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The Scottish Government does not hold this information. It would be a matter for individual GP practices in England to decide whether or not to register patients outside their practice areas.

National maximum class sizes for different types of class are set through legislation or in teachers’ terms and conditions. Any additional provision, for example, for small schools, is a matter of local policy.

The Scottish Government has had no formal discussions with Dumfries & Galloway Council regarding its policy on staff thresholds in small rural schools.

Scottish Government officials work closely with transport operators and disabled peoples organisations to improve the experience of disabled passengers and remove the barriers which prevent them from travelling, or make their journey an unpleasant experience.

Significant progress has been made since the creation of the Accessible Travel Framework in 2016 to remove or reduce barriers to travel but we are cognisant that more can still be done. Through engagement with disabled people and their organisations we are aware that the lack of accessible toilets in and around transport hubs can be a contributing factor to preventing people from travelling.

The Ferries Accessibility Fund awarded funding of around £427,000 towards a range of projects to improve accessibility across the ferry network which included changing places facilities on vessels on both the Northern Isles and Clyde & Hebrides ferry networks. Rail accessibility remains a reserved matter to the UK Government under the Devolution Settlement, however Transport Scotland continues to work closely with Train Operating Companies and Network Rail to ensure the provision of accessible toilets in rail stations and rolling stock remains compliant with the Design Standards for Accessible Railway Stations and Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations.

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing all of the recommendations of Baroness Cumberlege’s Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, entitled First Do No Harm, where they relate to the responsibilities of the Scottish Government. The steps being taken to achieve this are set out in the Scottish Government’s Delivery Plan - published on 24 March..

The Delivery Plan describes a programme of work based on a multi-layered approach to rapidly reduce, and eventually eradicate, harm associated with mesh, sodium valproate and Primidos applicable and relevant to the Scottish context. To do this, the Scottish Government will work collaboratively with colleagues across the NHS and representative groups to agree and implement this work programme across Scotland.

In relation to sodium valproate specifically, through implementation of the Neurological Care and Support Framework , the Scottish Government is funding the development of an epilepsy register in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Tayside and NHS Lanarkshire, with a view to roll out across all NHS Boards in Scotland. Initial discussions have been held regarding the potential to link with UK-wide data sets facilitated by MHRA, in order to ensure alignment with a UK-wide valproate registry.

Following the criminal cyber-attack on SEPA in December 2020, the Scottish Government is working with SEPA, Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, to a clear recovery strategy in response to a complex and sophisticated cyber-attack.

As part of this recovery strategy, frontline regulatory and flood warning services continue to be prioritised. SEPA’s Floodline and Pollution Hotline contact points continue to operate. The agency has increased resource to respond to customer enquiries, with customer enquiry backlogs, in areas such as environmental incident and permitting, being cleared.

SEPA has advised that regulatory teams have been deployed on over 170 occasions since January. Furthermore, 154 flood guidance statements have been issued and over 1045 regional flood alerts and local flood warnings have been issued.

SEPA has reported that since January, over 1,650 industrial pollution prevention and control, water environment, waste and other authorisations have been issued, with new high volume online services introduced for registrations of septic tanks. The Agency has completed or is progressing 304 planning cases to support Scotland’s recovery, engaging with 33 of 39 local councils to date.

Accessibility is a reserved matter under the Devolution Settlement and for rail accessibility there is a DfT-sponsored fund, Access for All, that enables eligible projects to be supported. Unfortunately, Kirkconnel did not fulfil the criteria for funding under that programme. Accordingly, an application was made by SWestrans to the Scottish Government’s Local Rail Development Fund to assess the need for the bridge.

The application was successful and £30,000 was allocated for a study. SWestrans subsequently began engagement with the local community and disability representatives which was then unfortunately paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions. Transport Scotland is keen SWestrans continues to make progress with this project and will work with SWestrans to provide any assistance if required.

As a result of the easing of the COVID restrictions the ScotRail timetable changed on 17 May adding over 400 extra trains across the Scottish network including two additional Glasgow to Dumfries services in each direction.

It is clear that this is an extremely difficult time for businesses of all kinds across Scotland, and the Scottish Government is fully aware of the economic impact that restrictions have had, not least on the food and drink wholesale sector. Whilst we know there will continue to be challenges that lie ahead, we are encouraged that there is a routemap for reopening the economy and that this will have a positive effect, in time, on businesses throughout Scotland.

We have already provided significant direct support to the food and drink wholesale sector over the last year, specifically through the £5.5m Scottish Wholesale Food and Drink Resilience Fund -a provision of financial support that has not been available elsewhere in the UK. Food and drink wholesale businesses have also been able to access a range of other public sector support schemes to support business and protect jobs, including the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund, Bounce Back Loans, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans, hardship and discretionary grants, and the Job Retention Scheme.

We will continue to review the impacts on all businesses throughout Scotland. Businesses should continue to monitor the guidance, advice and tools for all sectors across Scotland which is available at: https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/

We are continuing to work with businesses and representative organisations, including the Scottish Wholesale Association, to better understand the challenges they face, and we will closely monitor the situation as the economy reopens.

The national Clinical Prioritisation Framework for Supporting Elective Care across NHS Scotland was published in November last year.  This Framework sets out the key principles that NHS Boards should follow when considering decisions around prioritising cases on their elective care waiting lists during the COVID-19 pandemic. The expectation is that NHS Boards will follow these principles to categorise patients based on their particular clinical needs, ensuring patients with the greatest need are treated quickest.

NHS Dumfries & Galloway are currently treating patients on the basis of their clinical urgency and in line with the Clinical Prioritisation Framework.  In addition to support Orthopaedic patients the Board are actively sending patients to the NHS Golden Jubilee National Hospital for treatment.

Due to the necessary infection prevention control measures in place, surgical capacity will increase over time with the safety of patients and staff maintained at all times.  Every effort is being made to support the NHS to mobilise as safely and as quickly as possible.