Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to planting 10,000 hectares of trees every year until 2022 and we will work to hasten the pace of applications and approval of planting. We are already meeting with the sector to identify points in the current process, from application to approval, that could be improved or speeded up and will announce further plans in due course.

I am in regular discussion with my colleagues, including the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, about matters of mutual interest.

The Transport Scotland Road Asset Management Plan sets out how Scotland's trunk road network is maintained strategically and efficiently in order to protect our assets and ensure maximum value for money from our road maintenance activities. Regular surveys and inspections are undertaken to ensure that the trunk road network is safe and fit for purpose, and to provide appropriate information to support maintenance decisions.

Programmed maintenance work plans are developed based on asset condition data, including results from inspections and surveys. The surveys make a number of measurements to assess the condition of the road surface, including rutting, cracking and ride quality. Surveys are also undertaken to assess the strength of the lower road layers and provide an estimate of the remaining useful life of the road. In addition all trunk roads are subject to weekly safety inspections to identify defects like potholes, which are then repaired by our operating companies within the strict timescales set-out in their contracts.

The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads improvement, maintenance and repair with local road authorities. It is therefore the responsibility of Scottish local authorities to determine what resources they should allocate based on local needs and priorities. In 2016-17 the Scottish Government provided local authorities with total funding of over £10.3 billion. This includes funding for road maintenance. The Society of Chief Officers of Transportation Scotland (SCOTS) commission an annual survey on behalf of all local authorities to allow them to assess the areas of road which require maintenance.

As part of the work of the Roads Collaboration Programme and the Strategic Action Group chaired jointly by the Minister of Transport and Islands and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, we regularly have discussions with representatives from SCOTS and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives on embedding best practice. In addition, road authorities have been working with industry partners to make positive changes to how road maintenance is undertaken, with focus on efficiency, collaboration and innovation.

Scottish Ministers’ principles of charging statement sets out the basis for calculating water and sewerage charges. It also sets out the terms upon which the Exemption Scheme is available to charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs.

The terms of the new Exemption Scheme, which was introduced on 1 April 2015, were the subject of a consultation: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/11/9119 at the end of 2013. Over 140 organisations responded including many voluntary organisations and their umbrella organisations. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and the Office for the Charity Regulator (OSCR) were closely involved in the design and implementation of the new scheme and have publicised the consultation and the scheme as agreed by ministers.

My officials have spoken to officials at OSCR and SCVO to discuss how further assistance can be provided where village halls wish to obtain charitable status. In the light of these discussions, I have decided that, provided that these village halls obtain charitable status within the current financial year and meet all of the eligibility criteria, exemption will be back-dated to 1 April 2016.

We also recognise the important role of the early years workforce in supporting children's early speech and language development. All practitioners working within the early learning and childcare sector are required, as part of their training, to gain knowledge and understanding about speech and language development and are expected to undertake career-long learning to further augment the skills obtained during their initial training.

The Scottish Government is committed to working closely with the Scottish ambulance service to ensure that patients who require an emergency ambulance receive one as quickly as possible.

In cases where a 999 call comes in to the ambulance control centre from a mobile phone the caller is asked to provide location details, including the postcode where possible. They are also prompted to provide as much location information as they are able, including nearby landmarks.

Ambulance control centre staff are trained in map reading and use information provided by the caller to triangulate their location. The current national average time from receipt of call to the dispatch of an emergency ambulance is 58 seconds.

The areas for the non-domestic rates relief pilot scheme were chosen to align with existing mobile pilot projects in development by the Scottish Futures Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government, which fit the organisational and commercial models the Scottish Government wishes to test. We have considered a number of areas across Scotland for mobile pilots; crucially, all of which have been driven locally by communities and other stakeholders.

This relief is available from 1 April 2016 for a period of five years.

The Scottish Government does not assess the way that Scottish public authorities meet their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010, including their obligations to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and service users. It is for Scottish public authorities to ensure that they meet their obligations.

In her programme for government statement in September 2015, the First Minister announced additional funding to ensure that eligible kinship carers receive improved allowances to bring them up to the same level as those received by foster carers in their local authority. The Minister for Children and Families confirmed that £10.1 million funding had been agreed with COSLA for this purpose on an annual basis and this funding was put in place from 1 October 2015.

Some kinship carers will be eligible for child-related benefits, which are intended to cover accommodation and maintenance. If a kinship carer is in receipt of any child-related benefits, then the local authority may deduct these (actual amounts) from the amount of allowance that it pays to the kinship carer. In this situation, any additional payment to bring the allowance rate up to that of a foster carer is to be considered a wellbeing payment – the kinship carer is already receiving payment from the state for accommodation and maintenance and the additional money is to ensure that the kinship child is able to benefit from opportunities that many children have but that they would otherwise be unable to access.