I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24498 on‎ 23 January 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24444 on 22 January 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24444 on‎ 22 January 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 .

This is an operational matter for ScotRail and the previous Franchisee, Abellio ScotRail prior to 1 April 2022. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Member may wish to contact ScotRail, who might have the information relating to the period from April 2022.

NHS Pharmacy First Scotland provides advice, treatment or referral to another healthcare professional for a wide range of minor illnesses as well as common clinical conditions such as impetigo, shingles, uncomplicated UTIs, skin infections and hay fever. It is provided by all community pharmacies in Scotland, usually without an appointment.

As part of Pharmacy First, community pharmacists who are independent prescribers can using their prescribing skills to provide a wider range of treatment options.

The service aims to frees up GP practice appointments and pressures on Emergency Departments and Out of Hours (OOH) services, ensuring people get the Right Care at the Right Place at the Right Time. In 2022-23, over 3.6 million Pharmacy First consultations were undertaken.

There are no current plans for community pharmacists to refer patients directly to GP practices or other settings for blood tests.

Whilst this is an operational matter for ScotRail as the service provider, the Member might wish to note that Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes information on the most frequented stations on its website: Regional rail usage | ORR Data Portal Also, ScotRail Trains regularly publishes information on busiest services on its website Busiest trains | ScotRail

The Member may wish to contact ScotRail who might be able to provide a more detailed information, if required.

Scotland’s winter COVID-19 and flu programme commenced on 4 September, with the majority of the COVID-19 programme due to start from 18 September. We originally planned to vaccinate care home residents, people aged 75 and over and people with weakened immune system aged 12 and over from the middle of October in line with Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice; that protection from COVID-19 vaccines is highest in the first three months following vaccination, so by vaccinating those who are at highest risk later, we planned to give them greater protection over the period of high winter NHS pressures, into the new year.

In light of the emergence of new variant BA.2.86 in late August 2023, the Scottish Government, alongside the other 4 nations, took the precautionary measure to endeavour to bring forward vaccination of care home residents, people aged 75 and over and people with weakened immune system aged 12 and over, as close to the start of the programme, where possible.

All those eligible were invited forward via letter, email or text, prior to Christmas and although the majority of vaccinations were completed before the festive break, appointments are available until the end of the programme on 31 March 2024.

As of 14 January we have delivered 1,384,426 COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine uptake data is publicly available through the PHS dashboard and is updated weekly. It contains data broken down by age and health status. The current COVID-19 uptake is as follows (as of 14 January 2024):

Today, the Scottish Government has published its latest Major Capital Projects Progress Update associated with the Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) for 2021-22 to 2025-26, which sets out progress on the delivery of infrastructure projects with a value over £5 million which have agreed Outline Business Cases or equivalent. The update can be viewed via the following link: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835218976

The UK Government did not inflation-proof their Capital Budget which has resulted in nearly a 10% real-terms cut in our capital funding over the medium-term between 2023-24 and 2027-28. The decisions made by the UK Government to reduce our capital funding in real terms year on year, alongside the construction supply chain issues, labour shortages and high inflation means that we cannot deliver on all our capital projects within the funding available.

Further work is therefore underway to update the full pipeline of projects and programmes relating to the current IIP to ensure it is affordable and deliverable and provides best value for money. A refresh of the overall infrastructure pipeline is intended to be published alongside the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) in May 2024.

As set out in the May 2023 MTFS, we plan to extend the current IIP period by one year, to 2026-27. This will ensure spending is aligned to the three missions for this Parliament and that it takes account of the fiscal and economic reality at the time. Work with stakeholders and colleagues is ongoing to develop the next IIP, which will be published in due course and in plenty of time to be adopted in 2027-28.

The Scottish Government takes the environmental impact of single-use vapes very seriously. Last year I commissioned an urgent review of the environmental impact of single-use vapes, which found that up to 26 million disposable vapes were consumed and thrown away in Scotland in just one year, of which an estimated 10 per cent were littered and more than half were incorrectly disposed.

Our Programme for Government committed to taking action to tackle the environmental impact of single use vapes, including consulting on a proposal to ban them. In September 2023, at the initiation of the Scottish Government, Ministers and senior officials from across the UK met to discuss single-use vapes. They discussed the available evidence, recognised shared challenges, and committed to work together on a range of options to tackle the impacts, up to and including a ban.

Following this, the Scottish Government, along with the UK Government, Welsh Government, and Department for Health and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland held a four nations consultation on Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping which ran from October-December 2023. The consultation included a range of proposals, including consideration of a ban on single-use vapes and other measures to reduce their environmental impact. In November 2023 I wrote to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, to update the Committee on the government’s approach to tackling the issue.

I am pleased to announce that today, that the Scottish Government will take forward the legislation needed to the ban the sale and supply of single use vapes in Scotland, with a view to a ban coming into force at the earliest opportunity.

The four nations consultation response, published today, shows clear support for this measure. We are encouraged that the responses from Scotland accounted for 11% of the 28,000 responses received in total, exceeding expectations for comprehensive representation and highlighting the need for action on these issues. In Scotland, 82.3% supported restrictions on single-use vapes (79.3% UK-wide), and 73.4% favoured an outright ban (68.1% UK-wide).

We will continue to work with UK Government and other Devolved Governments as we develop this legislation, and will engage with Parliament as appropriate and necessary during this process.

The Scottish Government awarded £11,698 to MND Scotland in July 2019. The funding was to support the core staffing, volunteer and training costs of MND Scotland staff operating the charity’s Scottish Communication Aid Loan Service. The funding aimed to support the provision of timely access throughout Scotland for people with MND who require specialised Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) services.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office provided a total of £83,495 to MND Scotland towards co-funding a three-year Clinical Academic Fellowship undertaken between 2019-20 and 2021-22 at the University of Edinburgh. The following sums were paid: