Chamber and committees

This is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on numbers of patients travelling and the means of travel. However we are aware of an increase in travel on the sound of Harris Ferry following changes to the Benbecula Stornoway air service in April 2024.

As you may be aware, at the meeting to consider Access to Health Services in the Western Isles on 21 August, it was agreed to establish a working group, led by HITRANS, to consider ways to improve the patient experience.

At the first meeting of this group, NHS Western Isles and CalMac confirmed that they are working together to minimise issues for patients using ferry travel through a block booking of 2 cars per day for NHS Wester Isles patients. It was noted that monitoring of capacity and demand is ongoing by NHS Western Isles and CalMac will consider an increase in pre booked spaces if required.

The Medicines Homecare Review is an independent review commissioned by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO). The CPO is currently considering the recommendations in order to determine the next steps and will publish the review thereafter.

As the event organiser, Commonwealth Games Scotland are now formally engaging with Police Scotland and other public sector partners to commence planning to ensure the delivery of a safe and secure Commonwealth Games.

The event budget makes provision for policing and stewarding costs to ensure the event can be delivered safely and securely. Commonwealth Games Scotland have engaged with Police Scotland to carry out an initial assessment of the budget and resources that will be required.

Commonwealth Games Scotland will now engage with the relevant organisations to undertake robust safety and security risk assessments, which will determine the exact resourcing requirements and associated costs for public sector, including Police Scotland, to deliver the event. These costs will be met by Commonwealth Games Scotland.

The Scottish Government will engage across the Games governance structure to ensure our interests are represented and that the relevant organisations are engaged and supported at the appropriate junctures.

Scottish Rail Holdings working with its subsidiary Caledonian Sleeper Limited keep all aspects of the Caledonian Sleeper operation under review to ensure it operates effectively and in alignment with the policies of the Scottish Government.

Following the announcement by Petroineos to continue supplying fuel via an import terminal at Grangemouth and reflecting the reserved nature of the security of fuel supplies, the Scottish Government has been engaging collaboratively with the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to assess the efficacy of the business’ import terminal plans.

We will continue to seek assurance from both the UK Government and Petroineos that appropriate controls and actions are in place to ensure adequate fuel flows to continue from Grangemouth long into the future.

I can confirm that the new overbridge at Westerton Lane has been designed to include passive provision for any potential future double tracking of the East Kilbride line.

Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) has received a total of 1964 claims to date for soil analysis with a development payment associated with the first claim, with the following number of claims per scheme year: 607 (2022); 1201 (2023); 156 (2024, to date). As part of the claim submission process, high level data was captured to assess if there has been any barriers to acting on the analysis recommendations, whether or not more or less fertiliser was applied than expected, if variable rate application has been used, and whether lime was required based on the analysis. It is worth noting that from the UK-wide British survey of fertiliser practice, only 37% of the farms included in the survey undertook a standard soil analysis (which measures levels of P, K, Mg and soil pH). Data gathered and lessons learnt have been incorporated into the new Whole Farm plan requirements.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Energy Industry Skills Landscape Study.

We continue to work with the energy sector to plan for a multi-skilled workforce that can benefit from opportunities across the energy system. This includes enabling skilled offshore workers to carry their experience and expertise into different roles as our energy sector evolves, and ensuring a reliable pipeline of future talent, to support Scotland's renewable energy ambitions.

The design of road infrastructure is influenced by the loading from heavy goods vehicles and the legislation for the weights and dimensions of these vehicles is reserved to the UK Government. Regular engagement on potential changes to vehicle weights and dimensions is held between officials in Transport Scotland, and the Department for Transport. It is known that increasing axle weights causes increased wear and tear on carriageways and could result in the requirement to re-assess the load carrying capacity of bridges.