The Scottish Government is reviewing options in relation to collecting data on secondary breast cancer in Scotland. This includes consideration of the NHS England audit, data available in Scotland, clinical time required, other cancer data priorities and how it can be used to improve services.

We are continuing to engage with Vestas around potential investment into Scotland. Most recently, the First Minister met with the CEO of Vestas on 3 April 2024. Throughout our engagement with Vestas it has continued to emphasise its commitment to Scotland.

Our fast-growing offshore wind industry provides us with significant opportunities to attract inward investment, generate green jobs and grow our regional and national economies.

We are taking a “Team Scotland” approach across the public sector when engaging with companies such as Vestas to ensure we maximise investment opportunities.

And we are investing up to £500 million over 5 years to anchor the offshore wind supply chain in Scotland and maximise the economic benefits the sector can bring.

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

Those individuals with an Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) have a risk management plan (RMP) that is approved by the Risk Management Authority (RMA).

Within this RMP there are strategies identify for intervention which aims to target and reduce risk factors associated with that individual’s offending/harmful behaviour. Where an offending behaviour programme is identified as being appropriate, individuals are placed on a national waiting list which prioritises individuals based on their critical dates.

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

OLRs are subject to an annual review of their LSCMI risk assessment which is carried out by Prison Based Social Work (PBSW). In addition to this, each OLR has a Risk Management Plan (RMP), which is largely part of the risk assessment prepared for the courts and updated at significant points of change during their sentence.

In 2023 there were 40 RMPs revised for OLRs and 10 revised thus far in 2024. SPS currently do not hold data on the number of OLRs whose LSCMIs have been updated within the past year.

a) The length of carriageway or lane reserved for the use of buses (and other vehicles as identified) delivered through the Bus Partnership Fund is 12.16km. This includes bus gates in Aberdeen City Centre, which the North East Bus Alliance has reported to have reduced journey times for passengers by up to 25%, and a bus gate at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, opened in March 2024, providing improved public transport access to this important facility as well as improving connectivity with the city centre. A section of bus lane has also been delivered on the M8 eastbound between Claylands (Junction 2 of the M8) and Hermiston Gait (Junction 1 of the M8) in the form of an actively managed hard shoulder for buses. This also includes 2.58km of BPF funded bus lanes in Edinburgh that are currently in operation and the Council are seeking to make permanent.

b) In addition to bus lanes, other bus priority and supporting measures have been delivered through the Bus Partnership Fund. This includes bus priority at 66 signalised junctions across Scotland, including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Ayrshire, Oban, Dundee and Perth, helping buses to get through them more quickly. Seven supporting projects have also been completed, including measures such as bus lane enforcement cameras. When the Bus Partnership Fund was launched and STPR2 was published, there were not many bus priority measures identified that could be built straight away. Therefore the Bus Partnership Fund also provided funding which has seen 32 studies completed to identify, develop and design further pipeline bus priority measures.

Since December 2022 to 25 April 2024, £2.97 million has been spent on the A9 short term road safety measures announced by the then Minister for Transport in December 2022. The remaining amount is programmed to be spent by the end of March 2025 in line with the commitment.

Spend includes upgrades to road markings on single carriageways sections between Perth and Inverness to install a high performance product with greater reflectivity and acoustic feedback for drivers deviating from their lane. Additional overtaking restrictions have been included where feasible, as well as illuminated road studs at key junctions to improve clarity during darkness. Also on the Perth to Inverness section, the transitions between dual and single carriageways are being upgraded with illuminated studs and additional red surfacing to emphasise the change in carriageway type. In addition, two-way traffic signs and road markings are being installed on single carriageway sections, along with temporary variable message signs displaying key road safety messages. These engineering measures were complemented by two education campaigns on fatigue and ‘drive on the left’ deployed by Road Safety Scotland.

In addition to the £5 million announced in December 2022, approximately £83,000 has been spent on replacing the HGV 50mph speed limit signs on the A9. These new signs do not conflict with traffic sign recognition systems, which are becoming common in modern vehicles. This is also supplemented by over £90,000 spend on recent road safety improvements identified through Transport Scotland’s ongoing assessment of the safety performance of the trunk road network..

According to the Scottish Government’s classification of school locations, 31% of the students attending publicly funded schools went to a school in a large urban area, and 42% attend schools in smaller urban areas. The remaining 27% attend schools in accessible small towns (9%), remote small towns (5%), accessible rural areas (8%) and remote rural areas (4%) ( Scottish Government, 2021 ).

According to the latest Hands Up Scotland Survey (HUSS) data, published in August 2023, the percentage of children travelling actively to school is 49.4%. Walking remains the most common mode of school travel at 42.6%. It is not currently possible to determine a change in this metric since the adoption of STPR2 as the latest HUSS data is from 2022. Data from the 2023 survey will be available later this year.

The latest HUSS data can be found here: Hands Up Scotland Survey - Sustrans.org.uk

Eight temporary electronic variable message signs have been deployed on the A9 between the Birnam and Moy, which display a number of road safety messages to drivers. These include “Don’t Drive Tired” and “Don’t Use Mobile Phones When Driving” to encourage responsible and considerate driving, as well as “Drive on the Left” in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian to assist visitors from overseas. For 2024, these signs were installed during the last week in March and will be in place until the start of November to cover the main tourism season. The estimated cost for installing and maintaining the signs in the 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 financial years is £155,439.57 excluding VAT. The use of these signs on the A9 in future years will be considered through Transport Scotland’s ongoing assessment of the safety performance of the trunk road network.

The North East Bus Alliance has spent £9.94 million from the Bus Partnership Fund. This includes funding for the business case for Aberdeen Rapid Transit (ART) and bus priority on its associated corridors. This also includes £0.33 million for the development and delivery of bus gates in Aberdeen City Centre, which opened in August 2023, and supporting works of £7.98 million on South College Street, which enabled the bus gates. The North East Bus Alliance have reported that bus gates in Aberdeen City Centre have reduced journey times for passengers by up to 25%, benefitting over 600,000 passengers each month.

Future work on ART, led by Nestrans and its partners Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and the North East Bus Alliance, will be funded through the Aberdeen City Region Deal.

A new model for delivery of active travel behaviour change interventions has been introduced for 2024-25. The People and Place programme will be delivered by Scotland’s seven Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs). Grant offer letters have been issued to all of the RTPs which contain the information required for drawing down funding from their allocation once the grant offer is accepted. This funding will be available to the RTPs, working with their delivery partners, to spend on behaviour change interventions during the 2024-25 financial year.