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Current vessel deployment considerations mean that it is not possible to introduce a summer Lochboisdale to Mallaig ferry service at this stage, as this would impact on existing services elsewhere on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services network. The winter pilot service will be evaluated over the full three year pilot period before decisions about the way forward are taken. The evaluation will take into account the severe weather disruptions experienced on the route.

Costs to operate a year round Lochboisdale to Mallaig ferry service have not therefore been considered.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-24070 on 28 January 2015. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Scottish Mental Health First Aid courses are run by partners from across public services on behalf of NHS Health Scotland. The number of courses ran during 2012–13 and 2013–14 classed in each health board is as follows:

The number of Scottish mental health first aid courses that took place are as follows:

The total number of attendees for mental health first training in 2012-13 and 2013-14 is broken down as follows:

Since Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid was introduced, 484 people have undertaken the instructor training. There are currently 322 trainers on NHS Health Scotland’s database.

Public consultation on a review of the croft house grant scheme was launched on 6 January 2015. The consultation period will conclude on 31 March 2015 and we would encourage as many contributions as possible.

In the years of its operation, this valuable support has helped enable the construction of over 900 new croft houses and the improvement of a further 200 existing croft houses.

The Scottish Government has held informal discussions with a number of crofting stakeholders and these have informed the terms of a review of the croft house grant scheme launched on 7 January 2015. The Scottish Government’s proposals include a significant increase in the level of support to be offered.

Legislation governing the obligations of bus and train operators in relation to disability has not been devolved to Scottish Ministers and remains a matter that is reserved to the UK Government.

Any wheelchair, mobility scooter or buggy larger than the reference wheelchair dimensions in the Public Service Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2000 may be too large to travel safely in the allocated space. In these circumstances, passengers should contact bus operators before travelling to confirm their policy in this respect as permission to board may be refused if the operator or driver considers there may be a risk to health and safety.

A number of major bus operators have signed up to a code of practice published by the Confederation of Passenger Transport which requires them on request to assess mobility scooter users and their vehicles and issue a photo ID providing a permit to travel if the scooter meets standard requirements in the code.

The Technical Specification for Interoperability: Persons with Reduced Mobility requires train operators to provide manual wheelchair spaces on trains large enough to accommodate a reference wheelchair, the maximum dimensions of which, including the occupant are 1200mm long, 700mm wide and 1350mm high.

Train operators are not required to carry class two electrically powered motability scooters, but some, including ScotRail do, provided these are not excessively large or heavy. Details are provided on request to ScotRail.

Legislation governing technical standards for buses and the obligations of bus operators in relation to disability is reserved to the UK Parliament. The UK Government has no plans for changes to legislation to introduce such an authorisation system.