Seòmar agus comataidhean

Transformational work is taking place within NHS Dumfries and Galloway with the vast majority of post cataract reviews now discharged to community optometry. This frees up capacity within the hospital eye service. An action plan has also been developed in collaboration with colleagues within West of Scotland to improve access to cataract surgery. This has included additional appointments as part of General Ophthalmic Services to support community optometrists when referring patients with a cataract to ensure that unnecessary referrals are avoided.

As part of the Scottish Governments Waiting times Improvement Plan we are making available more than £102 million to Health Boards in 2019/20, to increase capacity in the system, for example, more staffing, evening and weekend clinics and additional theatre sessions to ensure progress towards delivering the waiting times improvement plan of which more than £2.5 million has been made available to NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work has set up a Programme Review Board to report on the revised schedule and costs for the delivery of vessels 801 and 802 under construction at Ferguson Marine shipyard.

The report is expected to be submitted shortly. When that report has been received, and Ministers have had an opportunity to consider it, Mr Mackay will update Parliament on the content.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work set up a Programme Review Board to report on the revised schedule and costs for the delivery of vessels 801 and 802 under construction at Ferguson Marine shipyard.

The report is expected to be submitted shortly. When that report has been received, and Ministers have had an opportunity to consider it, Mr Mackay will update Parliament on the content.

The following table shows how much has been allocated by the Scottish Government to GP services in NHS Ayrshire and Arran in each of the last five years but it does not represent the full percentage of spend by NHS Ayrshire & Arran.

Table 1 - Allocations to NHS Ayrshire & Arran

The South of Scotland Enterprise Act 2019 provides that Scottish Ministers will appoint the first Chief Executive of South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE), with subsequent chief executives to be appointed by South of Scotland Enterprise with Scottish Ministers’ approval.

The process for appointing the interim Chief Executive of South of Scotland Enterprise is currently underway and will be concluded so that the new Chief Executive is in place to help shape the plans for the new agency in advance of it taking on its responsibilities on 1 April 2020.

We recognise the impact the delay in delivery of both the MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802 has had on the availability of vessels to provide cover in instances where technical faults have caused disruption and as cover during the planned winter maintenance of vessels, albeit reliability of the fleet in 2019 has seen improvement by comparison with the 2018 season.

In recognition of the importance of providing clarity on revised delivery timescales, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work set up a Programme Review Board to report on the revised schedule and costs for the delivery of vessels 801 and 802 under construction at Ferguson Marine shipyard.

The report is expected to be submitted shortly. When that report has been received, and Ministers have had an opportunity to consider it, Mr Mackay will update Parliament on the content.

CalMac have been keeping crewing and training requirements for the new vessels under review and are reporting regularly to Transport Scotland officials.

The 2016 SNP manifesto committed to taking action to reduce ferry fares to Orkney and Shetland. Despite positive engagement, a State aid complaint was made to the European Commission by Pentland Ferries on 8 June 2018 regarding our plans to reduce fares. At this time, we have therefore been unable to implement our preferred ferry fares policy of Road Equivalent Tariff on Northern Isles ferry services so far.

The Scottish Government is engaging directly with the European Commission on the complaints that have been lodged and we look forward, through that work, to establishing an agreed mechanism for delivering RET for Orkney and Shetland.

In the meantime, islanders travelling on Aberdeen-Kirkwall-Lerwick routes will receive a 20% reduction on cabin fares and a three-year freeze on passenger, non-commercial vehicle and cabin fares, coming into effect on 1 January 2020. This package of measures builds on the 30% discount for passenger and vehicle fares already enjoyed by islanders on routes to Shetland.

We are unfortunately not able to consider making any reductions to Pentland Firth fares at this time, until the State aid complaint is resolved. However Ministers remain committed to pursuing all avenues to deliver RET for Orkney and Shetland as soon as possible and to working in a collaborative manner with private operators to deliver the policy.

The Scottish Government is engaging with a range of stakeholders to fully understand the issues being encountered with the various road order processes. This will inform the overall parameters of the work required, and we expect to finalise the review scope in early 2020.

There is a significant amount of work that must be done to implement all the regulations required for the Transport (Scotland) Bill in the coming 12 to 24 months. In addition, we are also working with local authority colleagues and other stakeholders on the development of the parking standards guidance required to enforce the national ban on parking on pavements, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs.