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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.

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) .

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 .

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.

It is for Integration Joint Boards to govern, plan and resource adult palliative care in their areas, including independent hospice care. The Scottish Government is developing a national guidance framework to support local planning and commissioning of independent care between Integration Joint Boards and independent hospices.

As I said to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee on 25 January, we are absolutely committed to pursuing our commitments to Fairer Funding for the third sector through the 2024-25 budget process. This includes providing early notification of grants to organisations as soon as is practically possible and before the end March 2024 for funding beginning on 1 April.

The budget process is still ongoing. I will provide a further update to parliament on the implementation of this commitment after the end March 2024.

As announced on 22 January, an Expert Group will be established to lead on scoping work to consider and provide recommendations on how Scotland will work towards reaching the targets set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to eliminate Cervical Cancer.

We are in the process of writing to individuals and organisations to invite them to become members of the Expert Group. Membership is expected to come from Scottish Government policy officials, clinicians, Public Health Scotland (PHS), National Services Division Screening team and Third Sector organisations such as Jo’s Trust. We are also seeking membership from individuals with lived experience.

The Scottish Government continues to explore all possible avenues, including HPV self-sampling, which may improve uptake of cervical screening towards the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of 70%. However, introduction of self-sampling is dependent on a recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), the expert advisory group that advises all four UK nations on screening.

The research commissioned by Transport Scotland on equitable options for car demand management, referred to in the answer to PQ S6W-24666 on 6 February 2023, will be published in the coming months.

In addition, as outlined in the draft route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km by 2030, published in January 2022, the Scottish Government intends to publish a demand management framework by 2025. This will set out our approach to transport demand management options, drawing on all available evidence from Scottish Government commissioned research and external sources, as noted in response to question S6W-23907.

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 Network Support Grant, currently paid at 14.4 p/km, has been fully funded to the level of forecast demand in 2024-25. This is lower than budgeted in 2023-24 as demand has not been as high as anticipated this financial year. 2023-24 funding was too high, as patronage failed to recover as quickly as anticipated and services were cut, this means that the 2024-25 figure is a more accurate assessment. The Network Support Grant cannot be viewed in isolation and is part of the package of support for bus services. With the launch of the young person's free bus scheme in January 2022, we are helping to embed sustainable travel behaviours and support bus patronage to grow.

Every home and business across Scotland, including on Orkney, 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 satellites.