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Transport Scotland is part of the Scottish Government and discussions/meetings with Ministers occur regularly in thenormal course of business. This specific issue was most recently discussed in early September.

The National Out-of-Hours Review Report, Pulling together, was published in November 2015. As part of the implementation of the Review, we are currently considering bids from Health and Social Care Partnerships that explore all aspects of the Review’s recommendations including palliative care.

Sir Lewis Ritchie will be undertaking a further national engagement programme, building on the initial engagement programme to all board areas in Scotland, carried out as part of the original Primary Care Out of Hours Review process where he will discuss these bids in more detail.

The National Out-of-Hours Review Report, Pulling together, was published in November 2015. As part of the implementation of the Review, we are currently considering bids from Health and Social Care Partnerships that explore all aspects of the Review’s recommendations.

We expect NHS boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to use the recommendations in the Review to inform local planning. However, since the integration of health and social care in April 2016, it is the responsibility of HSCPs to coordinate health and care services, commissioning NHS boards and councils to deliver services in line with a local strategic plan to meet the needs of its population. Over time, this will lead to a change in how services are provided with a greater emphasis on preventative services and allowing people to receive care and support in their home or local community rather than being admitted to hospital.

Additionally, our Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care (SFA), which was published in December 2015, sets out our vision that by 2021 everyone who needs palliative and end of life care will have access to it. The SFA was informed by the recommendations in the Review and sets out a series of commitments to realise that ambition including supporting Healthcare Improvement Scotland in providing HSCPs with expertise on testing and implementing improvements in the identification and care co-ordination of those who can benefit from palliative and end of life care.

This work has been carried out by existing members of staff as part of their normal duties. No-one is dedicated exclusively to this work and no additional staff have been employed or redeployed to take forward the work at this stage. In line with usual practice, the number of hours staff have spent on individual tasks has not been recorded.

The Scottish Government expects all public bodies to work towards returning balanced accounts.

Legacy police forces ceased to exist from on 1 April 2013 following the commencement of the new single service and therefore the information requested is not available.

Scotland has delivered over 70% of all new forestry plantings in the UK since 2012 when the new planting target of 100,000 hectares by 2022 was introduced. The Scottish Government is taking decisive action to stimulate new forestry planting to meet this ambitious annual planting target of 10,000 hectares which is still to be achieved.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government maintains regular contact with the Scottish Police Authority on a range of financial matters. This includes regular reporting and review of expected outturn for the financial year.

a) This information is not held centrally.

b) The following table provides the number of attempted suicides in prison as recorded within the SPS Prisoner Records reporting system (PR2):