³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Further to question S6W-33178 please see the following table which provides the number of street lamps replaced or upgraded on the A90 trunk road by year.

Ministers regularly meet with their counterparts in the UK Government, other devolved governments, and the Government of Ireland on a bilateral and multilateral basis to discuss matters of common interest.

The focus of our engagement is to work together to deliver on the First Minister’s four priorities as announced when he came into office in May: Eradicating Child Poverty; Growing the Economy; Tackling the Climate Emergency; and Ensuring High Quality and Sustainable Public Services.

A list of ministerial engagements, including meetings, are published on a regular basis on the Scottish Government website:

The Scottish Government works closely with the legally categorised emergency responder organisations who are responsible for assessing, planning, responding to and recovering from the consequences of emergency risks as identified in the National Risk Assessments and Community Risk Registers, including for severe storms and wildfires.

Representatives of all responder agencies are also required, by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, to meet regionally in Scotland’s 3 Regional Resilience Partnership (RRP) areas, in the North, West and East . Below that structure, 12 Local Resilience Partnerships (LRPs) are in place which apply the co-ordinated response at a local level.

The Resilience Partnerships meet to ensure there is a shared awareness of responder agency capabilities and capacities to co-ordinate a multi-agency response to any kind of emergency event. Existing plans are regularly tested in joint exercises and during real emergencies.

After any event, responder agencies, LRPs and RRPs routinely hold structured debriefs which identify lessons to be fed back into the system and improve future response. These debriefs are the responsibility of the agencies and partnerships and therefore not overseen by Scottish Government.

Wildfires are specifically an operational responsibility of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. As such, they are responsible for the initial response and for developing and deploying plans which enable them to respond as a national service with the ability to move and deploy staff and equipment as necessary. Their arrangements will link into generic police, NHS and local authority major incident plans as necessary, within the resilience partnership structures.

The Scottish Government supports this partnership activity in many ways including supporting multi-agency partnership meetings, and organising on line multi-agency learning facilities on the .

There are a wide range of existing legal protections that may be relevant in the context of unlawful activities by protestors. For example, criminal offences of acting in a disorderly manner, malicious mischief, threatening or abusive behaviour and breach of the peace may be relevant depending on the specific facts and circumstances arising. Application of any relevant laws is within the context of the general right to lawful protest. It is for Police Scotland to investigate any relevant conduct and for Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to decide whether to prosecute in any given case.

Police Scotland's develop and management of protocols for discovery of unexploded wartime military ordnance near critical infrastructure is a operational matter for the service which is scrutinised by the Scottish Police Authority. It is for Police Scotland, working with key stakeholder organisations across the UK to ensure that such protocols align with national security strategies.

Prevention of theft is a matter for Network Rail and railway operators working in collaboration with the British Transport Police. The Member may wish to note that safety and security of the rail network is a reserved matter under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998. Scottish Government officials liaise with Network Rail and British Transport Police to ensure that they are working to minimise the impact of theft on passengers and freight users.

Although widespread across all ages and demographics, data tells us that disabled people, young people (16-24), people over 75 and those on low incomes are now the most at risk of social isolation and loneliness. The Scottish Government uses the Scottish Household Survey to estimate the number of people who may be socially isolated or experiencing loneliness in Scotland, and local authority areas. The Scottish Household Survey 2022 shows that 28% of people in Aberdeenshire have social contact less than once a week. The survey provides a further breakdown by age and can be found here: .

The Scottish Government published our delivery plan for our social isolation and loneliness strategy, Recovering our Connections, in March 2023. The plan aims to better understand social isolation and loneliness, to reduce the harm caused by it and tackle this public health issue. There are a number of actions within it, including our £3.8m fund that supports 53 organisations across Scotland delivering community-led activity that responds to local needs. Ten of these organisations are tackling social isolation in rural locations, including Mearns and Coastal Healthy Living Network who are based in Aberdeenshire and offer health, wellbeing and social activities for older people.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the Social Isolation and Loneliness Advisory Group to help us deliver this plan and collaborate on ways to tackle loneliness for those most impacted.

The Scottish Government supports local authorities to deliver infrastructure and behaviour change projects that deliver on modal shift outcomes and a range of benefits for physical and mental wellbeing.

In 2024-25, £35 million has been allocated for the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) Tier 1 funding. This investment, delivered by block grant, gives local authorities the autonomy to support the design, development, and delivery of active travel infrastructure measures across all 32 Local Authorities in Scotland, including in rural locations. £10 million has been allocated for ATIF Tier 2 fund for construction ready projects delivered by Local Authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships.

Also in 2024-25, £46.7 million of funding has been allocated for the Sustrans Places for Everyone programme, delivering high quality infrastructure across Scotland, and £15.85 million for the continued development of the National Cycle Network in both rural and urban areas.

In terms of support provided to local authorities for behaviour change measures that improve the uptake of walking, wheeling, and cycling, £4.5 million has been allocated to the Local Authority Direct Award (LADA) in 2024-25, and £1.7 million for the Bikeability programme.

The Regional Transport Partnership-led People and Place programme is £19m for 2024-25 is designed to build on the partnership working of RTPs and local authorities to work together and identify key priorities for improving the opportunities for more people to make more of their everyday journeys by walking, wheeling or cycling.

The efforts of these programmes and infrastructure delivery will lead to positive health outcomes through increasing the number of people choosing walking, cycling and wheeling in Scotland for everyday journeys. This is why active travel is a key Strategic Delivery Outcome in the Physical Activity for Health Framework published on 4 October 2024. The outcome aims to see multiple sectors working collaboratively on action that prioritises active travel infrastructure and supports and encourages active travel behaviour.

My officials continue to engage with local authorities, Public Health Scotland and Active Scotland to identify synergies and opportunities to strengthen the links between active and sustainable interventons and health outcomes.

The use of traditional methods is what makes Scotch Whisky unique and the methods that must be used, including the types of stills and ageing requirements, are set out in law. In addition to this the Scottish Government provides funding to support delivery of Scotland’s food and drink strategy “Sustaining Scotland Supplying the World” which aims to safeguard and grow Scotland’s food and drink industry. The strategy is led by the Scotland Food & Drink partnership and contains activity to help businesses develop and retain skills as well as driving innovation capacity and capability.

The Scottish Government, as well as the whisky industry itself, takes the protection of Scotch Whisky seriously. Scotch Whisky is defined in UK law through the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 which provide comprehensive protection covering the making, bottling, labelling and promotion of Scotch Whisky. Scotch Whisky also benefits from Geographical Indication and is protected by such under UK and EU law, and in other markets across the world. The Geographical Indication scheme is verified by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and any breaches are enforced by the relevant food authorities across the UK.