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Scottish Government loss and damage funding of £10m is fully committed for the lifetime of this parliament, through to 2026.

We will utilise learning from our programmes to demonstrate to the world that funding loss and damage can take many forms, which we hope will inspire other governments, organisations and NGOs to be equally aspirational in their work to address loss and damage.

On aviation, the Scottish Government continues to explore all options to implement Air Departure Tax (ADT) in a way that protects Highlands & Islands connectivity and complies with the UK Government’s subsidy control regime. A Frequent-Flyer Levy has previously been discounted on the grounds that it would be disproportionately resource-intensive to administer. Upon implementation, the Scottish Government’s Air Departure Tax will apply to all affected flights, but without the need for recording the number of flights an individual has taken.

As a well-respected Global North Government, we continue to engage in discussions with governments, organisations and NGOs around the world who are also eager to ensure action on loss and damage is suitably funded. We continue to build meaningful and lasting international partnerships to mobilise action and ambition, and find solutions to address some of the key climate change issues; including through our position as co-chair of the Under 2 Coalition and engagement via the Regions4 Network.

The Scottish Government will continue to use its position to amplify the voices of the Global South and address the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalised people, especially young people and women. We continue to push for global ambition, recognising that $650m dollars of pledges so far is significant, but insufficient.

The Scottish Government welcomes the results of the More in Common survey. Nature is important to everyone. It is our world’s life support system. The twin crises of climate change and nature loss need urgent action across Government and society. The 2023 State of Nature report for Scotland shows the effect that a changing climate is having on our natural world. We face twin reinforcing crises – a decline in biodiversity will make the climate crisis worse and a changing climate will increase the rate of biodiversity loss. Halting and reversing biodiversity loss is critical for adapting to climate change and to ensure we can all continue to enjoy nature's benefits, on which we all depend.

The evidence tells us that Scotland, in common with the rest of the UK, has not done enough over the last 20 years to prevent the continuing decline in biodiversity. We remain firmly committed to tackling the twin crises by taking decisive actions to protect and restore the natural environment. Our ambitious new biodiversity strategy sets out our goals to halt nature loss by 2030 and reverse it by 2045 and provides a long-term vision of what our natural environment needs to look like in order to reverse biodiversity decline. We have committed to invest at least an additional £500 million in the natural economy over the course of this Parliament. Our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund is a key lever in delivering our Biodiversity Strategy, alongside investment in nature-based solutions, like peatland restoration and woodland creation, to tackle the twin crises, and create green jobs.

The Fair Fares Review was undertaken to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares that supports the future long-term viability of a public transport system that is accessible, available, and affordable for people throughout Scotland.

The review considered the scope of both the Young Persons’ Scheme and Older and Disabled Persons Scheme, which provide free bus travel and were established under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005.

The Fair Fares Review was published on 22 March 2024 and is available on the Transport Scotland website Fair Fares Review | Transport Scotland .

The Fair Fares Review was undertaken to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares that supports the future long-term viability of a public transport system that is accessible, available, and affordable for people throughout Scotland.

The review considered the current provision of concessionary travel schemes, including both the Young Persons’ Scheme and Older and Disabled Persons Scheme, which provide free bus travel and were established under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005.

The Fair Fares Review was published on 22 March 2024 and is available on the Transport Scotland website. Fair Fares Review | Transport Scotland .

The Fair Fares Review, which was undertaken to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares that supports the future long-term viability of a public transport system that is accessible, available, and affordable for people throughout Scotland, reviewed the current provision of concessionary travel schemes and reaffirmed our commitment to maintain existing eligibility to the National Concessionary Travel Schemes for those who currently benefit.

Whilst the Scottish Government has no plans to extend the existing National Concessionary Travel Schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 beyond the current eligibility criteria, the Review included a medium to long term recommended that further policy development be undertaken to consider better targeting of public funds towards supporting access to public transport for those who need it most, including consideration of concessionary travel support for those experiencing financial poverty.

The Fair Fares Review was published on 22 March 2024 and is available on the Transport Scotland website. Fair Fares Review | Transport Scotland .

The Scottish Government provides funding for the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People (NCTS) which provides free bus travel throughout Scotland for eligible older and disabled people. However, concessionary travel on other modes of transport, such as rail, is the responsibility of local authorities, which have discretionary powers under the Transport Act 1985 to provide and fund local concessionary travel schemes for residents. The extent and terms of any such scheme are for individual local authorities to consider and decide upon but are limited to be within the local authority or region boundary.

Further information on the specific Strathclyde Concessionary Travel Scheme can be found here: Concessions | SPT | Strathclyde Partnership for Transport

The length of residential rehabilitation programmes varies substantially. Data from the publication ‘Pathways into, through and out of Residential Rehab in Scotland ’ published in November 2021 shows that placements across private providers are typically shorter (5-12 weeks), while third-sector providers are typically longer (14-156 weeks). The mean average core programme length across all providers was 23 weeks. Some providers suggested that this was flexible based on individual need.

Scottish Government officials are currently conducting an analysis of the newly-passed EU Nature Restoration Law to identify where it intersects with existing Scottish Government policies and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. The Scottish Government remains committed to maintaining alignment with the EU, where possible. The recent consultation on our biodiversity strategy and delivery plan set out an ambitious range of actions which aim to tackle the nature crisis. We have already invested heavily in tackling the nature crisis such as through our £65 million Nature Restoration Fund which has funded a wide range of projects across Scotland and our £250 million commitment to restore degraded peatlands.

There are no current plans to extend the provisions of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 to cover volunteers in the NHS. There is a staff in scope list available on the Scottish Government website which confirms the professions and services that are covered within the Health section of the Act.

Volunteers in health care services are not referred to in the Act and volunteers who do work in clinical roles in health care, for example as community first responders, while performing an important role, have no minimum contractual requirement, are not rostered on shifts and do not replace clinical employees. For these reasons they are not considered to be within the scope of the Act.

The Act commenced in April 2024 and the Scottish Government and Healthcare Improvement Scotland have been engaging extensively with Health Boards to help them prepare to meet the duties of the Act. The Act is in it’s infancy and the Scottish Government will review it only once several years of data is available to inform a coherent review.

The length of residential rehabilitation treatments varies substantially. This data on individual placements is not collated centrally. The Scottish Government have commissioned PHS to establish the necessary data infrastructure to monitor residential rehab in Scotland. It will include more detailed information on treatment length. This monitoring data is not yet available.