Chamber and committees

No date has been set for the electrification of the City Union line, however, in line with the Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan this route will be considered for future electrification by Transport Scotland.

The Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all passenger diesel trains being replaced; the order and programme in which that is done will depend on business cases and available budgets. The Plan is a dynamic document, with a refresh of the Plan scheduled for 2023.

Due to the scale and significance of this project, in addition to the NHS Capital Investment Group, the Executive Team in Investment Mode, chaired by the Permanent Secretary, will also review the Outline Business Case at their meeting on 11 April 2023. A decision on next steps will be made after that meeting.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. This is a matter for Health Boards locally.

The partnership will seek to deliver direct community benefit as a result of the investment, in line with the expectations of the Scottish Government’s Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital. This will include full consideration of community wealth building opportunities and exploring potential ways the investment could support more diverse land ownership, drawing on current and emerging advice from the Scottish Land Commission. No assessment has been completed at this stage as the project partners are in ongoing dialogue about how the investment model will work. However, assessments will be published after completion of the project design phase.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15841 on 24 March 2023. 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 .

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) does not confer any guarantees or preferred status to the partners and allows NatureScot to work and enter agreements with other parties, both in the locations identified in the MOU and across Scotland. MOU signatories will not have exclusive access to land managers and external parties will still be able to submit applications for public funds and grants. The usual processes and policies for public grants will apply.

This project will work with existing land owners and managers to restore native woodlands and other habitats, rather than acquiring land or changing land ownership. Although the Memorandum of Understanding does not rule out the purchase of land, the only scenario in which the partnership would consider this is where there is an opportunity for a community to buy land and help deliver the project aims.

The matters referred to will be explored during the design phase of the project. Alternative models of ownership will be encouraged, where appropriate and this will be further scoped during the design phase of the project.

The NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board met for the first time on 1 December 2022 and aims to meet fortnightly. It last met on 23 March 2023, it will next meet on 11 April 2023.

The Assurance Board has previously met on the following dates:

• 1 December 2022
• 13 December 2022
• 10 January 2023
• 24 January 2023
• 7 February 2023
• 22 February 2023
• 9 March 2023

Updates from the Assurance Board, including minutes, and other materials associated with the group, are available on the Scottish Government website: NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16001 on 24 March 2023. 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