the Regulations. We will continue to support businesses to comply with requirements.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how much the Barra and Vatersay Community Campus project has cost to date - this information is held by Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar.

Initial design and development costs have been incurred on the school and community element of the project, which is being delivered through the Learning Estate Investment Programme.

These upfront project costs have been paid by the local authority and will form part of the total project costs, up to 50% of which will be funded by the Scottish Government through the Learning Estate Investment Programme’s outcome based funding model mechanism.

As stated in my response to S6W-17912 on 25 May 20223 “Work commenced in December 2022 to develop alternative metrics for Scotland’s offshore wind potential and the outcome of this work will be published in due course.”

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 A&E departments across NHS Scotland currently include:

• 30 large consultant-led Emergency Departments; and
• 60 minor injuries units and community units.

At the end of the Action 15 commitment of the Scottish Government’s Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027, an additional 179.2 whole-time equivalent mental health professionals were recruited to A&E settings.

The Scottish Government does not currently collect the requested data on the total number of mental health professionals based in A&E departments. While data regarding the number of staff in post is available for specific mental health professional groups in NHS Scotland, this cannot be broken down by settings such as A&E.

Scottish Government Ministers and officials meet regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Royal College of Pathologists, to discuss areas of mutual interest.

Operational decisions on pay and staffing matters are for college employers and trade unions to negotiate collaboratively, in the spirit of national bargaining. Ministers have no direct role in these decisions.

I expect management and trade unions to make every effort to reach a settlement that is fair and affordable, and without the need for further industrial action.

The total area of the Marine Protected Area network designated in the Scottish continental shelf area adjacent to Scotland, as designated in the Continental Shelf (Designation of Areas) Order 2013 is (a) 228,118 square kilometres and (b) 37%.

These figures take into account all overlapping designations and capture:

• Special Areas of Conservation
• Special Protection Areas
• Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas
• Ramsar sites for wetlands of international importance.
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

These figures do not include Historic Marine Protected Areas, Other Area Based Measures, or the Demonstration and Research Marine Protected Area.

The updated ‘Cycling by Design’ document was published in 2021 and provides guidance for cycling infrastructure design on all roads, streets and paths in Scotland. It includes design guidance for incorporating cycle facilities past bus stops, with bus stop bypasses as one option. A series of training sessions on the guidance has been undertaken throughout 2022 and early 2023, with attendance by the majority of local authorities.

To inform the design guidance further, Transport Scotland commissioned Living Streets in 2021 to investigate issues of inclusion where bus stop bypasses have been introduced, primarily to accommodate cycle facilities. The study is due to report late summer 2023.

The following tables provide a breakdown of homes delivered in rural (mainland) and island areas through the Rural and Islands Housing Fund since 2016-17 by local authority area.

We currently face the most difficult public spending environment since devolution and as a government have had to make tough decisions. However, despite the unprecedented fiscal challenge, we have maintained college and university resource budgets at last year’s levels and our 2023/24 budget allocates nearly £2bn to Scotland’s universities and colleges, demonstrating our continuing commitment to tertiary education.

The Scottish Government recognises that students are being adversely affected by the current industrial action in sector and I urge all involved to quickly resolve this dispute so that students get the due reward for all their hard work

However, while the Scottish Government is not directly involved in the national collective bargaining process, I expect management and unions to make every effort to reach a settlement that is fair and affordable. I have reflected this expectation during my meetings with both sides, in recent weeks.