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An independent team from the Office of the Chief Information Officer carried out a Business Justification review of Police Scotland’s Digital, Data and ICT Programme. The review team provided a delivery confidence assessment of Amber/Green which indicates that, if the programme proceeds as planned, successful delivery appears probable however constant attention will be needed to ensure risks do not materialise into major issues threatening delivery.

All decisions on future funding, including Police Scotland’s Digital, Data and ICT Programme, are being considered as part of the ongoing spending review. Ministers will outline their plans through the draft budget when it is published later this year.

The Scottish Government’s Mental Health Strategy emphasises the importance of prevention, early intervention and accessible services. We are working with employers across Scotland on how they can act to protect and improve mental health, and support employees experiencing poor mental health. A number of local authorities are providing access to specialist training programmes such as The Hive of Wellbeing which aims to support teacher health and wellbeing.

In respect of Initial Teacher Education programmes, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) requires universities to outline the variety of pastoral support strategies in place for student teachers while attending university and while on professional placement, to ensure their wellbeing and progress towards successful completion of the programme. In addition, the suite of Professional Standards managed by the GTCS is currently being revised and I anticipate that mental health of both practitioner and learner to be given greater prominence in revised versions.

In Programme for Government we have committed to improve clinical IT systems in prisons to make services safer and more efficient. The first stage of this is to ensure the current system (INPS Vision) is used fully and consistently across the prison estate. This first stage of work will include analysis of how the system in prisons interface with the Prison Service system as well as a wide range of NHS IT systems and develop approaches for improvement.

Replacing INPS Vision with an improved system will be conducted through the wider GP IT reprovisioning programme. The contracts have not yet been awarded and as a result we do not hold the costing for this.

There are currently 5 electric vehicle charging points at Scottish fire stations to support the Scottish Fire and Rescue Services' electric vehicle fleet. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has applied for Scottish Government funding to install a large number of public EV chargers network at fire stations across the country.

In the current challenging fiscal environment, the Government cannot commit to levels of additional funding on top of the already significant increase provided to colleges in 2018-19 to meet the additional costs of staff harmonisation. The current method of funding national bargaining is the most cost effective way of covering these costs in the transition period while national bargaining is implemented.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) assesses the performance of each college in its regional context using a range of statistical performance data and qualitative information – including the Outcome Agreement targets and national performance measures. This assessment is then published and provides colleges comparative information on their progress.

SFC and Education Scotland also use the How Good is our College framework, which is the framework against which all colleges self-assess the quality of learning and the student experience - these are validated independently by Education Scotland and SFC. This approach requires colleges to reflect on progress against Outcome Agreement targets as well as quality.

Starting this year, Colleges will also be required to grade their own performance and these grades will be assessed, endorsed (or not) and published by Education Scotland and SFC.

As part of our youth employment strategy Developing the Young Workforce we will continue to invest in skills, training and employability to meet the needs of our young people, employers and economy.

In line with the recommendations of the Wood Commission we are committed to the expansion of Foundation Apprenticeships which are already being introduced across Scotland. There are therefore currently no plans to introduce T-Levels in Scotland.

I refer the member to the question S5O-02412 answered on 27 September 2018. The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the Official Report can be viewed at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=11689&i=105876

Further to this, I recently announced that I am establishing a dedicated Victims Task Force. This Task Force will drive delivery of our commitments made in Programme for Government - to ensure victims' voices are heard, to streamline their journey through the criminal justice system, and to provide wide-ranging support and accessible information throughout the process. It will be informed by direct evidence from victims on their experiences of the justice system, and the conversations I have had, and will continue to have, with victims and the families of victims of crime.

As set out in Programme for Government, we will be publishing a Restorative Justice Action Plan in Spring 2019. We are currently working collaboratively with partners across the public and voluntary sector to develop the content of this Action Plan, including consideration of when an offer of restorative justice should be made.

Scottish Government meetings on this matter have largely been focused on information sharing, provision of advice on Scottish Government’s assurance arrangements for IT and digital projects and on financial affordability. The following table lists relevant meetings: