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Please accept my apologies for the significant delay in this response.

The former NHS Tayside Director of Finance took early retirement in accordance with the relevant terms and conditions. There were no other arrangements made between the departing staff member and their former employer and there were no enhancements paid by the Board.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and recognises how this can blight people’s lives. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all forms of antisocial behaviour and our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities.

It is likely that the reduced use of antisocial behaviour fixed penalty notices (FPN) is the result of an overall fall in levels of antisocial behaviour committed in Scotland – as demonstrated by our population surveys and similar to the significant reduction in levels of recorded crime (down 43% since 2006-07) – and the introduction of the Recorded Police Warning scheme, which commenced in January 2016 which provide an additional tool to police when dealing with antisocial behaviour.

The Scottish Government is currently working with a group of local authorities to use their expertise and knowledge to inform, refresh and update all of the guidance documents on tackling antisocial behaviour.

The number and percentage of cases dealt with within 26 weeks of caution and charge to verdict nationally in each year since 2007-08 is shown in the following table:

The Formal Adult Warnings system was replaced with the Recorded Police Warnings scheme in January 2016. Recorded Police Warnings provide a proportionate, formal way of dealing with low level offences which commonly do not result in court action and will still appear on records for two years.

The types of crime covered by the scheme are a matter for the Lord Advocate as part of his independent role as head of the system of prosecution.

Police Scotland have a number of disposals available to them for dealing with young people involved in offending behaviour. The use of restorative justice warnings are just one of those available. Other disposals include early and effective intervention, formal warnings, recorded police warnings and referral to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. The decision on which disposal to use is a matter for police officials.

The use of restorative justice warnings has decreased since 2009-10, however, the use of other disposals has increased during this time. The Youth Justice Strategy Preventing Offending: Getting it right for Children and Young People published by the Scottish Government in 2015 continues to promote a preventative agenda of keeping young people out of formal systems and using early and effective interventions where possible.

In March 2018, Keith Brown, the then Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work advised Parliament that we are committed to opening sections of the road in advance wherever possible but it may be prudent to anticipate a late autumn 2018 date for the overall project opening. I am pleased to advise that the 7km section, between Parkhill (Goval) and Blackdog, opened to traffic on 27 June 2018 and I anticipate further sections of the new road to be available in the coming weeks.

Transport Scotland will continue to work with the contractor to ensure the project is delivered at the earliest opportunity.

I look forward to the considerable benefits being delivered when the remaining sections of the AWPR open in the coming months.

Until the re-planning exercise is complete, it would be premature to make comment on the costs of integration, which will evolve as the Programme develops and decisions are reached.

Our first priority is always public safety and our risk appetite, as agreed through the Joint Programme Board, remains low. Until the re-planning exercise is completed, it would be premature to make comment on ICT requirements and costs.

The Mobilisation Transition and Transformation (MTT) Programme was established to: coordinate the requirements for operational integration; to design and implement a transition plan for full integration at 1 April 2019; and to consider future transformation of the service. The detailed work it undertook informed the decision to delay integration, having established that significant operational aspects would not be ready by April 2019. Following that decision, and to complement the re-planning exercise, a decision was taken by Joint Programme Board partners to refresh and strengthen the Programme’s governance arrangements, which has led to the creation of a cross-organisational Programme Management Office.

A critical path for the re-plan has been developed and detailed workshops are now underway. We anticipate that the re-planning exercise will be completed by the end of August, at which point the Programme will be subject to a robust, independent deliverability assessment in mid-September.

The development of railway policing agreements is on-going. There are interdependencies with other parts of the Programme, for example the cost allocation model, and so there will be a clearer picture on timescales once the‎ re-planning exercise is completed.