Chamber and committees

Not all of the information requested is held centrally. The Scottish Government has previously published statistics on Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, with the most recent release covering the reporting year of 2013-14 ( http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubRacistIncidents ).

This publication noted the intention to scope out the possibility of replacing this release with a new and broader product on police recorded hate crime. This would include information on other strands of hate crime recorded by the police, in addition to retaining data on hate incidents with a race element. Scottish Government statisticians have been working with Police Scotland as it develops the data it holds on its existing systems. We anticipate an update on the outcome of this work in the near future, and plans for a new publication. This update will be circulated to users through the ScotStat network ( http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/scotstat ).

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) also publish annual statistics on crimes aggravated by race, religious, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity prejudice ( http://www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/equality-and-diversity ). These figures relate to charges reported to the COPFS and includes information on how those charges were proceeded. Information on the faith group, gender, race or country of origin of the victim is not included. Statistics for 2017-18 will be published on 15 June 2018.

Statistics on the number of people convicted for crimes with an aggravator recorded is available in table 12 of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2016-17 publication. The Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database does not hold information on the faith group, gender, race or country of origin of the victim.

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/02/7427

The last published estimate of the cost of obesity in Scotland, by the Scottish Government , was for the Obesity Route Map in 2010. This can be found here http://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/302783/0094795.pdf . It is Appendix 2 in the document.

Subsequently SPICE published updated estimates in 2015. http://www.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefingsAndFactsheets/S4/SB_15-01_Obesity_in_Scotland.pdf

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

The Marine Conservation Society's annual Beachwatch programme surveys beach litter. Its 2017 report identified 0.2% of UK beach litter was medical. That included syringes along with other medical items.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15438 on 18 April 2018. 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 .

Our analysis has shown that the reduction in the number of ‘planned’ trains was a direct result of forecast severe weather. The Scottish Government and ScotRail placed an absolute priority on the safety of customers and staff.

More specifically, this means:

* The need to avoid running trains where there was a risk to passenger/staff safety, as the Met Office’s “red warning” for snow had advised, and where there was a risk that a train could end up stranded, because of accumulations of snow and snow drifts.

* Drivers and train crew unable to get to their depots because of ice and snow. In fact, during the period for the Met Office Amber and Red Warnings for snow, the advice consistently given by Police Scotland and the Scottish Government was that people should “Avoid Travel unless absolutely necessary”.

* Before services could resume safely, line proving and in some cases significant snow clearance had to be undertaken. In all cases, services were restored as soon as it was safe to do so.

It is every patient's responsibility to keep their NHS appointment and it is important that they let the NHS know when they cannot attend. However, we also recognise that the NHS has to be flexible in helping make appointments convenient to patients.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting health boards implement policies to reduce missed appointments such as providing reminder services through text, emails and social media. This will allow reminder services to be tailored to patients who are most likely not to attend.

It may be helpful to clarify responsibilities for the management of roads within Scotland. Transport Scotland is responsible for the management and maintenance of the strategic trunk road network including motorways, which is delivered through our operating company contracts. The Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 places the statutory responsibility for local roads improvement, maintenance and repair with local road authorities.

Our trunk road network is used daily for hundreds of thousands of journeys and is fundamental to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of Scotland. It connects economic centres and remote communities while making a contribution to the wealth of the nation. In order for the trunk road network to fulfil its potential, it is vital that it is efficiently maintained. That is why despite the current financial constraints, £368.7 m was allocated for the management and maintenance of trunk roads and motorways for 2017-18 and £433 m has been allocated for 2018-19.

Road safety is of paramount importance to the Scottish Government and the Strategic Road Safety Plan sets out how Transport Scotland delivers road safety on the trunk road network. In 2016, we updated the Road Safety Plan to refocus our work on further reducing the numbers of accidents and casualties on our network. The refreshed Plan reinforces our use of a “Safe System” approach within the road transport system which is centred on the premise that death and injury is unacceptable and that they are avoidable. This refresh builds upon that approach to more clearly address risk mitigation and focus particular efforts on addressing the safety of vulnerable road users. It includes an Action Plan aligned with the five pillars of the “Safe System” approach and identifies how the work of Transport Scotland’s Strategic Road Safety Unit will contribute to the Government’s casualty reduction targets for 2020

In terms of trunk road maintenance, our operating companies have a contractual obligation to inspect the trunk road network at 7-day intervals. These inspections are primarily to identify defects that require prompt attention (Category 1 defects) because they present, or could present, an immediate hazard to road users. For road surface Category 1 defects, the operating companies are required to carry out temporary repairs by 6am the following morning and permanent repairs within 28 days.

Lesser defects and general deterioration which do not necessitate such an immediate safety-led response are then considered with findings from our annual condition assessments of the network to help determine future maintenance schemes. These include assessments of the strength of the road depth and also road surface conditions (including skid resistance). Resultant schemes may include localised patching repairs or larger maintenance schemes, which are then considered against competing priorities across the trunk road network and programmed accordingly.

Since 2009 we have also been undertaking annual surveys of a representative sample of road users to identify trunk road issues that are important to them and the levels of service they expect or desire. This allows us to gauge current levels of satisfaction and compare and trend current and past levels of satisfaction in order to identify areas for improvement.

With regard to local roads, the vast majority of funding from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. The Scottish Government has allocated over £10.4 billion to local government for 2017-18. In 2018-19, councils will receive funding through the local government finance settlement of £10.7 billion. This will provide a further real terms boost in both revenue and capital funding.

As a result of the recent adverse weather, the Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay MSP, announced on 6 April that a further £10 million would be made available to local authorities following the recent heavy snowfalls. It is my understanding that COSLA is currently engaging with local authorities to decide how the funding should be allocated.

The Scottish Government is also committed to working with local government to help improve the condition and safety of all roads, and we do this through the Road Collaboration Programme (RCP) which is jointly funded between national and local government. The RCP has liaised with local authorities and established regional groups via the Governance First project. This project continues to support groups of regional local authorities to discuss and develop a collaborative governance arrangement from which to oversee delivery of collaborative roads service activity across the partnerships.

Through this forum we are fully supportive of on-going local authority efforts to form regional partnerships to explore how their resources can be combined to best manage the condition and safety of their networks.

Information is collected centrally for missed appointments for a first outpatient consultations only. The following tables provide information on the number of first outpatient appointments and the number of patients who did not attend a first outpatient appointment for the last five years by NHS Board.