Chamber and committees

Scottish Ministers intervene in only a handful of cases each year and generally only where they raise issues of national importance. These can sometimes be among the more complex planning cases which require careful consideration. Nevertheless, it is always our aim to progress cases to a decision as quickly as possible, recognising the vital role planning and the development sector play in investing and shaping our places and communities and the impact on this of unnecessary delays.

In this instance, whilst the application was called in by Ministers on 27 February 2023, it was not until mid-June 2023 that the reporter received all the relevant application information from Glasgow City Council to allow arrangements to be made to start the examination of these proposals. This information included representations from over 150 members of the public. The reporter held a hearing in September 2023 and parties final submissions were received in December 2023.

The reporter has now submitted the report and recommendation to Ministers, who will make the final decision as to whether or not planning permission should be granted for this proposed development.

Information about third sector grants is not currently collated centrally.

The Scottish Government provides support to voluntary sector organisations from a range of budget lines across Ministerial portfolio. This includes direct grants as well as funding distributed as part of partner-led funding programmes and through public bodies.

As outlined in response to question S6W-24707 on 6 February 2024 every home and business across Scotland should be able to access a superfast broadband connection – either through fixed line broadband, mobile broadband, fixed wireless access or using newer technologies such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.

The superfast broadband figure quoted in Ofcom’s latest Connected Nations Report published on 19 th December 2023 relates to the availability of fixed line broadband only, which currently stands at 95% across Scotland.

The same Ofcom 2023 report also states that “Starlink [an LEO satellite service] currently… delivers nationwide broadband coverage, including in harder-to-reach areas” and that “Ofcom home broadband performance measurements suggest measured speeds on its [Starlink] network average around 100 Mbit/s download and 14 Mbit/s upload.”

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 .

Our children, young people, families and learners of all ages continue to be a key priority for this Government and we will continue to focus on our three central missions of equality, opportunity, and community. We also have to make difficult budget choices due to the pressures on our public services and the lack of funding from the UK Government resulting in the most challenging fiscal position since devolution.

We remain committed to supporting a high quality post-school education, research and skills system with over £2.4 billion investment. This will maintain Scotland’s reputation for world-leading research; provide opportunities for people to learn and develop their skills through further and higher education, apprenticeships and other programmes including Developing the Young Workforce. We are also honouring this government’s commitment to free tuition; and providing vital financial support to students to support them in completing their studies in the face of significant cost of living pressures.

The impact assessments which support the draft Budget 2024-25 can be found at this link: Scottish Budget - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

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

The following table provides the answer to :

1. age of each vessel was at the start of 2024

2. total length of service of each vessel has been with the CalMac fleet and any previous operators.

The Scottish Government is committed to working collaboratively with partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce to reduce the significant harm caused by the illicit drugs trade to communities across Scotland.

We are also rolling out the Medication Assisted Treatment standards, which is a key component of our National Mission to reduce drug deaths and harm. These set out what people should expect from services, improvements to accessing services, choices of treatment options and wrap-around support for the people most at risk from drug harm and drug-related death.

The Scottish Government is working with the other UK governments to legislate to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging. Among other benefits, this will create a strong incentive for producers to reduce their use of packaging and drive more sustainable design choices.

The main legislation for packaging EPR will be a Westminster SI, with supporting legislation in Scotland where required. The draft text of this SI was made available for public consultation from 28 July 2023 to 9 October 2023 and is available online at the following link: Draft producer responsibility obligations (packaging and packaging waste) regulations - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk

The Scottish Government has not provided any funding directly to Counselling and Family Mediation Western Isles since 2019.

Relationships Scotland have received Scottish Government core funding since 2016 which will continue until March 2025 via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning & Empowering Communities fund (CYPFEI & ALEC). Relationships Scotland operate a network of 21 Member Services across Scotland and Counselling and Family Mediation Western Isles is part of that network.

Progress towards eliminating hepatitis C (HCV) as a public health concern is monitored by Public Health Scotland using a range of public health surveillance data including HCV tests and diagnoses, and clinical, morbidity and mortality data.