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Investment of over £1.6 billion for social care and integration in the 2022-23 budget progresses our commitment to increase spend in social care specifically by 25% – over £840 million – by the end of this parliament, and supports measures to strengthen the implementation of Self-directed Support, improve prevention and early intervention and to increase the delivery of more community-based support.

The Scottish Government has also committed to abolishing charges for non-residential social care and support and we are currently working with stakeholders to develop options to do so as soon as practicable.

The Resource Spending Review is due to be published in May 2022 and will include details on the Scottish Government’s multi-year funding arrangements across all Portfolios.

The total amount of publicly available electric vehicle charge points registered on the ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) network are as follows -

31 December 2019 = 1226

24 April 2022 (latest update) = 2244

Using satellite data and computer modelling, Forest Research have recently issued a revised estimate of around 8,000 hectares of forests impacted by the winter storms. This equates to around 16 million trees that have been blown over or otherwise damaged.

After Storm Arwen at the end of November, Scottish Forestry and Confor brought together the industry to take a strategic and collective view and co-ordinate the recovery of the fallen wood so that it can get to market in a safe and timely manner. Many landowners are still clearing up and this will continue for months to come, and will continue to be supported in that work by the Scottish Government and its agencies.

We recognise the significant pressure on Orthopaedic Waiting Times, and actions to address this are being considered within the wider context of planned care recovery.

We are working closely with Boards to finalise planned care activity plans, including for orthopaedics, for 2022-23, which will be critical to stabilising and improving our health and social care system in the medium term.

The National Treatment Centre (NTC) Programme will deliver the single biggest increase in protected planned care capacity ever created in NHSScotland. The network of 10 NTCs, will deliver capacity for over 40,000 additional planned procedures and diagnostic care across 12 specialities. Within next 18 months, NTCs will open in NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Highland and at NHS Golden Jubilee specialising in orthopaedic surgery. On 13 April, we also announced £1.8m of funding to purchase a private hospital in Ayrshire (Carrick Glen) to be developed into a new National Treatment Centre specialising in orthopaedics.

As well as significant investment in new infrastructure, the new NHSScotland Centre for Sustainable Delivery is also leading work to explore new and innovative ideas to reduce In Patient / Day Case and Outpatient waiting times. Examples include:

• The rollout of Active Clinical Referral Triage, to provide patients with information about non-surgical interventions and self-management options;
• Patient Initiated Reviews, enabling patients to be escalated if their condition deteriorates and reduces routine appointments while supporting patients in a safe and clinically appropriate manner; and
• Enhanced Recovery after Surgery pathways, designed to support patients achieve faster recovery after surgery.

Discussions are also progressing with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to build clinical leadership across all specialties to help innovate and drive productive opportunities to support the recovery of planned care.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05015 on 7 January 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

We set up the super sponsor scheme to remove the need for displaced people from Ukraine to have to apply for a visa with a named person as sponsor. When applying for their visa, displaced people can only select one sponsor – so they can select the Scottish Government as their sponsor or a specific individual host. Selecting the Scottish Government allows people to apply for their visa straight away, and not wait to be matched with an individual host. It also ensures that people are accommodated safely when they arrive, before being matched to longer-term accommodation.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) uses the national waiting times warehouse to collect electronic patient records covering the waits that patients experience waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case under the Treatment Time Guarantee. This data source can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment. However, although the records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, for patients who have completed their wait, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect that actually performed after they were admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the warehouse. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that is planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for inpatient or day case treatment at specialty level are published up to 31 December 2021 and can be found using the link below:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/11657/ipdc_feb22.xlsx .

The Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland (SAPRS) is a joint initiative supported by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Government, Plan stakeholders and partners.

I refer to the response I gave on 7 March 2022 (S6W-06724). An evaluation of the SAPRS is currently underway; it will be published in Summer 2022.

This evaluation will help inform what future action is needed to drive forward co-ordination and delivery of skills for rural Scotland.

Anyone experiencing long term effects following vaccination should speak to their GP or clinician involved in their care. They should expect an equal level of care for their condition to those with similar conditions not caused by vaccination. Those experiencing side effects from the vaccination can report these using the MHRA yellow card scheme.

Currently there are no plans for a separate public inquiry into the alleged historic abuse at Fornethy House Residential School. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has the remit to consider the extent to which institutions and bodies with legal responsibility for the care of children failed in their duty to protect children in care in Scotland from abuse, regardless of where that abuse occurred.