Chamber and committees

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly, who might be able to provide this information.

The Scottish Government is aware of the former railway route to Greenock Princes Pier. However, in the absence of any clearly expressed demand for this link from freight customers, the Scottish Government has no current plans to assess the feasibility of reopening the Greenock and Ayrshire Railway to the former Greenock Princes Pier railway station as a direct rail freight link to Greenock Ocean Terminal.

The proposed membership for the Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) Programme Board is indicated below.

As arrangements are still being finalised ahead of the first meeting at the end of April, membership may be subject to change.

• Head of Recruitment and Capacity Building, Health Workforce Directorate, Scottish Government (Co-Chair)
• Medical Director, NES Education for Scotland (Co-chair)
• Deputy Chief Executive and Director of NMAHP, NHS Education for Scotland
• Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Scottish Government
• Chief Nursing Officer Directorate, Scottish Government
• Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Scottish Government
• Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, Scottish Government
• Scottish Association of Medical Directors (SAMD)
• Scottish Executive Nurse Directors Group (SEND)
• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland
• Faculty of Physician Associates
• Association of Anaesthesia Associates
• General Medical Council
• Workforce Planning Lead, West of Scotland Regional Planning
• Head of Workforce and Development, North of Scotland Regional Planning
• Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD)
• Health Improvement Scotland
• Directors of Human Resources, NHS Scotland
• British Medical Association

In February 2021 Brookfield Multiplex advised NHSGGC that they had concerns regarding the suitability of the wall linings installed in the atrium of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Intrusive surveys were immediately commissioned by NHSGGC that confirmed the installation of ACM polyethylene products which do not comply with current Building Control standards. It is the boards position that the wall linings installed did not meet the contract requirements and this is the subject of an ongoing legal action.

NHSGGC followed a Fire Risk Assessment process immediately after being notified of the concerns with the wall linings in the atrium. This process identified mitigation measures that were implemented from February 2021 to manage any potential fire risk generated by the presence of unsuitable wall linings.

A Full Business Case for replacement of the internal wall linings was approved in November 2022 with the works commencing in the same month and will be fully complete in 2027.

The information requested on how many registered pathologists there have been in each of the last 10 years is not centrally available.

Information on Chemical pathologists and Histopathology, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at:

NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence .

The overall cost of the project, as stated in the Full Business Case, to replace the internal wall linings is £32.7m in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. This project is currently on site and is expected to run until 2027.

The Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) Programme Board will meet for the first time in April 2024. Minutes of meetings will be published online on the NES Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) | Turas | Learn (nhs.scot)

The £8.7 million has been spent on a programme of design and development works for the scheme with Network Rail, who is taking this project forward on the Scottish Government’s behalf. A breakdown is retained by Network Rail and you may wish to contact Network Rail directly. However, some parts of the requested breakdown may relate to commercially sensitive information which it would be inappropriate to share before a procurement exercise for the works.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout, as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

Following publication of the draft Orders and Environmental Statement, Transport Scotland received a significant number of objections to the proposed scheme. Although Transport Scotland engaged widely with objectors, it was unable to resolve all objections. In view of this, a Public Local Inquiry was held from 31 January to 8 February 2023. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate statutory forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn. The independent Reporter has now presented their recommendations to the Scottish Ministers and this is under active consideration.

Construction of the proposed scheme can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set.

Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science is responsible for developing and implementing the National Upskilling Plan for computing science teachers. The National Upskilling pilot developed over 6 hours of high-quality upskilling material with 71 teachers registering from 27 councils and 50 education authority schools and 11 independent schools. On average, 30 teachers participated in the live workshops with evaluation feedback showing many participants reporting increased confidence and understanding. Utilising feedback from the pilot, the second iteration of the Upskilling Programme was expanded to include upskilling at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level and is currently being completed and will be evaluated as part of this next phase of work. STACS will continue to evaluate future phases of the Upskilling Programme.