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The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme Lead, who conducts the annual review process, meets with NHS boards on behalf of Scottish Government. This engagement allows us to understand the provision of stroke services, including training and staff capacity across NHS boards, and where challenges or opportunities for sharing good practice exist.

Scottish Government representatives also sit on the National Advisory Committee for Stroke (NACS), where specialists from NHS boards across Scotland provide expert advice and recommendations relating to Scottish Government policy for the provision of stroke care. NACS has recently developed the Progressive Stroke Pathway ( Strokes: progressive stroke pathway - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ), which was published on 22 March 2022. This document sets out an ambitious vision of what a progressive stroke service in Scotland should look like.

The rehabilitation sub-group of NACS, which is made up of specialists across a range of disciplines from various NHS boards in Scotland, played an important role in helping to shape the Progressive Stroke Pathway recommendations relating to stroke rehabilitation services. On the back of this input, the Progressive Stroke Pathway makes a number of recommendations relating to the provision of stroke care, and the contributions of appropriate training and staff capacity in helping deliver this.

We will continue to engage regularly with these specialists from across Scottish NHS boards as we move into the implementation phase, considering the recommendations made in the Progressive Stroke Pathway.

The Scottish Government does not currently have plans to conduct an under 16 cancer patient survey. The Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer published a strategy in September 2021, ‘ Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care ’, which commits to improving services nationally and supporting a consistent approach to care and treatment across the country for children and young people up to the age of 25. This strategy was developed through consultation with service users, parents and carers, partner organisations and NHS Scotland staff.

On 11 March 2022, we published the National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy.

As part of the Strategy, we have committed to taking forward specific actions to improve how we gather, use and assess NHS Workforce data. This includes taking steps to improve the demographic data we collect and the analysis we undertake of data obtained at different geographic levels within our health and social care system.

The Strategy further commits us to taking forward complementary actions to improve workforce planning capacity and capability within our health boards and health and social care partnerships (HSCPs).

New guidance has already been communicated to health boards and HSCPs to support the production of demand-led 3-year workforce plans, supported by local systems’ workforce data. Later this year we will also publish new staffing projections for health and social care.

Complementary data systems and data improvement work is taking place, as part of the Implementation Programme being established to support delivery of the Workforce Strategy. We have undertaken to publish annual updates outlining progress with the Strategy’s implementation, in support of our tri-partite ambition to achieve long-term workforce sustainability through recovery, growth and service transformation.

Between December 2019 to March 2022 Transport Scotland undertook regular meetings with trade unions, staff representatives and passenger/transport groups at which the subject of ScotRail services moving to a Scottish Government owned operator i.e. ScotRail Trains Limited from 1 April 2022 would have been discussed.

The former Minister for Transport, Mr Dey, met with the collective Rail Trade Unions twice and individually with them once, with the exception of RMT who declined to meet at the time. There was a third collective meeting schedule to take place on the day Mr Dey resigned.

I have had one collective Rail Trade Unions meeting and have held five individual meetings with Trade Union representatives. Public ownership was discussed at all these meetings along with other issues such as pay negotiations and industrial relations for example.

The former Minister for Transport also met with Transport Focus and I met with Transport Focus on 21 April where I provided an update on the transition from Abellio ScotRail to ScotRail Trains Ltd.

This is a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland. The information requested is not held centrally.

CalMac Ferries ltd is not listed as a Relevant Authority in the Islands (Scotland) Act, and is therefore not subject to duties under the Act.

Scottish Government has not discussed the Treasure Cave building with Dumfries and Galloway Council as enforcement is wholly the responsibility of the local authority. Council officials did not seek support from Scottish Government in relation to addressing the state of the building.

Dumfries and Galloway Council served a Dangerous Building Notice under Section 30 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 on 19 November 2021. The owner of the building recently made arrangements to comply with the notice by appointing a contractor to demolish the building. Demolition is expected to begin on 16 May 2022 and last three weeks. The road will be reopened once the demolition works are complete and the danger has been removed.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publish the number of ‘Funded Places’ and ‘Students Eligible for Funding’ in the Official Statistics release “Students Eligible for Funding” here:

https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-statistics/statistical-publications/2021/SFCST042021.aspx

with historic publications available here:

https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-statistics/statistical-publications/statistics-schedule/statistical-publication-schedule.aspx

No split by domicile for ‘funded places’ is available.

Concerns about the impact of fireworks on animals has been a strong theme to emerge from both the 2019 and 2021 public consultations on fireworks, and I am grateful to the Dogs Trust, and other animal charities, for their continued engagement throughout our journey with fireworks.

All of the measures within the Bill, including the licensing system, have been developed following a significant programme of consultation, engagement and evidence gathering. This includes the work of the independent advisory Firework Review Group, who considered all of the evidence available and took an options appraisal approach to make a series of recommendations for change to the Scottish Government. The licensing system implements the Group’s recommendation that mandatory conditions should be introduced at the point of sale of fireworks to ensure that the purchase and use of fireworks is a well thought out and planned transaction.

The licensing system has been carefully developed to ensure that robust checks and balances are in place before a member of the public can purchase and use fireworks. This includes a mandatory requirement to successfully complete a training course, which will inform applicants of how to use fireworks in a safe and lawful manner, as well as understanding the impact that fireworks can have on others, including animals.

It is considered that the licensing system strikes the balance between introducing proportionate measures without placing overly restrictive barriers on the legitimate use of fireworks by members of the public, and there are no current plans to require licence holders to record on the relevant local authority website any display that they intend to hold.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has robust procedures in place to ensure complaints are fully investigated and any complaint is considered confidential while being progressed. I am not aware of the details of any complaints made against the SFRS Chief Officer, but I was given initial notice of the situation on 18 February 2022.