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The Scottish Government has been working with AssistFM and Improvement Service to map existing breakfast provision across Scotland, including a survey to all primary and special schools to understand the scale and uptake of provision.

Publication of the 20% car use reduction route map is planned in autumn this year. It is being produced in partnership with CoSLA.

On 25 April 2024 planning guidance on local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods was published, setting out a framework and information on how the concepts of local living and 20 minute neighbourhood can be applied in a Scottish context, as set out in the fourth National Planning Framework.

The above-mentioned route map does not commit to delivering 20 minute neighbourhoods, although both policies mutually support each other.

The work to undertake the temporary propping is extremely complex. Each of the 23 supports requires individual propping designs to take account of the varying column heights, span lengths and widths resulting in different loads to be supported by the props.

Additionally, the propping foundations are affected by a number of buried services, ground conditions and the SPT Subway tunnels beneath the viaducts, which has a major impact on the solutions available. There were also a number of public utilities diversions or protection measures required in agreement and partnership with the various utility owners.

The extent of the work on each support is, therefore, exceptionally difficult to quantify until it is underway.

As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for their own entry requirements and admissions policies. As such, the Scottish Government has no locus or plans to review the system of student admission appeals.

The cost of the temporary propping, which is extremely complex, is expected to be between £126m - £152m. The cost is dependent on a number of factors, for example duration and extent of works. Our estimated cost range includes allowances for risk, contingency and inflation, which is standard industry practice for large infrastructure projects.

As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for their own entry requirements and admissions policies. Therefore, the Scottish Government does not collect or hold data on student admission appeals for universities in Scotland.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-28627 on‎ 31 July 2024.

All answers to Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers .

Director General is a senior grade within the Senior Civil Service (SCS) and pay and terms and conditions of employment are reserved to the UK Government. The Director General for Health and Social Care’s salary remains within the overarching pay range set by Cabinet Office for Directors General, which has a ceiling as at 1 April 2023 of £208,100. The salary for the current Permanent Secretary was also set by Cabinet Office when they were appointed to the Scottish Government and was set to be cognisant of the salaries of other Permanent Secretaries across the UK.

The Director General for Health and Social Care’s salary reflects the fact she serves as both NHS Scotland’s Chief Executive and the Scottish Government’s Director-General Health and Social Care. As such the salary is set in relation to relevant market rates in Scotland and the wider UK, and at a level that ensures the role is attractive to candidates with relevant experience, particularly senior healthcare leaders in the NHS. The Senior Leadership Committee in the Cabinet Office, and the Civil Service Commission both approved the salary approach for this role.

It is not unusual both in the public and private sectors for there to be overlap between salaries and grades where salaries for individual roles need to be set to compete in a specialist market.

Careful consideration was given to the most efficient phasing of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme. This resulted in the current split with seven similar vessels procured in the first phase.

Phase two of the programme takes in other routes in the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service network where the service requirements differ from the seven vessels in phase one, including routes where specific requirements need to be addressed. CMAL will be commencing with studies and engagement on these vessels later this year.

Scotland’s national refugee integration strategy has been in place for over a decade. In March 2024 the third New Scots refugee integration strategy was published. It is a UK-leading integration approach built on a partnership led by the Scottish Government, COSLA and Scottish Refugee Council. It was informed by an engagement process involving over 2,000 refugees and people seeking asylum. The strategy is accompanied by a delivery plan setting out the actions that New Scots partners will undertake to deliver the strategy. We hope that other governments can learn from our work.

Scottish Ministers have held introductory calls with their new UK Government counterparts and we look forward to working closely with the UK Government to support delivery of a more effective and humane asylum system and resettlement schemes. We are not aware of any plans, however, to publish a UK integration strategy.