Chamber and committees

The following table shows the number of laboratory confirmed cases of Borrelia burgdorferi reported to Health Protection Scotland (HPS). These numbers are likely to underestimate the total number of cases of Lyme disease because current guidance recommends that health care professionals treat patients presenting with the erythma migrans rash immediately with antibiotics, without requiring laboratory testing. To date HPS have not estimated the number of undiagnosed cases.

The Scottish Government has approved brokerage of £12.7 million for 2017-18 for NHS Tayside. This takes account of the financial governance review undertaken at the Board.

The National Council of Rural Advisers (NCRA) was established as an independent group and will provide advice on the principles and policies that should underpin options for appropriate rural support beyond 2020. This may include recommendations that relate to or impact on farming and food production.

The Agricultural Champions have also published their report and recommendations which more directly relate to support for farming and food production both in the short and long term. Their report is available here: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/05/4376

While we maintain an open mind about the potential impact of any new ideas that might help our communities to thrive, and in light of the range of activities currently undertaken in these areas there are no plans at this time to establish such an additional national service.

Across Scotland, Scottish Government investment through City Region Deals and a wide range of complementary measures – including championing the development of Regional Economic Partnerships - enables local authorities, our enterprise and skills agencies, and other regional partners to plan and take action to ensure that local communities can be both prosperous and sustainable.

PACE is the Scottish Government’s strategic initiative for responding to redundancy situations. The aim of PACE is to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work. Each PACE response is tailored to meet the needs of those affected and varies on a case by case basis. PACE support is delivered by Skills Development Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, in conjunction with other key partners such as the Department for Work and Pensions, local authorities, the STUC and Citizen's Advice Scotland.

We are committed to maintaining community assets such as banks and Post Offices. We have made clear to UK government and Post Office Ltd that they have a responsibility to maintain, rather than reduce, existing services, and Cabinet colleagues have met with senior bank officials to reiterate our opposition to local branch closures.

Proactively, we already see examples of shared spaces being used by Scottish Police, Fire and Ambulance services in communities such as Tomintoul, with plans afoot elsewhere in Scotland to explore similar opportunities. In addition to this, our CAN DO Places initiative looks to utilise unused spaces within town centres as hubs for enterprising activity.

Further to my update to Parliament on 14 June 2018, I was delighted to welcome the publication on 12 June 2018 of the National Council of Rural Advisers discussion paper ‘A Rural Conversation: Together We Can, Together We Will'. Over the course of the summer, the NCRA will gather further evidence and views, including through the consultation on key questions arising from that discussion paper and these will inform their final recommendation report to be published in the autumn. It will then be for Scottish Ministers to consider their independent advice in the development of any future rural policy.

The Scottish Government uses the NRAC formula to allocate funding to NHS Boards. The Scottish Government is supporting all Boards which are behind NRAC parity, and has committed an additional £1.2 billion over a seven year period to those NHS boards below their NRAC parity levels. In 2018-19 all NHS Boards are within 0.8% of parity.

The detail and component parts of the NRAC formula are set out at the following location: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Resource-Allocation-Formula/resource-allocation-latest.asp

The publication sets out the calculation basis for each Board's overall NRAC share, which takes into account other factors in addition to population. This reflects the differing need for healthcare across different age groups for males and females separately, additional needs, and the cost of supplying health services in remote and rural areas relative to more urban areas.

There was no budget allocated for the A90 grade separated junction at Laurencekirk prior to the announcement of the Aberdeen City Region Deal. The announcement in January 2016 confirmed that the £24 million was additional investment by the Scottish Government following the Deal.

The R100 programme aims to deliver a future-proofed infrastructure capable of delivering broadband speeds in excess of 30Mbps and of enabling a wide range of digital services and innovation. The initial procurement has been split into three lots – North, Central and South – to maximise the chances of competition between bidders and we have prioritised our initial £600 million investment on rural areas, recognising that commercial suppliers are best placed to fill urban gaps. This initial phase, potentially working alongside subsequent phases, will ensure that every home and business across Scotland will be able to access superfast broadband by the end of 2021.

R100 is a huge public investment, the biggest such investment by any government in the UK in broadband. The initial procurement - launched on 14 December 2017, is progressing well and has now proceeded to the Dialogue stage, in line with our timetable.

Within our stated intention to award the contract in three lots and to prioritise rural areas and those premises without any access to broadband currently, detailed deployment plans, and associated timetables, will be determined once the procurement process concludes.

Further details of deployment will be announced in early 2019 when we expect to have suppliers in place.

The National Council of Rural Advisors was established in June 2017 and:

a) Has a remit to advise Scottish Ministers on the economic implications of Brexit from a rural perspective, and to produce recommendations for a vibrant and sustainable rural economy;

b) Functions as an advisory, non-executive body, made up of members with rural expertise who participate as individuals who do not represent organisational representatives;

c) Has to date completed goals including a report (published in November 2017 http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/11/6792 ) on the potential impact of Brexit for the Scottish rural economy, and a programme of regional workshops in 2018. A final report will be published in due course.