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Scottish Government officials regularly meet with local authority staff and ship senior management to ensure the wellbeing and safety of those arriving from Ukraine are central to the provision. This includes work to ensure that all staff are adequately qualified and checked to support the safety of children and adults on board.

Organisations providing services aboard the ships such as local authorities, third and voluntary sectors partners, as well as private employers are responsible for their own background and Disclosure checks on their staff, in the same way that applies to those supporting other Warm Scots Welcome accommodation, such as hotels. Those staff members or volunteers who are resident in Scotland, and whose role supports ‘regulated work’ will have undertaken the necessary Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) level, deemed appropriate for their role. PVG checks can only be progressed for those people resident in the UK or where there is an agreement with other states. Where this doesn’t apply, the background checks undertaken by the Home Office provide assurance to our contract managers. In addition, we have worked with local authorities and other partners to ensure that all crew of the MS Victoria and MS Ambition have a minimum of child and adult protection training and we continue to work collaboratively to ensure additional safeguarding training and resources are made available.

P&O Ferries is not a member of the Scottish Maritime Cluster Limited and therefore has not benefited from funding granted to the Cluster by Transport Scotland.

Yes. Support from the Circular Textiles Fund is available without capital expenditure requirements.

Further information on funding for applicants to the Circular Textiles Fund is available at:-

https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/content/faqs-circular-textiles-fund

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11081 on 29 September 2022. 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 crew of the MS Ambition and MS Victoria are paid by the charter company that CTM chartered on the Scottish Government’s behalf. CTM have confirmed that all crew operating on both vessels are at a minimum being paid in line with the National Minimum Wage and are fully compliant with Maritime Labour Convention requirements for seafarer contracts of employment. In addition to wages, as part of the seafarers contract of employment the crew receive accommodation, food and beverage at no charge, flights and other travel related costs to both join and leave the vessel (at end of contract), uniform and medical expenses during service onboard.

We provided an additional £9m to NHS Boards in 2021-22 to address waiting lists for Psychological Therapies. It is encouraging to see this reflected in a consistent and sustained reduction in waits of over 52 weeks over the past year and a more recent reduction in over 18 weeks waits in the most recent quarter.

In addition, we have commissioned the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to carry out a feasibility study to investigate a National Clinical Pathway to benefit adults diagnosed with ADHD. Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways are being piloted in four Health Boards to support a single diagnostic pathway for ADHD and Autism. The pilot started in January 2022 and will run for 12 months.

While recruitment is rightly an operational matter for ScotRail to manage, the Scottish Government is supportive of the ambitious target to increase apprenticeships.

ScotRail Trains Ltd. has confirmed that it is still aiming to have recruited 220 apprentices by 2025.

To help achieve this target, ScotRail is working to embed an ‘apprenticeship first’ approach to recruiting for a number of roles in its organisation, and is undertaking productive discussions with the rail trades unions on this.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-11009 on‎ 30 September 2022. 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

A wide range of Scottish Government support is available to Scottish wool producers and manufacturers through the Find Business Support webpage ( https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/ ) and our enterprise agencies who work with companies to discuss their specific needs. This includes grants (e.g. Business Innovation and Growth Grants), other funding, advice, help and events.

The £2m Circular Textiles Fund (CTF), administered by Zero Waste Scotland and backed by the Scottish Government assesses projects on the basis of how effectively they will accelerate a circular transition in Scotland. Information on eligibility criteria for applicants to the Circular Textiles Fund is available at: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/content/faqs-circular-textiles-fund .

More broadly, the Scottish Government will consider the quality of land available for grazing when directing support payments to sheep farms.

For example, the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) and the 2022 Scottish Upland Sheep Support Scheme (SUSSS) provides additional support to maintain sheep flocks in farms reliant on poorer quality rough grazing found in Scotland’s Basic Payment Region three.

These payments help farmers and crofters maintain the social and environmental benefits that sheep flocks bring to these areas.

As part of our management of funding for bus services, the Scottish Government continually monitors forecasted spend against budget. As a result of the demand led nature of the concessionary travel schemes, we have reduced our forecast for remainder of this financial year due to lower than expected patronage. However, if patronage were now to rise above the forecasted levels, so would our expenditure on the schemes.

The Under 26 Concessionary Fares Review is a separate matter. Scottish Government has carried out analysis on a range of options including the cost of extending free bus travel and on concessionary travel across all modes of public transport to those under the age of 26. This included cost and benefit analysis. The review has concluded and is published on the Transport Scotland website at Under 26 Concessionary Fares Review | Transport Scotland