Seòmar agus comataidhean

Spending on active travel will increase throughout Scotland as we realise the Programme for Government commitment to increase the active travel budget to at least £320 million or 10% of the transport budget from 2024-25 onwards. The detail of how that significant increase in investment will apply in different local authority areas is still to be determined.

The Scottish Government supports all local authorities to deliver active travel through a variety of programmes including several run by third sector partners which local authorities can bid into and two direct funds – a LA resource fund of £2 million and a capital fund of £35 million (Cycling Walking and Safer Streets) both distributed pro rata this year across all 32 local authorities.

As the programme managers and project owners, the details of any such exercises lie with Sustrans and City of Edinburgh Council (CEC). We understand that a value engineering exercise was undertaken by CEC and Sustrans in view of escalating cost pressures and timescales for several Places for Everyone projects. Places for Everyone is an active travel infrastructure programme run and programme managed by Sustrans with grant funding from Transport Scotland.

Scottish Government funding for active travel in Edinburgh and other local authority areas is channelled through a number of programmes overseen by Transport Scotland. The single biggest programme is the Places for Everyone (PfE) programme, run by Sustrans with grant funding from Transport Scotland. From PfE, City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has an indicative amount of £52,129,410 allocated to active travel projects over the next four years.

In addition, CEC receives £3,378,467 of Cycling Walking and Safer routes funding directly from Transport Scotland from a £35 million annual pot distributed pro rata to all 32 local authorities in Scotland. There are also various other partner delivered programmes which CEC can bid into for active travel projects, including the Smarter Choices Smarter Places fund for behaviour change projects, run by Paths for All.

The Charter for Grandchildren aims to highlight the role of the wider family. The Charter is available at the link below:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/parenting-plan-charter-grandchildren/ .

In the Family Justice Modernisation Strategy (FJMS) the Scottish Government committed to promote the Charter for Grandchildren. The FJMS is available at the link below:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/family-justice-modernisation-strategy/pages/1/ .

The Scottish Government is reviewing the actions in the FJMS and will consider prioritising work to promote the Charter for Grandchildren following delays during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The steps the Scottish Government intends to take to promote the Charter include engaging with key bodies to raise awareness and ensuring information on the Charter is more widely available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08949 on 26 July 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 .

Existing Environmental Science qualifications (available at National 3, National 4, National 5 and Higher) draw from the sciences and social sciences and take a problem-solving approach to attempt to develop solutions that prevent or reverse environmental deterioration and aim for sustainable practices.

Scottish Government is currently reviewing and strengthening the Learning for Sustainability Action plan. As part of this process, Scottish Government will invite SQA, who are responsible for the development of new qualifications, to consider whether the existing offer should be expanded.

There continues to be an increase in the prison population since the easing of lockdown, which has been largely driven by growth in the remand population. We continue to monitor the prison population to ensure prisons remain safe and well ordered.

We are taking actions and working towards using imprisonment only for those who pose a risk of serious harm and only be contemplated where absolutely necessary.

We are making a total investment of over £3.1 billion in 2022-23 to strengthen and reform vital services across the justice sector including substantial expansion of community justice services supporting diversion from prosecution, alternatives to remand and community sentencing.

The Bail and Release from Custody (Scotland) Bill was introduced to Scottish Parliament on 8 June 2022. The provisions of this Bill are intended to introduce a number of reforms designed to deliver on the Scottish Government’s commitment to refocus how imprisonment is used. They are intended to ensure that, as much as possible, the use of custody for remand is a last resort for the court, and to give a greater focus to the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals leaving custody.

We are also investing over £500 million in the prison estate over this parliamentary term which will allow the Scottish Prison Services to meet the needs of the diverse prison population, realise the associated benefits and ensure equality of access to regimes and services.

The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Official statistical reports relating to the Scottish Ambulance Service can be found on the following link. Public Health Scotland .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09230 on 11 July 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09230 on 11 July 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 .