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On 5 February 2020 the Independent Care Review published its conclusions which became ‘The Promise’ . On the same day the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament agreed to implement all the findings of the Independent Care Review by 2030. The Scottish Government continues to work closely with The Promise Scotland to progress the actions set out in Plan 21-24 and Change Programme ONE .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04361 on
‎ 24 November 2021. 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 overall social security budget for the 2021-22 financial year was set in January 2021, at almost £4 billion. This includes £3.5 billion for demand-led benefits expenditure, and almost £0.5 billion for Social Security Programme implementation investment and Social Security Scotland operating costs.

The Scottish Government has put in place robust processes to manage the risks associated with demand-led expenditure on this scale and the potential impact any variations could have on the wider Scottish Budget. After the financial year has ended, our Budget position will be presented to Parliament in the Provisional Outturn statement and confirmed in the 2021-22 consolidated accounts in the normal way.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of pharmacies that have closed over the past 12 months nor reasons for closures. The provision of community pharmacy pharmaceutical care services are the responsibility of territorial Health Boards as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, including pharmacy closures. Each Health Board holds separate data on those community pharmacies that have been unable to deliver pharmaceutical care services due to closures.

Any challenges faced by community pharmacies in ensuring the safe and effective dispensing of treatments should be discussed with the local Health Board to minimise impact and risk to patients.

ScotRail’s public timetable consultation closed on 1 October 2021 and they are finalising their analysis of responses.

Due to the large volume of responses received, this process is anticipated to take some time to conclude.

The Department for Transport (DfT) publish annual figures on their website on the number of Electric Vehicles (EV’s) registered in the UK, a link can be found here Cars (VEH02) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . This data does not provide a breakdown of EV’s registered per region, data is only available per region on the total number of vehicles registered across all propulsion groups.

The following table which includes the total number of EV's registered in the UK over the last 5 years and the market share they represent.

The Scottish Government will hold a debate in the Scottish Parliament before the end of the year to set out its plan to deliver this commitment.

The plan will detail how every General Practice across Scotland will have access to a Mental Health and Wellbeing Service by April 2026, creating 1,000 additional dedicated staff who can help grow community mental health resilience and help direct social prescribing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04361 on
‎ 24 November 2021. 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 is under extreme pressure due to the pandemic and NHS Ayrshire and Arran, like all Health Boards, is experiencing significant issues, including workforce challenges and high levels of delayed discharge.

To minimise pressures, last month I announced an additional £300 million package of measures to support health and care services. Over and above this and to maximise capacity during winter, we have invested £10 million in two new specialist programmes which aim to provide alternatives to admission and improve processes to ensure timely discharge.

Earlier this month I also announced further funding of £10 million to support Health Boards maintain resilience throughout winter by putting in place a range of measures including ensuring appropriate levels of staffing are in place across the system to facilitate efficient and effective patient care; enhancing front door teams to undertake assessments and avoid admissions, as well as enhancing pharmacists to rapidly respond to referrals and prepare timely discharge medications. NHS Ayrshire and Arran received £715,000 of this funding.

Myself and my senior officials have been meeting regularly with the Executive team at NHS Ayrshire and Arran to agree the immediate actions that will support improvements and minimise delays for patients. We have agreed with the Board a series of actions including a Short Life Working Group which specifically focuses on reducing the number of long delays and the length of time people spend in hospital.

The Victim Surcharge Fund is opened for applications from victim support organisations once sufficient money has accumulated to enable a viable exercise, which in turn is dependent on the number and value of fines imposed by the courts.

The Scottish Government will reopen the Victim Surcharge Fund for applications from victim support organisations to allow funding to be allocated during the 2021-22 financial year.

The funds distributed will depend on the amount that has accumulated in the Fund and the level of successful applications received.