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We do not set national targets for its implementation nor intend to do so. We are actively encouraging a public centred care approach which allows people to access services in a way which is comfortable and convenient for them. Where appropriate clinically and for the individual, everyone should have the choice of attending appointments via an easy and convenient Near Me video call and having this as an option has expanded public choice. Feedback can be provided at the end of each Near Me call through a survey and satisfaction rates from those who complete the survey remain high at 97%.

There are currently 54 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) inpatient beds across Scotland for children and adolescents.

Forty eight of these beds are commissioned on a regional basis. These are split across:

• NHS Tayside at Dudhope Young People’s Inpatient Unit - 12 beds;
• NHS Lothian at Melville Young People’s Mental Health Unit - 12 beds;
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde at Skye House Adolescent Inpatient Unit - 24 beds.

These units admit children and young people from Health Boards in that region, with the flexibility to admit from other regions if the unit closest to a child or young person is full.

Additionally, the National Child Psychiatry Inpatient Unit in the Glasgow Royal Hospital for Children has 6 beds for children under 12 years and admits children from across Scotland, based on clinical need.

The Scottish Government remains committed to transparency and officials are working hard to restore this regular reporting. The reports for January, February and March 2022 are being published now, with subsequent months to follow.

We are currently developing a variety of asynchronous communication pathways across health and care in Scotland. Digital health and care developments provide a form of asynchronous communication including the Remote Health Pathways Programme (including the use of Connect Me), My Diabetes My Way, Renal Patient View, Dynamic Scot and vCreate Neuro. Email can also be used in a range of different ways to facilitate asynchronous communication with patients and, depending on local priorities and circumstances, individual Health Boards and local providers of health services continue to implement asynchronous appointments.

Since May 2016, the Scottish Government has maintained a public record of all ministerial engagements, overseas travel, car journeys, domestic travel and gifts received. This includes meeting dates and attendees.

The Member for North East Scotland can find this information online at www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts .

It is for Police Scotland to collect and hold relevant information on their workforce and it would be for them to respond to any requests for information in relation to serving Police Officers with a criminal record. You may wish to view Police Scotland’s web site in regards to the provision of information by that organisation, link attached https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/ .

The Scottish Government meets with the UK Government and devolved governments regularly on a 4-nations basis to discuss tobacco control, including vaping policy. Discussions have included the marketing, availability (including flavourings) and packaging of vaping and e-cigarette products.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information as responsibility for the maintenance of Police vehicles sits with the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable. Police Scotland has confirmed that they hold a stock of replacement dash cameras which can be fitted to their vehicles should one develop a fault; dependant on the locality of the vehicle, type of equipment fitted and the type of fault, this can be done on the same day.

I have asked Police Scotland to write to the member with this information.

We agree that agroforestry and hedgerows can be incorporated throughout agriculturally productive land, offering carbon sequestration and biodiversity benefits. We support this through grants and the initiatives such as the Integrating Trees Network. The Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) is the Scottish Government’s mechanism for providing targeted support to land managers to undertake specific actions on environmental management. Inclusive of contracts issued through the 2022 round of AECS, to date the scheme will have committed over £14.5 million to support the planting or replanting of over 678,000 metres of hedgerows.

In the Climate Change Plan update (CCPu), we committed to ambitious targets for tree planting, rising to 18,000 hectares per year by 2024-25. A range of different types of tree planting, including agroforestry and farm woodlands, contribute to this target which has reporting arrangements in place through the CCPu.

We are aiming to introduce a Natural Environment Bill in year three of this parliamentary session which will contain provisions to put in place statutory targets for nature restoration and a framework for setting, monitoring, enforcing and reporting on those targets.

As at 23 January 2023, the Office of the Public Guardian are processing the following Power of Attorney applications:

• Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 25 May 2022
• Postal submissions received around 10 June 22

An expedited service is available for Power of Attorney applications that are to be processed urgently. Urgent applications will usually be processed within five working days.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13059 on 9 January 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers