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Transport Scotland has not carried out such an analysis.

During the summer of 2022, a timetable with deployment of the mezzanine deck on specified sailings was implemented on the Uig-Tarbert/Lochmaddy route, maximising capacity within crew operating hours.

CalMac kept the route under review and has concluded that the demand in 2022 did not exceeded demand in 2019. There was a slight increase in average utilisation but there was unused capacity on the route.

The national strategy for 20 mph continues to make good progress with the Scottish Government supporting local authorities with an additional £1.4 million in funding to undertake the necessary assessments to identify the number of roads affected and the financial implications. This work is scheduled to conclude in Spring 2023 and will enable the multi-partner 20 mph Task Group to then scope the next steps and options for implementation.

Transport Scotland and local authority partners are also exploring the potential for some early adopter schemes. These would enable the Task Group to assess the opportunities, impacts and promotion of 20 mph limits ahead of the 2025 deadline.

In addition Transport Scotland is working with the Scottish Government Marketing and Insight Unit to develop a national campaign that will focus on promoting the benefits of lower speeds and encourage behaviour change pre and post implementation.

As of the end of the day on 21 November 2022, there had been a total of 34,018,746 journeys made under the Young Persons’ (Under 22s) Free Bus Travel Scheme.

Our commitment is for all pupils to have access to a digital device by the end of this Parliament. The following table shows how many devices have been distributed by each local authority using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020/21. This funding supported the provision of 14,000 internet connections and over 72,000 tablets or laptops in total for learners across all local authorities.

There are currently three working groups, nine advisory groups and one that is both a working and advisory group within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio. These are as follows:

‎ Working Groups

‎ • Public Interest Journalism Working Group: Public Interest Journalism Working Group
‎ • Measuring Change Group: National Partnership for Culture: National Partnership for Culture: Workshop 4 – measuring change information paper - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

• Local and National Delivery Group – newly established working group to improve local and national government collaborative working on Culture. Terms of reference in development so not currently published.

‎ Advisory Groups

‎ • Expert Advisory Group on Migration and Population: https://www.gov.scot/groups/migration-and-population-expert-advisory-group/

• The Global South Panel
‎ • Creative Industries Leadership Group: https://www.gov.scot/groups/creative-industries-leadership-group/
‎ • National Partnership for Culture: National Partnership for Culture - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

• Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel(SAFAP): SAFAP - Treasure Trove (treasuretrovescotland.co.uk)

• 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships Policy Advisory Group: Governance | 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships (cyclingworldchamps.com)

• Event Industry Advisory Group (EIAG): Event Industry Advisory Group - Updates & Guidance | VisitScotland.org

• 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships Cabinet: Governance | 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships (cyclingworldchamps.com)

• Culture Convenors – group jointly chaired by SG and COSLA as described in the Culture Strategy: A Culture Strategy for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Both Advisory and Working Group

‎ • Scotland’s Historic Environment Forum (SHEF): https://www.historicenvironment.scot/media/8668/shef-290622-event-report.pdf

In addition to the groups listed above, Portfolio officials frequently meet with stakeholders across a number of other groups and one to one meetings.

Information on assaults against high school teachers on school property is not held centrally.

The biennial Attendance, Absence and Exclusions data collection gathers data on the number and reasons recorded for temporary or permanent exclusions from school. These data show that there were 779 cases of exclusion (temporary or permanent) from publicly funded schools in Scotland during 2020-21 where the reason recorded was either ‘physical assault using improvised weapon against staff’, ‘physical assault using weapon against staff’ or ‘physical assault with no weapon against staff’. This compares to 1,737 in 2018-19 and 1,960 in 2016-17.

In 2012 a Speed Limit Review, in accordance with the Scottish Government issued guidance titled 'Setting Local Speed Limits: Guidance for Local Authorities ETLLD Circular 1/2006’, concluded that given the character, mean speed and accident rates, a 50 mph speed limit on the A76 is appropriate in Mennock. We are not aware of any change in the accident rate, mean speed, the number of junctions/accesses in the area, or other material change since the review was undertaken that would lead us to revisit the findings of the Speed Limit Review.

As part of the Road Safety Framework to 2030, we are undertaking a National Speed Management Review to support a range of policies supporting national outcomes. The multi-year review shall include public consultation and may possibly require legislative changes. Until this work is completed, the existing guidance will continue to be followed. Any speed limit changes will only be supported where these are evidenced as meeting the current guidance or through their likely contribution to the Scottish Government’s 2030 road safety targets.

Over the course of the last Parliament, there was demonstrable progress on a number of long-term measures to close the poverty related attainment gap, with attainment gaps in literacy and numeracy narrowing pre-pandemic in primary schools. We know that the pandemic and cost of living crisis has made our ambition of achieving equity in education harder but we are committed to substantially eliminating the poverty related attainment gap and are investing
‎ £1 billion over the course of this parliamentary term in the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) – a substantial increase on last term’s £750 million funding.

The Scottish Government gathers a range of data via the National Improvement Framework, which includes 11 key measures of particular relevance to the attainment gap in both the Broad General Education and Senior Phase. A detailed breakdown of attainment and the poverty related attainment gap can be found on the Scottish Government website - Supporting documents - Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2020-21 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and Supporting documents - Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 4: 2022 Edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

From 2015-16 to 2021-22, £97.6 million was allocated to local authorities in Mid Scotland and Fife region, through a range of funding streams that contribute to the SAC: Pupil Equity Funding (PEF), Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP), Challenge Authority and Schools Programme.

From 2022-23 onwards, investment in the refreshed SAC programme is continuing with all Local Authorities now receiving direct funding for the first time through Strategic Equity Funding (SEF) along with the continuing of PEF and CECYP. In 2022-23, £16.8 million has been allocated to Clackmannanshire, Fife, Perth & Kinross and Stirling. Through the introduction of SEF, Fife, Perth & Kinross and Stirling Councils are receiving funding for the first time to develop strategic local authority plans to close the poverty related attainment gap. This funding empowers schools and Councils to drive education recovery and accelerate progress in tackling the poverty related attainment gap.

Through the SAC Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress , all local authorities are now required to set ambitious stretch aims for progress closing the gap. These should be published on local platforms as part of local authority education service improvement plans. A national aggregation of these aims will be published later this month and will be available to access here .

The current policy position regarding unbundling of Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Service network was clearly expressed by the First Minister in February 2022, and we have no plans to split up the network. Future ferries policy will be developed in accordance with all relevant legislation and include appropriate consultation with stakeholders.

No clear timetable has been provided by the UK Government on this matter.