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We are committed to meeting the standard that 90% of patients start treatment for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies within 18 weeks of referral by March 2023.

Scotland has the most comprehensive public charging network in the UK outside of London, with close to 3,000 public charge points. The Scottish Government has invested over £50 million to develop the ChargePlace Scotland network, with over a third of charge points installed in rural areas. Dumfries and Galloway Council has received £1.65 million to develop public electric vehicle charging.

In January we launched our vision for the future of Scotland’s electric vehicle charging network, and announced a new fund to enable £60 million of public and private investment in this network. We have also provided £2 million to local authorities to develop their charging strategies and expansion plans, with Dumfries and Galloway Council receiving £60,000.

Data from the 2020 Healthy Living Survey was one of the components used to determine 2022-23 Pupil Equity Fund allocations.

Due to COVID-19 disruption, the full Healthy Living Survey could not take place in 2021. The previous year’s data was therefore used to prepare funding allocations which aligned with pre-existing PEF allocations to ensure there was no major, disruptive fluctuation between years.

We have listened to headteachers and provided certainty to support long term planning to build on the excellent work we know headteachers are doing by setting PEF allocations for the next four years. In response to fluctuating demand brought on by the pandemic, we have increased allocations to £1,225 from £1,200.

Officials continue to review possible alternatives to Free School Meal data, and a decision on which datasets will be used will be made at the end of that four-year cycle.

Family and friends will always be involved in discussions about organ or tissue donation. If a person is in hospital and dies in circumstances where donation may be possible, a Specialist Nurse would check if the person has registered a decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR). The Specialist Nurse would then discuss any registered decision, or lack of one, with family and friends in order to ascertain the potential donor’s most recent views, which may have changed since the recording of any decision.

These discussions help to ensure that people don’t become donors if that would be against their wishes. This is why, as well as recording any decision on the ODR, individuals are encouraged to let family and friends know about their decision and latest views.

The Scottish Government is a member of the UK Government ME/CFS Delivery Plan Task and Finish Group, which is scheduled to convene in June and to meet monthly thereafter. Officials are maintaining close and regular contact with the UK Department of Health and Social Care regarding this work, with the UK Government planning to publish its draft Delivery Plan later this year.

Bus service provision in Scotland operates in an open de-regulated market, as established by the Transport Act 1985. Individual bus operators use their own commercial judgement to decide on service routes, fare structure and frequency. Additionally local transport authorities can provide subsidy for services that are not provided on a commercial basis.

Under the Transport Act 1985 local bus services must be registered with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. The registration of services is devolved and subject to the Public Service Vehicles (Registration of Local Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2001. The regulatory regime is designed to ensure that bus service operators are of good repute and that services are introduced, varied or cancelled in an orderly fashion and operated safely and reliably as registered. As part of the registration process, operators are required to notify local transport authorities in advance of registering, cancelling or varying a service.

If the Traffic Commissioner considers that an operator is failing to run a service in line with their registration she has the power to take action against them. This could include issuing a fine, imposing conditions on their PSV license, or rejecting a future service application from the same operator.

Data from the 2014 Healthy Living Survey was one of the components used to determine 2022-23 Pupil Equity Fund allocations for Primary 1 to 3 pupils.

In 2015 the Scottish Government introduced free school meals for all Primary 1 to 3 pupils. The 2014 Healthy Living Survey therefore represents the last dataset fully capturing how many pupils were registered for FSM on income-based criteria before universal entitlement.

We have listened to headteachers and provided certainty to support long term planning to build on the excellent work we know headteachers are doing by setting PEF allocations for the next four years. In response to fluctuating demand brought on by the pandemic, we have increased allocations to £1225 from £1200.

Officials continue to review possible alternatives to Free School Meal data, and a decision on which datasets will be used will be made at the end of that four-year cycle.

Transport Scotland has not held any discussions with Highland bus operators regarding providing extra bus services at times when ScotRail is operating a temporary timetable. The temporary timetable currently in place is an operational matter for which ScotRail is responsible for. The temporary timetable aims to provide the best possible service to as many passengers as possible with the available resources.

The Scottish Government allocated £93.5 million in funding to support bus services in 2022-23. This includes temporary additional recovery funding to bus operators, including those in the Highlands, through the Network Support Grant Plus. And I am pleased to confirm that the Scottish Government is making a further £25.7 million in recovery funding available to support bus services across Scotland.

Gill netting is a legitimate form of fishing activity permitted within Scottish waters. As with all forms of sea fishing, gill net vessels must comply with all applicable rules, regulations, and technical standards, when carrying out their fishing operations. Furthermore, the retained EU regulation (EU) 2019/124(the Technical Conservation Regulation ) provides that vessels with an overall length of 12 metres or more, whilst using any bottom-set gill net in certain parts of Scottish waters must use an acoustic deterrent devices which should reduce cetacean bycatch.

We recognise that bycatch and entanglement in any type of fishing gear can pose a risk to our iconic marine life and we remain committed to tackling this issue in our waters. We support good practice by the fishing industry and are pleased to see the level of support from fishers to trial novel solutions to reduce marine animal entanglements. In some cases, additional measures may be required to reduce instances of entanglements and bycatch of other marine species including marine mammals and seabirds. We will consider this further as part of our development of the Future Catching Policy, using a co-management approach.

We take protection of the marine environment seriously and are clear that any form of dumping and other illegal activities are completely unacceptable. Legal obligations regarding the disposal of litter and fishing gear at sea are enforced by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Marine Scotland Directorate officers can report illegal activity through an intelligence system to the MCA and vessels operating within Scottish waters are regularly reminded of their obligations under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Regulations. Vessels must also comply with Article 48 of the retained EU Regulation 1224/2009 (the Control Regulation ) which makes provision regarding the retrieval of lost gear.

As per answer to S6W-09155 on 23 June 2022, gill netting is a legitimate form of fishing activity permitted within Scottish waters providing the relevant rules, regulations and technical standards are complied with.

We know that a number of gillnet vessels operate in Scottish waters and we understand that additional spatial pressure can occur when vessels using different types of gear are operating in close proximity to one another. The Future Catching Policy consultation, which closed for responses on 7 June, sought views on possible solutions to this and we welcome the input from all stakeholders to help shape next steps.

The Future Catching Policy is also intended to consider additional technical and spatial measures for all types of fishing vessels in order to reduce unwanted catches of fish and bycatch of sensitive marine species such as cetaceans. We are currently analysing the results from the consultation and considering policy options.

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 .