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By focusing investment on sustainable transport options for individuals, families, communities and businesses, the STPR2 draft recommendations will make it easier for those in the Stirling area and beyond to access the transport networks and systems that Scotland will need to meet the challenges and changes over the next 20 years.

Strategic active travel recommendations are a focus, not only connecting urban communities but rural towns and villages as well. We are already providing funding through the Sustrans Places For Everyone Programme and have also committed £7m for Regional Active Travel improvements through the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal.

In line with the STPR2 recommendation on bus priority, £500,000 has been awarded to the Forth Valley Bus Alliance for improvements on key bus corridors, £230,000 of which will look at those in Stirling.

The focus for Rail in STPR is on strategic connections and decarbonisation. Given its central location in Scotland’s rail network, the Stirling area will benefit from these.

Taken together the Review’s recommendations represent a repositioning of our transport investment priorities which firmly focus on how transport can help us protect our climate and improve lives, including for residents of Stirling and surrounds.

This is a matter for Stirling Council. However, for the 2018-19 academic year, Stirling Council reported they had purchased 22,752 period products in total. The number of period products purchased and distributed since Sept 2019 is not held centrally.

Our interim experimental summary of COVID-19 business support funding paid by local authority between November 2020 and June 2021 shows businesses in Stirling have received approximately £36.4m in direct business support.

Prior to November 2020, an additional £24.7m was administered by Stirling Council to businesses in Stirling through the October Circuit breaker, Newly Self-employed Hardship Fund, Bed and Breakfast hardship fund, Small Business Grant Scheme and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grant Scheme. A further £4m was provided through the Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund and Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Fund. This brings the total provided to £65.1m, however it is important to note this does not cover all funding to date and as such the overall figure for business in Stirling will be higher. Further detail of funding is available on the Scottish Government website:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support funding interim experimental statistics - by local authority and scheme from November 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

o   Coronavirus (COVID-19) - business support funding: statistics (circuit breaker) – 29 January 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

o   Coronavirus (COVID-19): hardship and resilience funds statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The vast majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on road maintenance, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

It is for locally elected representatives to manage the allocation of resources and the level of services that are delivered to their local communities.

The Scottish Government has provided over £3.2 million of grant funding directly to Stirling Council since 2017 to enable procurement of zero emission charging and refuelling infrastructure. The following table provides the detail of funding awarded to Stirling Council in each year from 2017.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project cost £5,124,000. The Scottish Government provided £2,005,331 through the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme. The work was completed in August 2019.

The district heating network serves a number of buildings in Stirling, including St. Modan’s High School, Forthbank Stadium and Conference Facilities, the Peak Leisure Centre, the Robertson Trust Barracks Development, Jubilee House (owned by Volunteer Scotland) and Moray House.

The project brings several benefits to Stirling, including:

• a 10% savings to end users compared to their heating costs using traditional boilers;
• reduction in associated operational costs, including servicing and boiler replacement;
• income generation to Stirling Council over 40 years;
• wider community benefits include local job creation, upskilling and regeneration of the local area.

The Stirling Renewable Heat Demonstration Project has scope for expansion, including to future proposed development at the Public Sector Innovation Hub and Heritage Hub.

The Scottish Government has invested £7,397,946 into active travel initiatives in Stirling since 2017.

The following table details affordable unit completions in Stirling since 1 st April 2017 to 30 th September 2021 by (i) new build and (ii) off the shelf.

Officials have met with the Stirling bid team to offer support with connections and building relationships with relevant partners – whilst recognising the need to maintain an even-handed approach. Additionally, officials are working closely with VisitScotland and Creative Scotland who both sit on the Working and Steering Groups for the Stirling City of Culture 2025 and have been providing input and comment to the content of the bid proposal. The bid itself references the development work undertaken by the Stirling Place Partnership, SceneStirling, which is jointly funded by Creative Scotland and Stirling Council. The Scottish Government and Creative Scotland fund organisations who are involved in the bid, including Sistema Scotland and the MacRobert Theatre.

Statistics on the number of schools that have been built or substantially refurbished since 2017 are available in tables 7.1 and 7.2 of the School Estate Statistics Supplementary Data, available here: https://www.gov.scot/collections/school-education-statistics/#schoolestatesstatistics .

Information on schools with confirmed investment plans is included in table 8 of the same publication. In 2021 there was one school in Stirling - Aberfoyle Primary School - with confirmed investment plans. Additionally, Callander Primary School is due to receive funding under phase 2 of the Scottish Government's Learning Estate Investment Programme.