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Two applications met the aims and criteria of the fund.

Scoutable United received £1,000 to provide and promote equal opportunities for people from minority ethnic communities to participate in football. The funding was utilised to secure training facilities and organise games, and to invest in equipment such as training bibs, cones and footballs. This aimed to increase the number of people participating in the sport and to provide a platform to demonstrate talent, increasing representation and encouraging active lifestyles.

Economic Lead received £1,000 to organise workshops for minority ethnic women to increase their ability and confidence to participate on Boards and in strategic groups, and to establish a peer support network. This aimed to support an increase in representation by minority ethnic women and boost diversity in decision-making within the public and third sectors.

In October 2021 the Scottish Government piloted a fund of up to £10,000 for organisations across Scotland to support additional activity to tackle inequalities and prejudice in line with the goals and outcomes of Black History Month. Organisations could apply for small grants in an open competition.

The Scottish Government received six applications to this fund, and following assessment of the bids against the aims and criteria for the fund, made two grants totalling £2,000 to Scoutable United and Economic Lead for projects to provide and promote opportunities for people from minority ethnic communities to participate in sport, and for women to participate in decision-making at Board level, increasing diversity in decision-making.

The rest of the funding was subsequently allocated to other organisations and projects working to tackle discrimination and advance race equality, such as supporting staff training and development (Intercultural Youth Scotland), and work with young people in the Gypsy/Traveller community to develop skills for life, training and work (Article 12).

The Scottish Government’s intervention in March 2016 was designed to ensure that steel communities in Scotland had a future. The benefits of the intervention are manifest in the high-quality steel products that continue to be produced in Lanarkshire, the skilled employment retained and the economic multiplier effects that accrue via ongoing payments to suppliers and the circulation of income through the local economy. Tata Steel, Liberty House and the Scottish Government were all aligned in agreeing a transaction that secured the earliest realisation of the commercial and wider economic benefits of the deal, and the selected structure was the best available means to deliver this.

Yes. Scottish Government officials are engaged with partners in Highlands and Islands Enterprise to discuss this opportunity.

There are multiple routes through which local authorities and housing associations can get support and funding for the installation of residential cycle storage.

The Places for Everyone programme (PfE) includes provision for cycle storage as part of larger cycle infrastructure projects. For example, in Edinburgh, 108 secure cycle parking units providing 648 individual spaces have been installed in this way since 2019.

We also invest over £900,000 a year in the Cycling Scotland Social Housing Partnership Fund which provides funding directly to housing associations to retrofit cycle storage on their properties. And the Cycling Scotland Cycle Friendly programme provides small grants to local communities, businesses and employers to improve local conditions for cycling, including through the provision of parking and storage.

We continue to look at ways to improve access to cycle storage, taking into account this report and other feedback.

At the heart of our Active Travel Policy is the drive to close the mobility gap and take action against transport poverty. A truly accessible Active Travel landscape is one in which there is equal opportunity to access provision that allows people the opportunity to choose walking, cycling or wheeling as their method of transport for everyday journeys.

The Scottish budget for 2022-23 increased investment in active travel to a record £150 million as we progress towards our commitment to invest at least £320 million or 10% of the transport budget by 2024-25.

We are clear that in all of the funding which we give out in grants to active travel delivery partners, they must ensure that funded schemes promote and support equality for all. A few examples of specific schemes are:

To encourage our youngest citizens to participate in Active Travel, we are running 9 pilot projects to test mechanisms to provide free bikes for all Children of school age who cannot afford them.

In 2022-23, £3 million was allocated to the e-bike Loan Fund in order to provide interest-free loans to support individuals and businesses to purchase e-bikes, adaptive and e-cargo bikes.

In 2019 we launched the £1.3 million Social Housing Fund for improved Walking and Cycling Facilities to encourage active travel within communities, particularly those in areas of multiple deprivation. This project will receive funding of £900,000 in 2022-23.

Scotland’s Cycle Repair Scheme provides free repairs to those who otherwise couldn’t afford it, and the Access Bikes scheme is exploring ways of providing affordable bikes through a variety of different mechanisms, to those who are experiencing financial exclusion.

The Scottish Government remains committed to answering all correspondence as quickly as possible and within agreed timescales.

In relation to (a) freedom of information requests, the figures for the last five financial years are as follows:

Accessibility of our railways is a reserved matter for the UK Government. We will continue to press for full devolution in Scotland of all rail matters to deliver more accessible improvements. There are no immediate plans to improve accessibility at Insch railway station, however the station will be included for consideration, alongside others, for improvement to its accessibility, as part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Access for All programme for Control Period 7, which commences in 2024.

As part of the Cladding Remediation Programme we will create a Building Safety Register. This register will include blocks of flats, of any height, assessed as 'low risk' or remediated as an outcome of the Single Building Assessment process.

The Scottish Government is aiming to introduce a Housing Bill to the Scottish Parliament in 2023.