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It is not possible to accurately estimate, from nationally held data, the current number of unpaid carers of people with dementia.

Data collected by Public Health Scotland (PHS) through their social care data collection provides some information on people receiving social care support who have dementia. However, while data on whether the person receives help from an unpaid carer is requested, this was recorded as ‘Unknown’ or was left blank for 48% of records in 2020-21. As such, it was not possible to accurately estimate the number of unpaid carers of people with dementia from this data.

There is a total of 193 charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland network for the Central Scotland Parliamentary Region. Location of sites for the charge points can be provided separately by contacting ChargePlace Scotland if required.

Out of the 193 charge points in the Central Scotland Parliamentary Region 131 are free to use.

The Scottish Government is currently engaging with stakeholders taking into consideration their ambitions and priorities to develop an International Education Strategy which works for Scotland.

As immigration is reserved to the UK Government, the Home Office is responsible for the operation of visa schemes and application processing. The Home Office has been supporting approved labour providers for the Seasonal Worker Scheme to complete applications to the Ukraine Extension Scheme on behalf of Ukrainian workers, to process the visas as quickly as possible and monitor the process more effectively. The Scottish Government will continue engaging closely with the Home Office and other partners to ensure that workers displaced by the crisis in Ukraine are able to access the support they need while they are here in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has had and continues to have discussions with key stakeholders to understand their priorities and requirements for an International Education Strategy which works for Scotland.

Agricultural workers from Ukraine are critical in the production of soft fruit and vegetables in Scotland. The seasonal worker Labour Providers have a contractual and data sharing agreement with the Home Office. Numbers relating to Seasonal Workers are only shared by labour providers with the Home Office as part of this. Following engagement with officials in the Home Office and DEFRA our best assessment of the information available is that there are approximately 500 Ukrainian Nationals on seasonal work visas currently residing in Scotland.

Agricultural workers from Ukraine are critical in the production of soft fruit and vegetables in Scotland. As a result of the conflict, there are significant concerns about the needs of these workers and JustRight Scotland's new Worker Support Centre, supported by £41,000 from the Scottish Government will provide independent outreach and legal support for seasonal workers in Scotland. The Centre follows models used around the world to offer temporary migrant workers advice and support in times of crisis. In addition, The Scottish Government also funds the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI) which has long-established connections to the wider agricultural community and related support services in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will engage with all bidders for Green Freeport status, to examine relevant opportunities and build on the strategies they have set out.

As Co-Chair of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), I am leading on work to implement the five key recommendations in the Strategic Infrastructure Assessment (SIA) published in 2021, starting with the creation of a Scottish Offshore Wind Port Cluster.

On 11 May, we published the Offshore Wind Collaborative Framework Charter. 24 developers signed up to the Charter, which includes all active developers in Scotland and encompasses all 17 ScotWind projects.

The Charter builds on the 2021 SIA recommendations adopted by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC), and is a clear way to support and enable developers’ collective supply chain commitments. The Charter will help forge effective partnerships to deliver on the potential that offshore wind presents in the coming years particularly those that present via our ports and harbours.

Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) will continue to be delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the Scottish Government, which Parliament were informed of in February 2019. Consultation and survey responses indicated that replacing Severe Disablement Allowance, which has been closed to new applicants since 2001, would cause unnecessary disruption to the approximately 1300 clients in Scotland who continue to receive it.

Safety and security on our railways is reserved to UK Government and as such it would be inappropriate for me to comment on resourcing or operational plans for British Transport Police. However I have asked my officials to request BTP (D-Division Scotland) contact you directly to advise of its current and future plans to tackle anti-social behaviour on our rail network.