Chamber and committees

The First Minister will hold a summit on abortion on 27 June 2022. The summit will focus primarily on buffer zones, and organisations such as MSPs, CoSLA, Police Scotland and women’s rights organisations will be invited to attend.

The Veterans Railcard provides a one-third discount on rail journeys across the UK. It is available to all veterans who have served for at least one day or more in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. The terms and conditions for the railcard are set by National Rail (part of the Rail Delivery Group).

In addition, the Disabled Persons Railcard also provides one-third discount on rail journeys across the UK for a cardholder and a companion travelling with them. Veterans in receipt of War Disablement Pension Mobility Supplement or War or Service Disablement Pension for 80% or more disability are eligible to apply for this railcard.

Under the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People (NCTS), veterans resident in Scotland aged 60 and over are eligible to apply for free bus travel throughout Scotland. In addition injured veterans may also qualify for free bus travel if they satisfy the disability eligibility criteria for the NCTS which can be found on the Transport Scotland website and which include being in receipt of a War Disablement Pension Mobility Supplement.

Veterans age 21 or younger can also qualify for free bus travel under the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Young People.

The RAIB report into the Carmont accident did not state that the High Speed Trains (HSTs) are unsafe. There is a need to identify the optimum programme of any practicable changes that may emerge from the analysis of duty holders and safety bodies in following the recommendations of the RAIB Carmont Report with respect to HSTs in Scotland.

The aim is to do this in a practical way, and in an appropriate timescale in the context of the Scottish Government’s plans for decarbonisation of the rail network and the development of the future train fleet which will support that objective.

Scotland’s Baby Box ensures that every family with a newborn has access to essential items needed in the first six months of a child’s life. From the outset we have ensured that the only written information contained within the Baby Box is tailored to its specific aims and contents.

There are currently 7 leaflets contained within Scotland’s Baby Boxes including advice and information on safe sleeping, breastfeeding, postnatal depression and Social Security child payment.

The Nappy Voucher contained within the Baby Box signposts to the Scottish Government’s ParentClub website which highlights the benefits of using reusable nappies.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-08732 on 14 June 2022. 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 table below shows the actual number of local authority, registered social landlord and other affordable homes that have been delivered in the South Lanarkshire Council Area between April 1999 to end March 2022 (as per our latest published quarterly housing statistics). These include new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

We do not hold figures at a constituency level.

The Scottish Government is not involved in the UK Government’s private sponsorship arrangements, or associated matching process through Homes for Ukraine.

The Scottish Government and partners are working hard within the UK Government’s sponsorship scheme to provide a fast and safe alternative to displaced people from Ukraine seeking sanctuary in Scotland and providing support when they do get permission to travel.

Once people have arrived through our super sponsor scheme, a national matching service, delivered by COSLA, will match those settling here with longer-term accommodation across Scotland. Displaced people from Ukraine are asked to complete a short questionnaire that captures key information and preferences. This information is then used to find suitable longer-term accommodation. All 32 of our local authorities are taking part in this programme, and hosts have offered up their homes right across the country. The national matching service will ensure that people are offered settlement opportunities across Scotland, recognising that people will have different preferences and available housing is limited in some local authorities

The Scottish Perinatal Network has been tasked with examining the adoption of PlGF testing in light of the draft NICE guidance published for consultation in March this year. Project information and associated documents are publicly available on the NICE website ( Project documents | PLGF-based testing to help diagnose suspected preterm pre-eclampsia (update of DG23) | Guidance | NICE ) and we expect the finalised guidance to be published on 27 July 2022.

As part of its initial work, the Network is engaging with the clinical and scientific community to understand how the additional two tests included in the draft guidance work in practice. This work is underway and I have asked my officials to continue working with the Network to explore how we can best implement PlGF testing in Scotland.

For ease of reference, the most recent estimate for whole time equivalent of GPs can be found in the General Practice Workforce Survey 2019 which estimated that there were 3,613 GP whole time equivalents (WTE) in Scotland in 2019. The GP (excluding Specialist Trainees) WTE increased from an estimated 3,520 in 2017 to an estimated 3,613 in 2019, based on 8 sessions per week being one WTE. These are the most recent available published data for GP whole time equivalent due to impacts of the pandemic on surveys.

In our helpful discussion at the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 29 March 2022, I undertook to look further at options for attaining and publishing whole-time equivalent data. I can confirm that I have now commissioned NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) to run this important survey afresh, and the General Practice Workforce Survey 2022 issued to practices in week commencing 30 May 2022. Further, I can confirm the Scottish Government is making arrangements for this survey to take place on an annual basis in future.

I agree that updated data are essential in understanding capacity in general practice, and I expect a full report on t T his year’s data to be published in the Autumn. I will be pleased to write to the Committee Convenor with that report when it is available.

As part of our Programme for Government commitment to provide the people of Scotland with the information they need to make an informed choice about their future, I am pleased to advise Parliament that the Scottish Government is today publishing Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland?

This is the first paper in the Building a New Scotland prospectus series designed to inform the debate on Scotland’s future. The paper sets out how other European countries comparable to Scotland use their full powers of independence to tailor policies to their own specific circumstances and in doing so outperform the UK across a range of indicators. The Building a New Scotland papers will set out the vision for a fairer, more prosperous and greener Scotland and, taken together, will form a prospectus for how an independent Scotland could work.

Independence in the Modern World. Wealthier, Happier, Fairer: Why Not Scotland? is available to view on the Scottish Government website from today :

• http://www.gov.scot/newscotland