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There have been nearly 300 applications to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) from Ukrainian nationals, undertaking a first year of study in Higher Education (HE), for financial support (including tuition fees) in the 2022-23 Academic Year (AY). There have been a further 35 applications from Ukrainian nationals for financial support for postgraduate studies – this package attracts a tuition fee loan.

These figures may continue to rise with applications still being accepted.

It is not possible to confirm how many of these students have applied to the Super Sponsor scheme.

Data in respect of applications for support for courses of Further Education (FE) is not available. At the end of the 2022-23 AY, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will be able to confirm the number of Ukrainian nationals who enrolled on college courses.

Section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 provides that any interested party can make a complaint to the Scottish Ministers that a responsible body has failed to discharge a statutory duty relating to education.

Following investigation of the complaint, Scottish Ministers may make an order declaring the responsible body to be in default of the duty and requiring them to discharge the duty by a specified date.

The complaint procedures do not provide an option for the complainant to consent to the publication of an unredacted version of the final decision they receive.

The Scottish Government committed in the Programme for Government, to explore how to ensure the interests of future generations are taken into account in decisions made today.

Ministers and officials have been engaging with a wide range of organisations who have an interest in embedding sustainable development, wellbeing and the interests of future generations in policy. I have held a series of meetings with key stakeholders in this area.

The Scottish Government is also considering the case for a Future Generations Commission alongside other ways of embedding the interests of future generations in policy, such as placing duties on public authorities to take account of the impact of their decisions on wellbeing and sustainable development and future generations.

The Scottish Government will take this into account as part of the development of a proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill.

We intend to set out more detailed proposals later this year.

The Family Justice Modernisation Strategy (available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/family-justice-modernisation-strategy/pages/1/ ), published in September 2019, is a result of the 2018 consultation on potential changes to Part 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and related matters. We remain committed to the continued implementation of the Strategy’s actions.

As I stated in my foreword, the Strategy sets out work that was ongoing at the time of publication, work to be implemented through secondary legislation and improved guidance, areas that were subsequently covered by the Children (Scotland) Act 2020, and policy areas that require longer-term development. The Scottish Government is preparing an update to the Strategy, which will outline the actions that have been completed, the actions that have been superseded, and the actions which remain to be taken forward. We will publish this update in due course.

The Scottish Government is investing record levels of funding for active travel, in particular around schools and places of education. The £150m active travel budget for 2022-23 includes £12.3m of funding for behavioural change initiatives which local authorities can access through our active delivery partners dedicated programmes for schools and communities. The budget also includes a record £35m for the Cycling and Walking Safer Routes fund, which goes directly to local authorities on a pro-rata basis, enabling them to make the changes to the public realm that they see as having most impact for supporting safer daily journeys by walking and cycling.

In Scotland, we invest £300 million annually to provide free bus travel for over 2 million people, including all children and young people under 22, disabled people and everyone over 60. We haven’t raised the age at which older people qualify for free bus travel, and we are the only part of the UK now operating a national scheme giving children and young people under 22 free bus travel.

Additionally, in many areas, single fares are already below £2.00. For example in Edinburgh you can travel anywhere in the city for a flat fare of £1.80.

We will look carefully at how this new £2 flat fare scheme will work in England to see what more we can do here in Scotland to support and sustain affordable bus travel for more people during the cost of living crisis. One of the key issues is the cost of operating for many bus companies which face huge cost increases in energy and fuel – the UK Government must do more to support businesses, especially small operators, to cope. Additionally, Brexit impacts have compounded staffing shortages in the bus sector – one way the new Prime Minister can help alleviate this situation would be to include bus drivers on the shortage occupation list.

It is not clear what is meant by peatlands being ‘lost’.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many hectares of peatland have been ‘lost’ in each of the last 15 years but we have committed £250 million to restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030.

£10 million of funding has been directed to support Cancer Waiting Times improvements in our NHS across 2022-23. Significant funds are going towards up-skilling nurses and investing in diagnostic tests to support extended working days/weekend working to increase capacity.

Meanwhile, work is underway to develop Scotland’s new cancer strategy, expected to publish Spring 2023. A recent public consultation received over 250 responses, including from blood cancer charities. A series of workshops are planned throughout September to help gain further insight and hear directly from those with lived experience to inform the focus of this strategy.

The Programme for Government sets out our response to the cost crisis, as well as our ambition to create a better future in the longer term. This includes working with the business community to identify further measures that can assist in addressing increased costs and economic disruption. The Government has committed to an emergency budget review to assess all opportunities to target additional resources.

Energy policy is reserved to the UK Government and we have been calling for it to introduce a business energy cap for some time. While the support announced today will be welcome relief for businesses, substantial reform to the energy market is still required or there is a real risk that this temporary measure will prove to be inadequate.

We will continue to do everything within our resources and powers to help those most affected.

In the last year our active travel delivery partners have focussed on building on established projects within schools and early education settings, as part of the continued efforts to promote walking and cycling as modes of travel for getting to and from school.

Living Streets coordinates the "WOW" project which encourages school children to walk once a week to school and provides schools, with both online and physical resources to encourage more walking, through an inter school competition. Over 130 schools took part in the WOW event at the end of the 2021-22 academic year. For 2022-23, Living Streets have established Walk to School Week (May), which saw 70 schools take part in the inaugural event, and Walk to School month (October), which it is currently preparing for. Further activity is underway with 6 secondary schools to support school travel planning, and 15 nurseries to deliver the Little Feet walking initiative.

Cycling Scotland's Bikeability Scotland Cycling Training Scheme continues to be available to all schools in all 32 Scottish local authorities. This training provides lifelong learning skills from how to balance on a bike to tackling roundabouts and junctions, where awareness of other road users and road position is crucial.

We fund Sustrans to deliver behaviour change programmes, including £745K for the successful Ibike project in schools in 2022-23. This project empowers children, parents and teachers to walk and cycle together through activities such as cycle and scooter training, led rides, and road safety awareness sessions. In 2022-23 this programme will work with at least 10 LAs and target 16,000 pupils.