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As outlined in response to question S6W-08944 on 21 June 2022, the Scottish Government is currently seeking to commission research which will provide evidence on the impact protest and vigils outside of abortion clinics have on people accessing healthcare. This research has been commissioned by the working group on buffer zones which is led by myself.

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 Scottish Government are committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with long-term conditions such as arthritis are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put the person at the centre of their care.

I have had two meetings with Versus Arthritis at which they outlined their campaign. I also spoke at their webinar/conference, which was held earlier this year.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with Versus Arthritis regarding how best to jointly support patients living with arthritis. This will be an ongoing process involving essential collaboration with patients, carers and service providers, including the third sector and clinicians.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that women can access comprehensive universal healthcare, including abortion services, without fear of intimidation or harassment. The First Minister has convened an emergency summit on abortion rights which take place on 27 June, and will consider what can be done in the short, medium and long term to ensure that women accessing abortion care can do so safely and without fear of harassment.

Additionally, I convened a working group in December 2021 with the sole purpose of finding solutions that would address the issue of protests and vigils outside of abortion clinics. The working group has members including Police Scotland, CoSLA and affected councils and Health Boards. To date, the working group has agreed to explore dialogue between the various parties involved with protests, and commission independent research into the impacts of protest and vigils.

In light of the recent protests, Police Scotland have agreed to a number of measures to reduce the impact of protests at Sandyford clinic. These measures include, but are not limited to, agreeing a designated space for protests to take place, a single point of contact in Police Scotland for staff when protests occur and confiscating voice implication devices used by protestors.

The Scottish Government has no part to play in the recruitment of officers for British Transport Police.

Safety and security on our railways is reserved to UK Government and as such it would be inappropriate for me to comment on resourcing or operational plans for British Transport Police. However I have asked my officials to request BTP (D-Division Scotland) contact you directly to advise of its current and future plans to tackle anti-social behaviour on our rail network.

The Scottish Government is not delaying the introduction of legislation on buffer zones. We have agreed to work constructively with Ms Gillian Mackay MSP on her forthcoming Member’s Bill.

The First Minister is wholeheartedly committed to addressing the issue of protests and vigils that take place outside of abortion clinics, and will therefore be chairing a summit on abortion on 27 June. The summit will primarily focus on buffer zones, but will also look at what measures can be implemented in the short term to ensure women can access abortion without fear of intimidation or harassment.

Over the course of the last five years, the force has created separate Divisions for specialist officers such as CID. As a national police force, these specialist officers are not bound by traditional geographical borders. Therefore, to provide an accurate breakdown of resource placement in Scotland my officials have requested this information from the British Transport Police and I will write to the member in due course.

ScotRail’s Safety and Security team has been developing options relating to the current ban on consumption of alcohol on trains. I understand that the ScotRail Trains Ltd Board will consider these options shortly and will take account of the range of stakeholder views, including those of Trade Unions and any further representations that are made. I will then consider any recommendation ScotRail provides, giving due cognisance to staff and passenger safety.

The exact number of unpaid carers living in Scotland is not known. Therefore, the number of unpaid carers in Scotland is estimated from national survey data. The preferred survey used to estimate the number of unpaid carers is the Scottish Health Survey , as it samples both adults and children and allows for detailed breakdowns.

The latest estimates from the 2020 Scottish Health Survey telephone survey , which ran with a reduced number of questions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, suggest that there were around 839,000 (between 738,000 and 939,000) adult unpaid carers (aged 18+) living in Scotland in 2020.

This report cannot be compared to previous years due to differences in methodology from the main Scottish Health Survey series.

Data from the 2021 Scottish Health Survey will be published in Autumn 2022.

Responsibility for the delivery of social care, including the setting and collecting of charges related to social care and support, lies at a local level.

The Scottish Government collects and publishes national data through the Local Financial Returns (LFRs). These are a series of detailed returns that collect final, audited financial data for local authorities in Scotland. The data is published as part of the annual Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics (SLGFS) publication.

The figures provided in the following table relate to all income received relating to customer and client receipts in relation to Social Work services, including Children & Families and Adult Social Care, for the last five years for which data is available.