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As announced by myself on 4 October 2022, more than £600 million of funding is provided through the 2022-23 budget to support a range of measures to support the Health & Social Care system through the winter period. This builds on £1 billion of investment already announced in the earlier 2021-26 NHS recovery plan, and includes £550 million of additional funding and the continuation of the £50 million of Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative from the recovery plan.

We are aiming for the Government-owned ferry fleet to make the strongest possible contribution towards achieving our target of a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2045.

Addressing Rail accessibility remains a matter reserved to the UK Government, and the removal of the station ramps was driven by changes made by the industry safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

To ensure compliance with the regulations, ScotRail is implementing a priority project to rollout the new ramps now required. This is due to the implementation of a new ORR specified standard and is being implemented widely across the UK.

The following table provides the information requested.

The review of the British Wool Board is being conducted by Defra in collaboration with British Wool and the Devolved Administrations. The review is intended to produce a set of recommendations for improvements to the current model which will be agreed by UK and Devolved Ministers. In part this will be looking at:

• The merits of the current model for UK producers and Administrations and what improvements could be made within the existing framework:
• An Assessment of the changes that would be needed to the legislation, along with a timescale for implementation

The final report and recommendations is expected to be completed and signed off by all Ministers by the end of the year.

The inspection of independent schools as outlined in the question were carried out for the following reasons:

• "special inspections" which are generally in response to concerns being raised over the quality of provision for children and young people or safeguarding concerns being identified. HM Inspectors carried out inspections in independent schools in response to requests from Scottish Ministers.

• "post registration inspections" which, in line with Scottish Government guidance, should be carried out by HM Inspectors within nine months of opening. Post registration inspections continued to be carried out as soon as was practicable taking account of the impact of the pandemic. HM Inspectors carried out inspections in independent schools for post-registration purposes.

Since March 2020 HM Inspectors have focused on engaging with schools, colleges, and services throughout Scotland to provide support and contribute to the overall recovery of the education system. In academic year 2021-22, HM Inspectors engaged with over 400 schools and settings. This included visits to 112 schools, settings and services that were identified, pre-pandemic, as requiring a further inspection. It also included recovery visits to 148 schools and settings to learn about their own current priorities as they responded to the impact of the current pandemic, what was working well, and the challenges education practitioners faced. HM Inspectors carried out four national thematic inspections involving engagement with 148 schools, settings and services.

We are progressing the recommendations made in the independent Deer Working Group (DWG) report , published in December 2020. The Scottish Government response to the DWG report is at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/news/deer-working-group-response/

The recommendations that require legislative changes are being taken forward via the legislative workstream of the Deer Management Strategic Board which has been established under the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Programme. The legislative recommendations will be implemented in this parliamentary session, as we set out in our 2021-22 Programme for Government. We will provide more detail on the timing of changes to legislation in due course. We expect to consult on any proposed changes to primary legislation in the normal way.

Regular updates on all of the work from the Deer Management Strategic Board can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.scot/groups/strategic-deer-management-board/

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10530 on 28 September 2022. The Scottish Government has committed to publishing further information on the recruitment of Staff to the National Treatment Centres, as part of the NHS Scotland Workforce Statistics, from 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

The NHS Recovery Plan Update published on 4 October provides an overview of progress during the first year since its publication and identifies key risks, such as high levels of uncertainty on the future trajectory of Covid-19 and its potential for increased Covid related pressures on the system, and mitigations. However, the ambitious targets to increase planned care capacity set out in the NHS Recovery Plan remain a key commitment.

Of the additional 55,000 inpatient / daycase procedures by 2025/26 committed to in the NHS Recovery Plan, 40,000 is expected to come from the National Treatment Centres (NTCs). In 2023, three NTCs in NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Highland are due to open, along with the completed expansion of the NHS Golden Jubilee University National Hospital. In the first year of opening, these centres are projected to deliver an additional 12,250 procedures. This is in addition to the procedures delivered at the National Eye Centre which opened in November 2020.

In addition to the NTCs, we are working closely with the NHS Boards and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) on accelerating implementation of improvement programmes across all NHS Boards to maximise capacity, reduce variation and increase theatre efficiencies, including Active Clinical Referral Treatment and Patient Initiated Review, freeing up additional capacity in the NHS system. We are also developing ‘Once for Scotland’ pathways, harnessing all opportunities to deliver patient care in the right place and closer to home, this includes maximising day case procedures to avoid any unnecessary stays in hospital.

We are continuing to work closely with Boards with NTC projects currently under development and will define when the additional capacity will come on stream as part of the ongoing business case development.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-11493 on 26 October 2022 and S6T00915 on 25 October 2022.

The answer to Topical Question S6T-00915 can be found here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-25-10-2022?meeting=13939&iob=126317#16180

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