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The First Minister met Tony Danker, CBI Director General and Tracy Black, CBI Scotland, Director, on 22 March 2022.During the meeting the following points were discussed:

• The Chancellor’s budget statement which was due the following day;

Information on committee processes in relation to individual planning applications which are called in by Scottish Ministers is not recorded centrally. The figures below are the collective total of applications called in by Scottish Ministers per year from 2012 to date. This includes cases called in at points before, during and after consideration by a council committee, and also those where the council’s consideration had been delegated to planning officials.

We are working closely with local authorities and with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and doing all we can to speed up the matching process and increase the numbers of displaced people moving into host accommodation.

On 22 September, the Scottish Government published its first summary of the latest Scotland-level data and information on people displaced by the war in Ukraine coming to Scotland through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme visa schemes, including data on the number of displaced people in welcome accommodation: Key points - Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics - gov.scot.

Decisions on non-domestic rates, including the poundage and any reliefs, are generally considered in the context of the Scottish Budget in line with other government priorities.

The Scottish Government have purchased the following laptops since 1st March 2020 for use on the SCOTS network.

The breakdown of this information by Directorate is not held centrally and to collate this information would be at disproportionate costs. Computers have been defined as any device which has been configured for use on the SCOTS Network. The overall number for Scottish Government over the past 5 years are

We published the costs incurred by the Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court on 22 September, which can be found here: www.gov.scot/publications/independence-referendum-supreme-court-referral-legal-costs . We will continue to publish costs on a quarterly basis until litigation ends. As the litigation is ongoing, and the costs may be affected by a number of factors, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the total costs we will incur.

As the First Minister explained to Parliament on 28 June, there is a substantial majority in Scottish Parliament in favour of an independence referendum and therefore a clear democratic mandate for this work. The UK government, regrettably, is refusing to respect Scottish democracy.

Scottish Canals has benefitted from significant increases in grant in aid awards in recent years. Since 2019, the Organisation’s capital grant from the Scottish Government has increased by 87% and it has received an annual uplift in resource funding since 2020. The Organisation has also received substantial additional funding support. A breakdown of the funding is attached in the following table.

Details of all Ministerial engagements and expenses are proactively published by the Scottish Government, including the costs of travel and accommodation. The information can be accessed at the following below: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts

There have been nearly 300 applications to the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) from Ukrainian nationals, undertaking a first year of study in Higher Education (HE), for financial support (including tuition fees) in the 2022-23 Academic Year (AY). There have been a further 35 applications from Ukrainian nationals for financial support for postgraduate studies – this package attracts a tuition fee loan.

These figures may continue to rise with applications still being accepted.

It is not possible to confirm how many of these students have applied to the Super Sponsor scheme.

Data in respect of applications for support for courses of Further Education (FE) is not available. At the end of the 2022-23 AY, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will be able to confirm the number of Ukrainian nationals who enrolled on college courses.