Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally.

Decisions relating to staff complaints and how any related statistics are collected are matters for each individual Health Board, within the framework of the relevant policy and procedures.

Health Boards are required to meet the Staff Governance Standard to ensure staff are treated fairly and consistently. The 'Dealing with Employee Grievances PIN policy' sets out the key principles and procedures for dealing with grievances, and Health Boards' local policies must be developed in line with this policy.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering 100% superfast broadband access by the end of 2021. This will of course include those households in the North East Scotland parliamentary region that are not currently capable of accessing superfast broadband.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-05287 on 16 December 2016. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government provides regular updates to Parliament on the number and timing of payments made under the range of CAP support schemes. While these do not include an assessment of economic impact, as the information is not readily available, the Scottish Government has taken significant steps to mitigate the impact of delays with starting Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) payments by providing BPS and LFASS loans for both the 2015 and 2016 scheme years. Indeed the payment of 2016 BPS loans in November 2016, before the opening of the formal payment window on 1 December 2016 for making BPS payments, accelerated funding into the rural economy, with the likelihood of associated benefits.

In the coming months the Scottish Government will undertake a formal public consultation on ways in which to ensure the longer term sustainability of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme.

The Scottish Government is committed to public transport in Scotland and to our ambitious climate change target of reducing carbon emissions by 42% by 2020.

In 2010 the Government launched the Scottish Green Bus Fund with the aim of incentivising the purchase of low carbon emission buses to improve air quality. The definition of low carbon emission buses includes very low and zero emission vehicles such as electric vehicles. The Fund is not confined to bus operators. Others, including local authorities, can also apply. Through six rounds of the Fund,
£14.8 million has been awarded to successful bidders. This has helped to purchase 315 new low carbon emission buses, including seven electric buses.

Additionally, the Bus Service Operators Grant provides an incentive for low carbon emission buses, which are eligible for 24.5p/km, 10.1p/km more than the standard rate of 14.4p/km.

Alongside our partners, the Scottish Government is delivering the £410 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme which will extend fibre broadband access to at least 95% of premises in Scotland by the end of 2017. This is a national programme, which is being managed through two regional contracts – one covering the Highlands & Islands region; the other covering the rest of Scotland. It is, therefore, not possible to provide delivery costs at a Parliamentary constituency level.

Later this year we expect to launch new procurement to deliver our commitment to provide 100% superfast broadband access by 2021. This is a unique commitment across the UK.

In addition, digital infrastructure projects will also form part of the £250 million Aberdeen City Region Deal that was agreed between the Scottish Government, UK Government and regional partners in 2016. The Scottish Government is providing an additional £254 million, over and above the City Deal, to help deliver a more significant step change to the economy of the north east.

We are investing over £1 billion annually in public transport, including local bus services, and other sustainable transport options, such as cycling to encourage people out of their cars across Scotland. We are also working with stakeholders to develop legislative options for improving bus services and to inform future policy developments on Scotland-wide multi-modal smart ticketing.

More specifically to the North East Scotland parliamentary region, the introduction of High Speed Trains and retention of class 170s will support the delivery of more rail services and greater capacity all across the north and east of Scotland during
2018-19.

Alongside our partners, the Scottish Government is delivering the £410 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme which will extend fibre broadband access to at least 95% of premises in Scotland by the end of 2017. This is a national programme, which is being managed through two regional contracts – one covering the Highlands & Islands region; the other covering the rest of Scotland. It is, therefore, not possible to provide delivery costs at Parliamentary Constituency level.

Latest figures show that in the North East Scotland parliamentary region 116,378 homes and business have access to fibre broadband as a result of DSSB, 101,984 of which are capable of accessing superfast speeds. These are homes and businesses that would not be capable of accessing fibre broadband had it not been for our intervention.

In NHS Grampian, there were 350 average available staffed beds in Psychiatric Specialties in 2015-16^p.

Notes:

Source: ISD Scotland ISD(S)1

p Provisional