The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’s statement to Parliament on 3 September outlined the challenging financial situation faced by the Scottish Government following the UK Chancellor's July statement. She confirmed that spending controls are in place to make sure the entire SG budget is being managed prudently. These additional controls set out that any activity undertaken, or commitment made, that generates expenditure in 2024-25 must only proceed if it is truly essential and unavoidable. “Unavoidable” means if the Scottish Government would otherwise breach its legal obligations, or fail to provide essential support to emergency situations, or cause significant economic damage across Scotland. The scale of the savings required means that these exceptional measures are being applied across the whole Government, with all policy areas having to think about what this means for them.

Whilst I had originally set out the intention to make Changing Place Toilets funding available across financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26, reductions in the mental health budget mean we are no longer able to launch the fund in the current financial year. Instead, funding will be reprofiled into future years. I remain committed to increasing the numbers of Changing Places Toilets across Scotland and we are continuing preparatory work to enable the launch of the Fund.

The number of thrombectomy patients treated at each thrombectomy hub is shown in the following table.

ScotRail Trains Ltd routinely monitors patronage on its services to identify trends, opportunities and to best match its resources with the passenger demand. Following the Ministerial decision to end the 12 month trial removing peak fares, the Scottish Government intends to repeat the analysis undertaken to assess the pilot, as detailed in the published report, after an appropriate period has elapsed.

The Scottish Government publishes detailed flag flying guidance annually on the Scottish Government website Guidance - Flag flying on government buildings: 2024 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and a link to the guidance is also available on the Scottish Government’s intranet pages, available to Directorates and other government departments. In addition, this flag flying guidance is issued to local authorities and government agencies.

The guidance sets out the relevant flag to be flown in recognition of national anniversaries and Royal events. It also provides advice on the half/masting of flags following national/international tragedies and events.

This guidance applies to Scottish Government buildings only and is provided to non-Scottish Government organisations for information purposes. It remains the prerogative of each organisation to set their own flag flying programme.

Separate communication was issued by email to Scottish Government external flag flying contacts in June 2024 in relation to the 80th anniversary of D-Day and for the Coronation of Their Majesties in May 2023.

The enforcement of traffic offences is an operational matter for Police Scotland, with oversight provided by the Scottish Police Authority, who act independently of Scottish ministers.

The Scottish Government welcomes the new partnership agreement reached between the College and the Trade Union Congress to safeguard the delivery of trade union education at the City of Glasgow College.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29250 on 19 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Development of Scotland’s Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) is being led through the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD). Colleagues in CfSD have regular progress discussions with each of the established RCDS teams.

The Scottish Government have provided funding to each of these services until March 2025, and NHS Boards continue to develop their business cases for sustainable investment.

As a result of significant increases in construction costs due to inflation, and a lower than expected capital grant from the UK Government, a capital review is currently underway.

Alongside this, we are working with all health boards to develop a whole-system infrastructure plan which reflects on the needs for the whole of Scotland and will support continued safe operation of existing facilities and well as determination of longer-term investment priorities.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29797 on 19 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.