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Table 1: Number and percentage of heart-related repeat hospital admissions: Years ending 31 March 2017-2021

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of women’s refuge places available in each local authority area in each year since 1999. The data that is available relates to the Scottish Women’s Aid provision of refuge accommodation in Scotland, and data is available for each of 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2018. The provision is as described in the following tables:

Refuge accommodation profile in Scotland 2008

The construction of the A92/A96 Haudagain Improvement project is well advanced.

In December 2021 my predecessor announced a revised anticipated date for completion of works allowing roads to open to traffic by the end of March 2022. This revised completion date was based on the latest information reported by the Contractor at the time and was subject to no further disruption occurring due to events such as adverse weather and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Contractor has reported impacts to programme critical work since then due to adverse weather, including a number of high profile named Storms all having an impact on the works (Storm Malik, Storm Corrie, Storm Dudley and Storm Eunice) in addition to cold temperatures causing ground frosts that have prevented programme critical road surfacing works being progressed. This has been compounded by ongoing disruption to the workforce as a result of COVID-19, with over 40% of the on-site workforce having to isolate due to COVID-19 earlier this month, and continued supply chain issues.

In light of the above, I can advise that based on the latest information from the Contractor I now anticipate that the works will be complete to allow the new link road to open to traffic by mid-May 2022 at the latest, although the Contractor is hoping to achieve an earlier date if possible, subject to no further disruption occurring due to adverse weather or the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transport Scotland will continue to engage with the Contractor to ensure that any risks to programme are mitigated where possible and to explore all opportunities to better this anticipated completion date.

We have allocated over £2million additional funding in 2021-22 to NHS Forth Valley to improve CAMHS from our £120m Recovery and Renewal fund.

The Scottish Government national standard is that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral and the latest CAMHS publication reporting to quarter ending 31 December 2021 is available on the PHS website at:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-31-december-2021/

Table 1 shows the total number of patients seen for first treatment following referral to CAMH Services in NHS Forth Valley and the percentage seen within 18 weeks, 19-35 weeks, 36-52 weeks and 53+ for the latest published data for quarter ending 31 December 2021.

Table 1 : Total number of patients seen and waiting times from referral to treatment, quarter ending 31 December 2021, NHS Forth Valley

The information presented in the version of the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) published in July 2019 has been superseded.

Please refer to the amended Final BRIA published in December 2021 which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-final-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/ .

The economic modelling in the amended Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme does not account for any VAT being levied on deposits. That is in line with best practice as set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book ( https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938046/The_Green_Book_2020.pdf ) because VAT is considered to be a transfer payment that does not affect the output or consumption of resources.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission published updated forecasts alongside the 2022-23 Scottish Budget on 9 December 2021.

In line with their forecasts, the Scottish Government is committing £3,949 million to social security assistance in 2022-23, and is investing an additional £2.7 million to uprate eight Scottish benefits by 6% from 1 April, subject to parliamentary approval.

The UK Government Spring Statement was made on 23 March and provided an updated set of Social Security Block Grant Adjustments for 2022-23 which total £3,601 million.

Therefore, the Scottish Government is making an additional investment of over £346 million in the social security benefits in 2022-23.

Social security spending is demand-led which means it is variable and harder to control than other areas of spending. We will manage any variance between actual and forecast expenditure or Block Grant Adjustment, in a competent, responsible and balanced way.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 provides local authorities with a discretionary power to set up workplace parking licensing (WPL) schemes. Section 71 of the 2019 Act defines what constitutes a workplace parking place. Customer parking at retail outlets (except parking for business customers) is not included in the definition of workplace parking and therefore those places could not be included in any local authorities’ WPL scheme.

It will be for local authorities to decide whether they wish to implement WPL locally and to shape proposals to suit local circumstances. Parking places provided for employees and business customers are included in the definition of workplace parking set out in the 2019 Act. Accordingly, employers will be liable for workplace parking for staff within the context of proposals set out by local authorities.

The legislative framework relating to the reporting duties of the Scottish Tribunals in general, and on the Housing and Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland in particular, are outlined in the previous answer to question S6W-06407.

The Scottish Government is content with the legislative framework and relevant reporting duties on the Scottish Tribunals and has no plans to review these at present.

The NHS Recovery Plan, published August 2021, commits an additional £20m for the Detect Cancer Early (DCE) Programme, to provide greater public awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer and support the development of optimal cancer pathways to improve earlier diagnosis rates. Research is currently being undertaken to better understand the possible barriers and levers to early diagnosis that any new DCE campaigns should focus on, with results expected in April.

A symptom-checker tool is included on our public facing website (getcheckedearly.org) to raise awareness of the early signs and symptoms of cancer, including ovarian cancer. A survivor’s story and a link to the ovarian cancer page on DCE’s website will also be shared on wee c social media pages during Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.

On 30 March, the Scottish Parliament will hold a members business debate for ovarian cancer awareness month to raise awareness of the common symptoms.