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The projected construction costs for the Edinburgh Gateway Rail/Tram Interchange station were £41million.

The project has yet to conclude final accounting, however, I can confirm that it will be delivered under budget.

The projected use for the station in the first year of its operation was in the range of 500,000 to 600,000 passengers; a projected monthly or four-weekly patronage was not advised.

Railway station demand is reported in four-week periods. Since the station opened, reported passenger demand has been as follows:

In the longer-term, the use of the station is expected to grow substantially. This is because of significant planned development in the area around the station. This includes some 1,500 new homes immediately north of the station, for which there is passive provision for a footbridge.

The legislation and regulations regarding the use of mobile speed cameras is covered by the Road Traffic Offenders’ Act 1988 (amended by the Road Traffic Act 1991). This legislation allows for the evidence from equipment that is awarded Home Office Type Approval for devices to be used for the detection of the speed of motor vehicles to be admissible in court by way of certification of the record in accordance with Section 20 of the Road Traffic Offenders’ Act 1988, Speeding Offences etc: admissibility of certain evidence. The Scottish Safety Camera Programme uses a variety of fixed, mobile and average speed safety camera types to detect speeding vehicles. All cameras are Home Office Type Approved and calibrated on a regular basis.

The purpose and use of mobile speed cameras is provided in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook of Rules and Guidance (the “Handbook”) (https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/4798/scottish-safety-camera-programme-handbook2.pdf ). This sets out the rules and guidance to enable the Scottish Safety Camera Programme (the “Programme”) to contribute to Scotland’s road safety targets, and to which the Programme must operate. It is intended primarily for staff in the Area Safety Camera Offices and road safety practitioners in the Road Authorities to assist in the identification of safety camera sites and the provision of funding for their operations and activity as part of the Programme.

Consultation with community groups, local governance and scrutiny of Programme activity and operations is realised through existing Community Planning structures, associated Community Safety Partnerships, or other relevant bodies (e.g. Local Authority-led Road Safety Forums) as agreed at a local level with partners in the Local Authority area.

There has been no delay.

I refer the member to the answer that I gave to Ross Thomson, MSP's question in the chamber when we discussed my statement on trauma on 18 January. In reply to his question I said:

“I laid out in my statement the initial priorities for the £5 million spend [in 2017-2018], which include the development and enhancement of services in the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS). I am sure that Ross Thomson will appreciate that, if the SAS could not do triage through its 24/7 trauma desk, there would not be the glue for the rest of the network.

We have asked the [Scottish Trauma Network] steering group to develop some of the more detailed costings, which will include the development of Aberdeen and Dundee [major trauma centres] over the 12 to 18-month period. That goes beyond the £5 million and that work will be on-going. The 12 to 18-month period straddles two financial years and, in planning for 2018-19, I will want to make sure that any additional costs of developing Aberdeen and Dundee are included."

I expect the steering group to develop a phased national implementation plan for the Scottish trauma network by the end of the year. Colleagues from NHS Grampian are fully involved in this work.

Mobile camera vans are deployed to contribute to Scotland’s road safety vision and road safety targets as set out in the Scottish Governments Road Safety Framework to 2020 through targeted camera enforcement and improving driver behaviour. The minimum requirements for new mobile camera sites are set out in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook of Rules and Guidance (the “Handbook”) (https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/4798/scottish-safety-camera-programme-handbook2.pdf ), with evidence of collisions and speeding required. The days and hours of mobile enforcement deployment should reflect local collision and speeding profiles and include consideration of weekend and 24-hour deployment.

The number of officers and civilian staff required to operate them, and what the average hourly cost is of operating a unit, is a matter for Police Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

Since 1 February 2017, inpatient mental health services have been transferred out of the Mulberry Ward at Stracathro Hospital as part of temporary contingency arrangements which were put in place to ensure patient safety. This is resulting in inpatient services that had been provided within the Mulberry Ward Susan Carnegie Centre now being provided within the Carseview Centre in Dundee.

Information on the number of additional support needs teachers which are filled (Full Time Equivalent) by local authority since 2007 is provided in the following table below:

Information on the number of additional support needs teachers which are filled (Full Time Equivalent) by Parliamentary region since 2011 is provided in the following table. Information is only available from 2011 onwards:

Information on vacancies by local authorities and Parliamentary regions is not held.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the reasons for classroom teachers and additional support teachers have for leaving the profession. Therefore no analysis is possible of this information.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting teaching as a high status profession that plays a critical role in society.

We are aiming to raise moral and esteem through our inspirational ‘Teaching Makes People’ recruitment campaign which aims to generate a longer term shift in perception about teaching as a career and has drive a 19% increase in PDGE student intakes to Scottish universities. We are also investing in high quality professional leaning for teachers through the Scottish College for Educational Leadership and by supporting teachers to undertake professional learning at masters level.

Allied to this we have also announced concrete proposals to address workload issues designed to allow teachers to focus on teaching.