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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.

The extraction of peat for use in horticulture exacerbates the linked climate and nature crises. By stopping using peat in horticulture, the people of Scotland can play their part in our journey net zero and help tackle those crises which affect us all. We are mindful of the effects on both edible and ornamental horticulture and, through our forthcoming consultation and continuing work with industry, we aim for a smooth transition with minimal compromises for food production, environment and recreation.

We will soon launch our consultation, which will inform ambitious timescales for phasing out the use of peat in horticulture and we will seek diverse views to help us meet the needs of the people of Scotland.

Individual Placement and Support assists people requiring more intensive support to enter and sustain employment. The Independent review has considered the current delivery landscape and outcomes achieved by this specialist employment support programme, and made recommendations to build on best practice as well as identifying areas for further improvement. The Scottish Government intends to publish the report of the Independent review of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) before the end of 2022.

The power to deal with the owners of aggressive dogs rests with local authorities and Police Scotland. The two main pieces of legislation in relation to dog control are the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (“the 1991 Act”) and the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”).

The 1991 Act makes it a criminal offence for anyone in charge of a dog to allow it to be ‘dangerously out of control’. A dog is regarded as being dangerously out of control if there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure a person or assistance dog, whether or not it actually does so. For any given incident it is for Police Scotland to determine whether a crime has been committed.

The 1991 Act also gives power to any constable or authorised local authority officer (i.e. dog warden) to seize any dog they believe to be prohibited and/or a dog which appears to them to be dangerously out of control when it is in a public place.

The 2010 Act provides for a civil regime in respect of dog owners who allow their dogs to be ‘out of control’. The 2010 Act introduced the Dog Control Notice (DCN) regime. Local authority dog wardens are able to issue a DCN on dog owners. The DCN is a civil notice which can contain a number of conditions, such as requiring a dog to be kept on a lead when in public, muzzling the dog when in public, and undertaking training to modify/control the dog’s behaviour. A breach of a DCN is a criminal offence.

Scottish Government Guidance on the 2010 Act, published in December 2020, is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/updated-guidance-control-dogs-scotland-act-2010/

Local authorities can also consider byelaw making powers to address a specific problem. For example, if there is an area where dogs are often a nuisance, the matter can be raised for consideration by the council who have powers to make appropriate bye-laws, i.e. to keep dogs on leads in particular areas.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in the provision of student accommodation nor any capacity within the private rental market. However, we are aware of the ongoing difficulties faced by students in accessing accommodation this academic year.

We are currently undertaking a review of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) which will look at a number of issues, including affordability and supply and the findings from this report, along with findings from the New Deal for Tenants Report which considered similar issues in the private rented sector, will inform a student accommodation strategy for Scotland.

Yes, the statistics you refer to are accurate. The analysis can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/analysis-consultation-responses-consultation-review-children-scotland-act-1995/pages/9/ . There were 254 responses to the consultation, which asked a number of questions. As noted in the table at section 9.3.1 of the analysis, 124 consultees answered yes to question 31 on amending the Child Abduction Act 1984, with 13 answering no and 117 not answering the question. 124 of 254 is 49%, which is the figure referred to in section 9.3.2 of the analysis.