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Trade Ministers from the Scottish, Welsh and UK Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive meet quarterly as the Inter Ministerial Group for Trade. The last meeting of this group took place on 9 January 2023, and was attended by the then Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee MSP; Minister for Economy in the Welsh Government, Vaughan Gething MS; and the then UK Minister for Trade, Greg Hands MP. The UK Government provided an update on the CPTPP negotiations. Subsequent developments towards accession to CPTPP have been covered in official engagement and Ministerial correspondence.

The National Planning Improvement Champion will support improvement within the Scottish planning system. Recruitment for this new post, which will be based within the Improvement Service, is underway. Applications were invited by 31 March 2023 and are currently being assessed. We hope to have a successful candidate in post very soon.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that every school aged child has access to a device by the end of this Parliament.

In 2020/21, we provided £25 million to local authorities across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 devices and 14,000 internet connections being distributed to children and young people to support their learning.

Local authorities have also invested in devices from their own budgets. Information from them indicates that up to 280,000 devices have already been distributed to learners across Scotland (including the 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government).

In December 2022 the Scottish Government completed discovery work to establish the current picture of digital devices and infrastructure in schools. Using the findings from the discovery, we continue to work closely with local authorities and COSLA to deliver on the commitment.

The Scottish Government is aware that there has been and are challenges in delivering complex surgery (such as ovarian) across all regions. Regional action plans have been developed to address the specific issues in those areas.

The NHS continue to prioritise emergency, urgent and cancer care, and where there is an urgent suspicion of cancer, they make every effort to ensure a patient is seen as quickly as possible, with the majority receiving appointments within the appropriate time frame.

Significant pressures may result in longer waiting times and efforts are being made to reduce waiting times and support patients to be seen as quickly as possible.

The literature review 'The development of cognitive and emotional maturity in adolescents and its relevance in judicial contexts' was commissioned by the independent Scottish Sentencing Council to inform its work in developing a sentencing guideline on young people. Its conclusions specifically relate to those aspects of adolescents and young people's cognitive and emotional development and maturity which are relevant to judicial decision-making with a particular focus on its relevance to decisions about the sentencing of young people convicted of criminal offences.

As the report focuses specifically on how evidence about the development of cognitive and emotional maturity in adolescents and young adults is relevant to decision making in judicial contexts, the Scottish Government has not undertaken a formal assessment of its findings' relevance in other policy areas.

The Scottish Government publishes an update on progress on all major capital investment projects every 6 months in its Infrastructure Investment Plan and includes information on the following the projects:

• NHS Grampian - Aberdeen Baird Family Hospital and ANCHOR Centre
• National Waiting Times Centre Board - Hospital Expansion Programme - Phase 2
• NHS Lothian - National Treatment Centre
• NHS Highland – National Treatment Centre
• NHS Forth Valley - National Treatment Centre
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde - North East Hub
• NHS Ayrshire & Arran - Foxgrove (National Secure Adolescent Inpatient Service)
• NHS Tayside - Ninewells Electrical Infrastructure Zone 3
• NHS Ayrshire & Arran - National Treatment Centre - Ayrshire & Arran

The full report is published here:

Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: Major capital projects progress update (September 2022) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-02113 on 19 April 2023 The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the Official report can be viewed at: Meeting of the Parliament: 19/04/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

The Scottish Government is working with local government partners on the Additional Support for Learning Project Board to deliver the recommendations of the 2020 additional support for learning review by March 2026. As outlined in our updated action plan published in November 2022, we are committed to enhancing implementation of additional support for learning including co-ordinated support plans. This work will be considered as part of the review of the statutory guidance on additional support for learning, which is already underway.

Progress can be followed through the published minutes of the Project Board.

The final report by the Short Life Working Group on Co-ordinated Support Plans sets out the key issues and barriers to CSP implementation.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the average pay rates for social care staff across the private, public and third sector.

From April 2023, adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services will see their pay increase to a minimum of £10.90 per hour; in line with the Real Living Wage rate for the 2023-24 Financial Year.

These are the minimum rates of pay for these workers and many providers choose to pay more than these minimums.

The Scottish Government is working with local government partners on the Additional Support for Learning Project Board to deliver the recommendations of the 2020 additional support for learning review by March 2026.

As outlined in our updated action plan , published in November 2022, we have committed to refresh the Supporting Children’s Learning Code of Practice, to ensure that it fully supports schools and local authorities to fulfil their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. This will help improve the support available for children and young people, who face barriers to their learning, to reach their fullest potential. The progress on this work was set out in our second progress report , published in November 2022 and has continued during this year.

A further progress update is due to be published in May 2024.