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As at 1 October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland )

The Scottish Government does not hold a global figure for the percentage of practices with dedicated mental health professionals. However, at 31 March 2022, nearly 80% of GP practices across Scotland had access to a Mental Health Worker under the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) and Action 15 alone. Further detail is set out in the latest PCIF data which was published on 21 June 2022 - ( Primary Care Improvement Plans: Summary of Implementation Progress at March 2022 ).

In total, 259.9 WTE mental health workers have been recruited under the PCIF as at March 2022. Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, an additional 356.1 WTE posts were recruited to GP practices by the end of the commitment. Further detail is available in the quarterly performance update on Action 15 implementation published on 12 July 2022 ( Mental health workers: quarterly performance reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).

There are also mental health professionals directly employed by GP practices in addition to those employed under the PCIF and Action 15. Mental health professionals employed directly by GP practices are not separately identifiable within the published GP in-hours workforce survey results . However, we expect numbers to be relatively small.

UCAS published acceptance statistics from 9 August for the 2022 Cycle, UCAS does not publish data broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government gathers data on peatland restoration carried out by the Peatland ACTION programme each financial year in hectares (ha). The total number of restored hectares of peatlands in 2020-21 was 5,658ha; and the total number of restored hectares of peatlands in 2021-22 was 5,370ha.In 2022-23, we are on track to deliver a substantial increase in the number of hectares restored.

We are committed to further increasing the annual area of peatland we restore. To support this we are gathering evidence on the key bottlenecks as well as how we can best target restoration activity to deliver maximum value for money in terms of carbon, biodiversity and just transition outcomes.

We remain committed to making regulations under section 4 of the Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2020 to enable marriages to become civil partnerships.

We are currently in discussion with the UK Government on reserved consequential legislation and will consider timings once these discussions have completed.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-08524 on 19 May 2022 and S6W-08585 on 7 June 2022. 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

Official Statistics on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions are based on a disaggregation of the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory. At the time of writing, the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory does not allow for the isolation of data for emissions from the incineration of fossil carbon hence statistics at this level are not available.

We have committed to update Parliament regarding publication of the Project Neptune report and planned next steps and will do so after the summer recess.

The timing of the next report on roads will be a matter for Audit Scotland to consider in the planning of their work programme. The Accounts Commission and Auditor General for Scotland last published their report on Maintaining Scotland’s Roads in August 2016.

The Audit Scotland report on Maintaining Scotland’s Roads provides information on how road maintenance funding, spending and condition is measured and published. It is for Audit Scotland to determine how it does this.

PEF National Operational Guidance is intended to help schools plan how they will most effectively invest their Pupil Equity Funding allocation to improve the educational outcomes of children affected by poverty. Local authorities also issue complementary guidance about how the funding will operate locally.

The PEF National Operational guidance includes key principles which state that ‘Headteachers must develop a clear rationale for use of funding, based on a robust contextual analysis of relevant data which identifies the poverty-related attainment gap in their schools.’ Schools must also have plans in place at the outset to evaluate the impact of the funding. These plans should outline clear outcomes to be achieved and how progress towards these, and the impact on closing the poverty-related attainment gap, will be measured.

To be clear, this should be done within existing local authority reporting processes to their Parent Council and Forum, including in their annual School Improvement Plans and Standards and Quality Reports. These plans and reports must be made publicly available so that parents and carers can easily access, understand and where appropriate, challenge, what is happening in their school with regard to Pupil Equity Funding. The arrangements for publication are confirmed by the relevant local authority.

One specific example of the effectiveness of collaboration with the Police can be found in Education Scotland’s ‘Pupil Equity Funding: Looking inwards, outwards, forwards’ publication. It cites evidence from Eastbank Academy in Glasgow where the school reports that a PEF-funded partnership with Police Scotland has contributed to increased participation and engagement of identified young people. A link to that publication can be found here: Pupil Equity Funding: Looking inwards, outwards, forwards (education.gov.scot)

We are committed to improving the experiences of children and young people with additional support needs at key transition points.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (“the 2004 Act”) requires authorities to plan for the transition of a child or young person when they are moving between provisions and when they are leaving school.

We provide statutory guidance to education authorities and schools on their responsibilities under the 2004 Act. This includes clear guidance on supporting transitions and the provision of flexible packages of support and learning for pupils. As part of our response to the Additional Support for Learning Review, we are working with partners to consider how to further strengthen guidance in this area.

We are also committed to introducing Scotland’s first National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy in this Parliamentary term to ensure there is a joined-up approach to supporting our disabled young people as they make the transition to adult life.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Where possible, the use of the Virtual Court process should be facilitated in the first instance, either from Police Custody Units (PCU’s) or mainland prisons, unless the individual is directed to appear in person by the Sheriff.

Where an escort is required to facilitate a court appearance in person, and the flight to that island is not available, or the airport is not available, the service provider is required to ensure that they have planned and organised the transportation of the individual(s) with sufficient time to ensure the person and escorting staff arrive in time for the scheduled court appearance.

This may mean organising ferry transport to the Scottish islands, and potentially liaising with SPS to temporarily locate the individual at an establishment closest to the ferry terminal if they have travelled from a significant distance.

Where required, the service provider may also need to liaise with Police Scotland to locate the individual in local legalised police cells overnight prior to, or after, the court appearance if off island transport is not available.