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Modelling work completed prior to omicron suggested it would be March 2023 before all screening centres in Scotland would reach the point of being able to offer breast screening rounds of 39 months. There are however a number of factors at play including the ongoing pandemic, the steps we are continuing to take to increase capacity in the screening programme, as well as options that are being considered to accelerate the recommencement of self-referrals for women over-70.

The Improvement Service (IS), which manages the application process, has confirmed that at close of business on 15 March 2022 there had been a total of 226,484 online applications submitted.

Because the offline application process is undertaken by local authorities using multiple routes, including schools, libraries and council offices, there are practical challenges currently to providing an accurate national picture of offline applications. However, it is possible to provide details of how many applications in both settings have been processed.

By close of business on Tuesday 15 March 2022, IS confirmed that a total of 187,345 National Entitlement Cards with free bus travel had been produced and dispatched. This total includes cards generated from both online and offline applications.

In addition, by the end of 14 March 2022, 4,696 travel products have been added to existing National Entitlement Cards through the Transport Scot Collect App which was launched on 28 February 2022.

Following a meeting of the Food Sector Resilience Group, a short-life Food Security and Supply Taskforce is being established by the Scottish Government jointly with key food and drink industry leaders.

The taskforce will monitor, identify and respond to any potential disruption to the food and drink supply chain resulting from the impact of the war in Ukraine. It will also seek to recommend any short, medium and longer term actions that can be taken to mitigate impacts, resolve supply issues and strengthen food security and supply in Scotland. This will include actions to be taken by business and Government.

The taskforce will draw on technical and scientific knowledge and expertise from across a range of sectors, agencies and organisations. It will also consider any future structures and policy measures needed to monitor, address and strengthen food security and supply in Scotland.

Crucially, the Taskforce will support the Scottish Government’s continued commitment to use all powers it has available to support people in Ukraine.

Membership will be drawn from relevant sector organisations and the Food Security and Supply Taskforce will be co-chaired by myself and Chief Executive of Scotland Food and Drink, James Withers. It is intended for the Taskforce to meet frequently in the coming weeks.

COVID-19 has reduced the number of flights to/from Scotland and resulted in a sharp decrease in aviation emissions. As we work with the aviation sector to restore and grow the connectivity which is essential to Scotland’s economy, we are committed to doing so without restoring previous levels of emissions.

In the short term, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) have the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of aviation. Longer term hydrogen/electric aircraft could play an important role, and we remain committed to working to decarbonise all scheduled flights within Scotland by 2040.

Regarding the implications for Heathrow expansion, it is for the UK Government to respond to the Climate Change Committee recommendations for airports in England. The Scottish Government has been clear that the expansion of the UK’s only global hub airport should deliver economic benefits for all the nations of the UK, which is why the memorandum of understanding remains in place.

The governance body of a Green Freeport, which will need to be approved by the Scottish and UK Governments, will be required to maintain a record of all businesses operating, or applying to operate, within the tax site. That record must be kept up-to-date, contain information about the beneficial owner of the business, and be readily accessible to law enforcement agencies, including HMRC and the National Crime Agency. Law enforcement will use this information to carry out checks on the businesses and their beneficial owners before businesses are authorised to operate within the tax site.

Hospitality businesses, like all other businesses, may seek advice on SME funding sources from the Business Gateway ( https://www.bgateway.com/ ) who have a network of offices across Scotland and will tailor the advice dependant on the particular business needs and location. This could include advice on possible grant support in areas such as Research and Development to help bring new ideas to market, on technical and commercial feasibility studies, or on knowledge transfer partnerships with educational institutions. Hospitality businesses can also search the ‘FindBusinessSupport’ portal ( https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/ ) which lists all the main sources of advice, training and funding – including the loans and equity funds under the Scottish Growth Scheme - for businesses in any sector.

The Scottish Government criminal proceedings database does not hold information on the specific type of powered transporters involved in charges prosecuted in Scottish Courts.

Please note: The Criminal Proceedings database is not a live system and the latest available information is for 2019-20 financial year. Information for 2020-21 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2020-21 Statistical Bulletin. This is planned to be published later in 2022.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at: https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/ForthcomingPubs

The Scottish Government committed in our most recent Programme for Government to launch a public consultation on legal services regulation reform, to consider what changes may be required to the statutory framework to protect consumer interests and promote a flourishing legal sector.

Delivering on that commitment, the consultation was published in 1 October 2021 and closed on 24 December 2021. The proposals consulted were developed collaboratively with stakeholders representing the legal sector and the consumer view.

The Scottish Government is carefully considering the responses to the consultation, and a consultation analysis report will be published later this year.

The Zero Waste Plan sets out the 70% of all waste recycled target in the main section of the document. The suggestion of a 70% household specific waste recycling target in Annex A, section 5.5, is incorrect.

Scotland’s target to recycle 70% of all waste by 2025 is a key commitment, underlined in our ‘ Making Things Last ’ Circular Economy Strategy and Climate Change Plan update .

This information is not held centrally.