Table 1 provides information on average gross revenue expenditure in Scotland per child attending pre-school, and primary and secondary pupil alongside allocations (accounting for teaching and tuition fees funding) per college and university place.

A significant amount of work is still required to make Section 8 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 law. Transport Scotland Officials are currently progressing work to determine the scope of the required public consultation which will help inform the secondary legislation required to bring this into force.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25373 on 26 February 2024. 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 .

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

HMP Glasgow will deliver safe and secure accommodation, with maximum possible benefit and opportunity to those who live and work there, as well as the surrounding communities. The new prison will provide a better quality of living environment and enable strong relationships with staff and those in our care.

The final design will be concluded in summer 2024, prior to the planned award of the construction contract that is scheduled for autumn 2024.

The provision of court transcripts to those involved in the case, other than a person convicted at the trial, is governed by Section 94(2)(b) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 which allows for, on payment of the relevant costs, and subject to the Transcripts of Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Order 1993, the Clerk of Justiciary to direct that a transcript be made and sent to the person who requested it. A cost is therefore incurred whenever a transcript is prepared, and in common with other parts of the UK, unless in specific circumstances, those costs currently require to be met by the requester as opposed to the wider public finances.

That having been said, we have listened to campaigners and survivors on a number of concerns that have been raised about the financial challenges associated with the access to transcripts for rape and sexual offences complainers.

From 1 March 2024, the Scottish Government will be in the first in the UK to launch a pilot which will allow complainers in High Court cases involving charges of rape or sexual assault to have free access to transcripts of their court cases.

The pilot will improve our understanding of the reasons why applications are being made in these particular cases. This will include understanding the potential volume of applications and the extent to which cost has been a barrier for applying previously.

The pilot and associated evaluation process will help inform future policy and operational development, including how the criteria for accessing free transcripts may develop, the potential implications on the public finances, and whether there is a need for a change to existing legislation.

The co-production process through which stakeholders are designing the Centre for Teaching Excellence will conclude in the first half of 2024, followed by a process to identify a suitable host institution(s). We expect the Centre for Teaching Excellence to launch shortly thereafter.

The Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey is designed to collect information on experiences of all cancer types involving an inpatient stay or day case, where it is appropriate to do so. 10% of responses to the 2018 Cancer Patient Experience Survey were from patients with haematological cancers.

To ensure a sufficiently large response to the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey, a census approach was taken. This means that surveys were sent to all eligible patients, rather than just a restricted sample of them. Just under 8,800 people were invited to participate in the 2024 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey.

To maximise the survey response and make the survey as accessible as possible, so that we collect information on the experiences of as many people as possible, the survey can be completed online, on paper or over the phone. A language line is available for those who do not speak English and the online questionnaire contains a number of accessibility features including the ability to change font size, the option to switch to a high-contrast colour scheme and screen-reader compatibility.

The sample was selected from a national dataset containing records of acute hospital activity (SMR01) to identify people aged 16 or over with an inpatient or day case record with any mention of cancer and a discharge date between 10 October 2022 and the 30 June 2023.

In order to confirm the diagnosis of cancer, and to minimise the risk of sending surveys to patients who did not have cancer, the Scottish Cancer Registry (SMR06) was used to quality assure the survey sample. Individuals who were identified from the hospital records, but did not have a confirmed Scottish Cancer Registry diagnosis were excluded from the sample.

It's critical that we minimise the risk of causing distress to the survey recipients when carrying out the survey. To minimise the risk of distress, some patients are excluded from the survey because the patient may not recognise their diagnosis as cancer or the cancer has complex clinical definitions. These include:

• Patients whose tumour morphology is defined within the Scottish Cancer Registry (SMR06) as benign, uncertain or in situ.
• Patients with non-melanoma skin cancers (ICD10 code C44).
• Patients with rare haematological cancers with complex clinical definitions (ICD10 code of C84).
• Patients with Carcinoma in situ of breast (ICD10 code of D05).
• Patients with insulinoma (ICD03 code of 81513).

An analysis of 2024 Cancer Patient Experience Survey results by cancer type will be one of the outputs of the survey.

The following figures, drawn from the Scottish Government’s annual school census show both the number of primary and secondary Gaelic medium teachers that have been employed in each year since 2016 and the number that would be able to teach through the medium of Gaelic.

Primary school teachers by ability to teach through Gaelic medium

We will set out our strategy in the summer. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24109 on 12 January 2024. 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

The Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey (SCPES) is part of the Scottish Care Experience Survey Programme. The Scottish Care Experience Survey programme is currently under review and the frequency of data collection will be considered as part of that review.