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I met with Cumbrae ferry stakeholders on 1 June 2022 to discuss a range of ferry issues. It was agreed that Transport Scotland and CalMac would consider if books of tickets could be offered to islanders under the new ‘Ar Turas’ ticketing & reservation system.

The intention is to provide users of the Largs-Cumbrae service with the option to purchase a convenience 10-journey ticket product online or at the Largs ticket office. I await an update from my officials in Transport Scotland and CalMac on this matter.

At the time of publication of the Sturrock Report, all Health Boards were to consider the recommendations, review their internal assurance mechanisms and develop action plans.

The Scottish Government are now developing the Improving Wellbeing and Workforce Cultures Strategy alongside the new national leadership development programme called Leading to Change for health, social care and social work sectors to carry this work on. This will help foster an open and welcoming culture, where all staff are valued and treated with dignity and respect.

Leading to Change aims to recognise and support leadership at all levels. Ultimately, we want to equip current and future leaders with the skills and capabilities they will need to enable compassionate and collaborative working and deliver whole-system transformational change against any challenges they may face.

An update to Parliament, in the form of a Ministerial Statement, on the progress made in this space is planned for later this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10967 on 23 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 external costs associated with the production and publication of the Building a new Scotland paper, ‘Renewing democracy through independence', are set out in the following table.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund was first established in the winter of 2020, as part of the wider Winter Support Fund, to help households struggling with their energy costs who were at risk of severely rationing, or self-disconnecting entirely because they could not afford their energy costs.

The external costs associated with the production and publication of the Building a new Scotland paper, 'Independence in the modern world. Wealthier, happier, fairer: why not Scotland?', are set out in the following table.

The Regulations underpinning Scotland’s DRS state what factors need to be considered when developing the retailer handling fee. The Scheme Administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd, followed a robust, independent process that considered these factors to set handling fee structure.

There are no current plans to implement a Primary Authority system for devolved regulation. However, as part of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation we have set out that we are working with stakeholders to consider how regulation can be used to support economic and societal aims and use this work to continuously improve the approach to regulation in the future. This will include reviewing existing powers and processes to identify where changes could be made to support both businesses and regulators in achieving our strategic aims.

SG commissioned Scottish Agriculture Organisation Society (SAOS) to undertake market research to establish demand for a new food and drink brand, and possible options. This research was based on branding that would be available to Scottish based producers, manufacturers and suppliers who can satisfy stringent criteria on provenance and low carbon operations.

The final report is expected soon. This research will be used to inform approaches that will allow businesses to capitalise on the provenance and quality that Scotland’s produce is synonymous with.

We’re seeing many young people already benefitting from the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme, with well over 20 million journeys having been made since its commencement in January. We have now launched a national marketing campaign to increase awareness and understanding of the scheme and, ultimately, encourage more young people to apply and enjoy the benefits of free bus travel.

Transport Scotland has also provided communications and promotional resources for stakeholders at freebus.scot, and these have been shared with over 300 public, private and third sector organisations who work with young people and families, and within the transport sector.