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The idea for this book was instigated by the UK Government. The Scottish Government is not involved with managing future requests for the book.

It is understood from previous correspondence with the UK Government that the book will be available to purchase from 23 June and a digital version of the book will be available, from September, free of charge to UK readers.

I wrote to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on 22 June confirming that I now intend to lay a revised NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament in the autumn. This is in order to ensure there is sufficient time to fully consider the detailed responses submitted during the consultation period and to ensure that the finalised version is robust for the important role that NPF4 will have in the planning system.

As Minister for Drugs Policy I am continuing to push UK Government Ministers to take action to regulate the availability and sale of pill presses.

We know that the use of illicit, or 'street', benzodiazepines is a significant factor in the level of drug-related deaths seen in Scotland, these are tablets which are largely produced in Scotland by organised crime groups with access to pill press machines. I have been calling on the UK Government for well over a year now to take action to regulate the sale of these machines. Most recently this was raised with UK Minister for Policing, Kit Malthouse, at a meeting on 19 May. At that meeting Mr Malthouse agreed that there was a need to act around this and added that UK Government colleagues were currently looking for an appropriate piece of legislation that they could use to introduce some form of restriction relating to the use of such equipment for the production of illegal substances. He was not able to provide any timescale for this work.

I have also met with Police Scotland colleagues to discuss this issue and they are clear in their support for regulation to be introduced, emphasising the evidence that the vast majority of these tablets are being mass produced in Scotland by these machines. I have also recently discussed this with colleagues from the National Crime Agency who agree that there is a need for action to be taken on this issue and they are working with UK Government colleagues to take this forward.

The idea for this book was instigated by the UK Government. The Scottish Government is not involved with the opt-in process being carried out by the UK Government with Education Authorities.

The full amount of the Agriculture Transformation Fund of £5 million, which is part of wider transformative actions including the National Test programme, has been allocated to the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) 2022 which will provide support for low emission slurry spreading equipment and slurry store covers only. Support for slurry infrastructure is offered through the Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS) which provides support to farmers and crofters within the SEPA identified priority catchments. Retaining the arrangements for the slurry storage options under AECS reflects the overall capital picture for 2022-23 which is more constrained than in previous years.

Agriculture is devolved and it is for each part of the UK to develop policies for its own circumstances. We will continue to support the rural economy with stability and simplicity until 2025 and we remain committed to supporting active farming and food production with direct payments. EU Exit means we no longer have long-term certainty of funding and unilateral choices imposed by HM Treasury provide insufficient replacement EU budget. The support offered reflects this position and the available budget.

The full amount of the Agriculture Transformation Fund of £5 million has been allocated to the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant Scheme (SACGS) 2022 which has been designed to focus support on low emission slurry spreading equipment and slurry store covers that are proven to lower ammonia emissions and reduce adverse impacts on water quality resulting from the storage and spreading of livestock slurry and digestate. The amount of grant on offer has been based on standard costs and is set at a level that is proportionate to the costs of the eligible equipment.

Agriculture is devolved and it is for each part of the UK to develop policies for its own circumstances. We will continue to support the rural economy with stability and simplicity until 2025 and we remain committed to supporting active farming and food production with direct payments. EU Exit means we no longer have long-term certainty of funding and unilateral choices imposed by HM Treasury provide insufficient replacement EU budget. The support offered reflects this position and the available budget.

Since the start of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has provided £240m funding to local authorities to support the recruitment of additional teachers and support staff.

We have committed further permanent funding of £145.5m to support education staffing. This will ensure sustained employment of additional teachers, while meeting local needs and benefitting Scotland’s children and young people.

We will also fund 3,500 additional teachers and 500 support staff over this Parliamentary term – over and above the 1,400 teachers recruited during the pandemic.

We continue to work closely with COSLA regarding the employment of teachers to maximise the number of jobs available, including permanent posts.

On 22 June I wrote to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, confirming that I now intend to lay a revised NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament in the autumn. This is in order to ensure there is sufficient time to give full consideration to the detailed responses submitted during the consultation period and to ensure that the finalised version is robust for the important role NPF4 will have in the planning system. Once we have assessed the scale of changes to be made following the public consultation and Scottish Parliament scrutiny of the draft NPF4, I will be in a position to decide whether further consultation is necessary.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information.

The idea for this book was instigated by the UK Government. The Scottish Government is not involved with the opt-in process being carried out by the UK Government with Education Authorities.

The recruitment and deployment of teachers is a matter for individual local authorities, as they are responsible for using available resources to provide a complement of staff which meets the needs of each of their schools and its pupils based on local needs and priorities.

However, the Scottish Government has a number of ambitions to address the lack of women in STEM occupations and settings, such as schools. These ambitions start early: the Gender Pay Gap Action Plan examines how schools have a key role to play in helping young women make transitions into a broader range of more successful careers, as well as setting out measures which address occupational segregation, which can lead to fewer women accessing STEM careers.

The Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning is also considering how best to ensure that girls and young women are able to freely choose activities, subjects and areas of study including those traditionally dominated by boys and men.

We have provided £240 million of additional investment, over two financial years and a further £145.5 million of permanent funding from April this year to support the employment of additional teachers and support staff.

In addition, we will also fund 3,500 additional teachers and 500 support staff over this Parliamentary term – over and above the 1,400 teachers recruited during the pandemic. We will also continue to work closely with COSLA regarding the employment of teachers, to maximise the number of jobs available.