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The Scottish Government remains committed both to a public inquiry to be set up this year to consider matters in relation to Scotland’s handling of the pandemic, and to placing bereaved families at the heart of our work to establish an inquiry including in the development of Terms of Reference.

During the first 100 Days of the new administration, the Government has held discussions with the UK Government on its plans for a public inquiry, as well as with stakeholders including representatives of bereaved families. To ensure that lessons are learned, we will now proceed to establish a Scottish public inquiry. The inquiry will be established by the end of this year.

As the beginning of a process of engagement with stakeholders and others with an interest, and to inform development of the Terms of Reference, the Scottish Government has today published a set of draft aims and principles for an independent COVID-19 public inquiry in Scotland under the Inquiries Act 2005: www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-inquiry-establishment. This document will form the basis of a process which will allow us to listen to the views of those affected by COVID-19, including the bereaved families, on what they wish for a public inquiry to focus on, and marks an important step in the progress of its establishment. Discussions are underway with the Lord President to identify and appoint a chair for the Scottish Covid inquiry, in line with our previous commitment that we would wish it to be led by a judge.

In considering the Terms of Reference for the inquiry, and to ensure that all the areas that need to be considered are covered in a way that gives confidence to bereaved families and others, the Scottish Government will continue discussions with the UK Government on the planned UK inquiry.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02055 on 24 August 2021. 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 process to return Glasgow Prestwick Airport to the private sector continues and decisions have still to be taken in relation to the prospective sale of the business. We have committed to updating Parliament on the sale process at the appropriate stage and to protect the integrity of the process we will not be making any further comment at this time.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport is operated on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government. These discussions are commercial matters for Prestwick Airport’s senior management team. As is common practice with other airports across Scotland, commercial agreements between the business and other windfarm developers are already in place.

The Scottish Government currently provides funding to support the acquisition of zero-emission buses. The Scottish Zero-Emission Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) is open to bids from any party, including bus operators, acquiring buses to run on registered local bus services and aims to support swift, and significant, change in the bus market in favour of zero-emission technologies. More information on ScotZEB is available on the Transport Scotland webpages at https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/scottish-zero-emission-bus-challenge-fund/ .

Previously, financial support has been provided through the Scottish Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme, and the Scottish Green Bus Fund.

As of 2 August 2021:(a) 1470 vouchers have been approved for the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS). We have defined this as instances where the connection has been delivered or where the voucher has been issued to a supplier but build has yet to complete. Of these, 333 vouchers have been approved through the Interim Voucher Scheme and 1137 vouchers have been approved through the Main Voucher Scheme.

Vouchers approved through the SBVS to date are broken down by local authority as follows:

The Scottish Government has no plans at this time to amend the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 in order to limit peat extraction for those with valid planning permission. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 does however include a requirement for the Scottish Ministers to have regard to the desirability of preserving peatland when preparing the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4). The Scottish Government’s NPF4 Position Statement (Published November 2020) outlines an intention to rebalance the planning system so that climate change is a guiding principle for all plans and decisions, and states that the Scottish Government will aim to restrict commercial peat extraction for horticulture purposes.

As outlined in the response to S6W-00053 on 26 May 2021, the Scottish Government provided Openreach with a finalised speed and coverage template (or SCT) for the R100 North lot (Lot 1) contract at the end of March 2021. Openreach has completed its remodelling exercise and having been reviewed through Scottish Government governance and assurance structures, it is now undergoing rigorous review through Building Digital UK (BDUK). The full picture across the R100 North lot contract area is still expected to be available in the coming weeks. Our online address checker will be updated to reflect this information once assurance checks are complete and the contract change has been approved. 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 Contingency Plus Fund offered additional funding to Travel Agents, Breweries and Indoor Football Centres in recognition of the specific challenges that businesses operating in these sectors experienced as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and regulations. This fund closed on 31 March 2021 and as at 25 June 2021, £3,670,000 had been paid to 223 Travel Agent businesses who met the eligibility criteria for the scheme. Travel agents may also have been eligible for other funding such as the Strategic Framework Business Fund and associated hospitality retail and leisure top ups and Restart Grants.

For all covid business support funds, the level of funding paid out was determined by the level of eligible applicants, which may have been lower or higher than the original estimated budget. Where underspends have occurred in relation to specific funds these have been recycled into other business support schemes.

The information available is in the following table (As of 11 August 2021)