Chamber and committees

All new planting schemes on the trunk road network include a 5-year establishment period throughout which regular inspections are undertaken by professional landscape architects and by the landscape contractor. These inspections assess the establishment of the plants and determine any specific maintenance required, including the replacement of any failed material.

The trunk road operating companies assume responsibility after this period and are required to annually assess and report on all planting and other vegetation within their area of operation and to recommend management interventions as appropriate, such as pruning and thinning etc.

Following completion, all major road schemes are monitored and assessed through the Scottish Trunk Road Infrastructure Project Evaluation (STRIPE) procedure to determine whether the scheme objectives have been met and to assess how well the scheme has been implemented, including the planting element.

Please find the following table providing the name and location of each bridge on the trunk road network highlighted in our previous answer to S6W-15567. The dates that upgrades were first identified as required and projected to be completed are also contained:

The Chair of the Assurance Board, Christine McLaughlin, wrote to members on 31 March 2023 with a full progress update on NHS Forth Valley’s escalation in Governance, Leadership and Culture. The letter has been published on the Scottish Government website: NHS Forth Valley Assurance Board update: letter from the Chair to MSPs - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The onus remains on NHS Forth Valley to deliver and evidence the required improvements in governance, leadership and culture; and, in turn, on performance. The Assurance Board will continue to monitor and scrutinise NHS Forth Valley’s progress.

The Scottish Government recognises the continuing rise in gonorrhoea diagnoses, and we are grateful for the efforts of the dedicated clinicians who continue to work to find and treat affected individuals.

We acknowledge the impact that the pandemic has had on service capacity and levels of routine testing. That is why the upcoming Sexual Health and Blood Borne Strategy, which will be published this Spring, has a strong Covid recovery focus, and why we have invested over £500,000 into development of online STI testing. A pilot of this has begun in NHS Lothian, and we will continue to work with our NHS partners to understand how it may be further expanded.

Scottish Government is determined to ensure that women have access to the care and support they need for menopause, be that through primary or specialist care. Patients are able to request a face to face appointment for monitoring where in person assessment is required.

Performance (reliability and punctuality) at Musselburgh, Wallyford, Prestonpans, Longniddry, and Drem on the North Berwick Line compare favourably with the ScotRail average, which in turn compares well with the GB average. Nonetheless, it is the responsibility of Scottish Rail Holdings and ScotRail to work in partnership with Network Rail in Scotland to continue to improve performance.

For Dunbar in East Lothian, many of the services are provided by LNER, Cross Country and Transpennine Express, which are UK Government train operating companies.

Information on the level of funding made available to NHS Boards through the long COVID Support Fund for 2022-23 can be found on page 2 of the Scottish Government’s 20 December 2022 letter to the Scottish Parliament’s COVID-19 Recovery Committee. This is accessible on the Scottish Parliament website at: https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/covid19-recovery-committee/correspondence/2022/letter-from-cabinet-secretary-for-health-and-social-care--long-covid.pdf .

Empty Property Relief was devolved to councils on 1 April 2023, including non-domestic rates exemptions for unoccupied listed buildings. Listed buildings were specifically included following discussion with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities in 2019, as set out in a letter from the then Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy to the Local Government and Communities Committee dated 7 October 2019.

The Scottish Budget 2023-24 confirmed a financial transfer of £105m to local authorities to spend at their discretion, concurrent to this devolution. This allows local authorities to tailor any support for unoccupied property, including listed buildings, to best support their local needs.

The Scottish Government will collect data from local authorities on any local relief awarded to unoccupied properties, including listed buildings, which will inform an early evaluation of the impact of the devolution of EPR in advance of the next revaluation.

I refer the member to our response to S6W-14599 on 28 February 2023. It is for individual Health Boards to decide if additional support is needed. The General Practice Access Group principles are currently being consulted on with publication anticipated for late Spring. 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 Borders railway line between Tweedbank and Edinburgh has been affected by ongoing issues with poor performance and the availability of diesel trains in ScotRail’s fleet. Scottish Rail Holdings and ScotRail are working to address this via an Improvement Plan. The reliability of ScotRail trains on this route has also been impacted by the poor performance of UK Government-managed train operating companies, which interact with Tweedbank services on the East Coast Mainline closer to Edinburgh.