Chamber and committees

Health visitors play a vital role in our communities, and they are at the core of delivering universal services.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 is rooted in children’s rights and the Getting it right for every child approach, and has a number of key provisions, including the shared language of wellbeing, the named person role and the child’s plan. The named person will work closely with families and is the single point of contact that parents told us they wanted. They will be central to providing support by delivering a more accessible, streamlined and coordinated service for children and families when they need it based in the universal services which they know and trust. From birth until five, or school entry, the health visitor will usually be the named person.

I announced on 18 June 2014 that the Scottish Government would be providing funding (£2 million in year 2014-15 with a total of £41.6 million over the next four years) for additional health visitors with the goal to grow the workforce by 500 by 2018. This funding is in addition to resources health boards are already committing to grow that workforce to meet their obligations.

This funding will help health boards ensure they have enough health visitors to provide universal visits and developmental reviews for children such as 27-30 month review and meet their obligations under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act to provide a named person for children under five through the health visitor.

A Universal Health Visiting Pathway in Scotland was published in October 2015. It presents a core home visiting programme to be offered to all families by health visitors as a minimum standard. It consists of 11 home visits to all families, three of which include a formal review of the family and child’s health by the health visitor (13-15 months, 27-30 months and prior to starting school).

It covers the antenatal to pre-school period and provides an opportunity for health visitors, children and their parents to build a strong relationship, in which health visitors can appropriately support families including acting as a gateway to other services. This early engagement will provide health visitors with a sound foundation for their role as the named person for children under five years of age.

For Fife, we have identified a need to grow the health visitor workforce by 20 by 2018 and will be supporting them to do this and deliver the new pathway. This improvement to their universal community paediatric services will help them to meet the needs of all families locally.

The following table shows the number of HGVs recorded as using the Forth Road Bridge from 2005-15:

* Failure in southbound equipment

** Change in traffic counter equipment.

*** Data totals based on January to November only.

In the period from 2000 to the abolition of tolls on 11 February 2008 the funding of all Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) operating and capital expenditure including maintenance was through toll income and other income generated by FETA through investments and interest.

On the abolition of tolls, a revenue and capital grant was payable to FETA by the Scottish Government. The revenue grant from the Scottish Government covered administration, maintenance and traffic operations. Budget allocation within the overall grant settlement was determined by FETA. The capital grant was paid to support capital works. FETA also supplemented the capital grant paid by the Scottish Government through the use of accumulated reserves.

The grant paid by the Scottish Government following the abolition of tolls is as follows:

Since the discovery of the defect, Transport Scotland officials have been working closely on a daily basis with Amey and their supply chain, to develop, design and implement the repair solution.

Contingencies are in place to ensure the works are undertaken as timeously as possible. The programme for the repair works includes an allowance for the level of adverse weather that might normally be expected at this time of year. Repair work is underway 24/7 with daily progress reports being received. We are as confident as we can be that the bridge will be reopened to traffic for the return to work in the 2016.

Regular discussions have taken place between Transport Scotland and Stagecoach throughout the period of the closure of the Forth Road Bridge. These discussions have focused on alterations to bus services with a view to minimising road congestion and mitigating the economic impact of the bridge closure in Fife and elsewhere. These plans include the use of the 747 shuttle bus service to provide a link between Halbeath and Inverkeithing Railway Station with an anticipated journey time of ten minutes.

There are no differences between the Forth Estuary Transport Authority plans and the current Amey Highways Ltd plans for contingencies on the Forth Road Bridge.

The travel plan to mitigate the travel disruption as a result of the Forth Road Bridge closure has involved Stagecoach as a key stakeholder, in their capacity as a major bus operator incorporating the Fife, cross Forth area. The links between Inverkeithing and Halbeath were discussed and it was agreed that passengers could use the 747 shuttle bus service with an anticipated journey time of 10 minutes between Inverkeithing and Halbeath.

Stagecoach and Scotrail have been fully involved in the development and implementation of the travel plan to address the needs of the travelling public. As part of our arrangements to develop and monitor the travel plan, all parties including Stagecoach and Scotrail, liaise routinely to monitor the plan and ensure that it best meets the needs of the travelling public.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-28882 on 18 December 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring fairness in employment working practices evidenced through being the only government in the UK to have a dedicated Minister for Fair Work. As an employer the Scottish Government’s own employment policies and procedures far exceed legal obligations to provide a variety of flexible working practices and ensure all employees are treated with dignity and respect.

We continually review our employment policies and procedures to ensure that they are fair and equitable and do not have any negative impact on any group of staff. In June 2015 the Scottish Government was also recognised as a living wage accredited employer.