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The Scottish Government has provided no direct funding to Allergy UK, formerly the British Allergy Foundation, since 2019.

Whilst this is an operational matter for ScotRail and the previous Franchisee, Abellio ScotRail prior to 1 April 2022, ScotRail advises that, as part of the Grant Agreement, ScotRail conducts an annual survey of ticketless travel. The fieldwork for the most recent survey was carried out between 9 September and 23 September 2023 and the results reported that ticketless travel was 5.9%, down from 8.8% in 2022, a reduction of 2.9%.

ScotRail also advises that it invested in a mobile revenue protection team of 42 officers in 2023 who conduct revenue protection experience across the network to ensure that passengers pay their fares. In addition, over 130 frontline roles were recruited to ensure trains and automatic ticket gates are staffed.

There is no quick fix for the challenges leading to depopulation and the Scottish Government is committed to delivering, through its Addressing Depopulation Action Plan, a range of actions which are pragmatic, targeted, and affordable, and respond to what we have heard from communities and stakeholders during policy engagement and development.

The Addressing Depopulation Action Plan will be published shortly, and will ensure that within a challenging budget environment we are able to maximise the impact that our interventions can have in supporting the sustainability of communities affected by population decline.

NHS Pharmacy First Scotland provides advice, treatment or referral to another healthcare professional for a wide range of minor illnesses as well as common clinical conditions such as impetigo, shingles, uncomplicated UTIs, skin infections and hay fever. It is provided by all community pharmacies in Scotland, usually without an appointment.

As part of Pharmacy First, community pharmacists who are independent prescribers can using their prescribing skills to provide a wider range of treatment options.

The service aims to frees up GP practice appointments and pressures on Emergency Departments and Out of Hours (OOH) services, ensuring people get the Right Care at the Right Place at the Right Time. In 2022-23, over 3.6 million Pharmacy First consultations were undertaken.

There are no current plans for community pharmacists to refer patients directly to GP practices or other settings for blood tests.

Whilst this is an operational matter for ScotRail as the service provider, the Member might wish to note that Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes information on the most frequented stations on its website: Regional rail usage | ORR Data Portal Also, ScotRail Trains regularly publishes information on busiest services on its website Busiest trains | ScotRail

The Member may wish to contact ScotRail who might be able to provide a more detailed information, if required.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-24682 on 29 January 2024. 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

This information is not held centrally. NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships are the experts on their communities and are responsible for providing sexual health services that meet local needs. This can sometimes include changing clinic operating times to best match capacity with demand.

Scotland’s winter COVID-19 and flu programme commenced on 4 September, with the majority of the COVID-19 programme due to start from 18 September. We originally planned to vaccinate care home residents, people aged 75 and over and people with weakened immune system aged 12 and over from the middle of October in line with Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice; that protection from COVID-19 vaccines is highest in the first three months following vaccination, so by vaccinating those who are at highest risk later, we planned to give them greater protection over the period of high winter NHS pressures, into the new year.

In light of the emergence of new variant BA.2.86 in late August 2023, the Scottish Government, alongside the other 4 nations, took the precautionary measure to endeavour to bring forward vaccination of care home residents, people aged 75 and over and people with weakened immune system aged 12 and over, as close to the start of the programme, where possible.

All those eligible were invited forward via letter, email or text, prior to Christmas and although the majority of vaccinations were completed before the festive break, appointments are available until the end of the programme on 31 March 2024.

As of 14 January we have delivered 1,384,426 COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine uptake data is publicly available through the PHS dashboard and is updated weekly. It contains data broken down by age and health status. The current COVID-19 uptake is as follows (as of 14 January 2024):

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-21967 on 18 October 2023.

An interim value for money assessment, which includes cross-modal impacts, using a multimodal evaluation of current travel patterns and impact to date in line with His Majesty’s Treasury Green Book principles to be undertaken of value for money is underway. At the end of the Pilot a final evaluation will be undertaken and the Scottish Government will carefully consider its impact and the long-term sustainability of such a proposition.

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 .

(A) Specific allocations for the Rail Enhancement programmes and projects in 2024/25 continue to be considered. The 2024-25 budget allocations for the portfolio of enhancements projects will be made in the coming months.

(B) The Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan commits to all passenger diesel trains being replaced with zero emission alternatives; the order and programme in which that is done continues to be subject to appropriate business cases and available budgets. Funding decisions for Rail Decarbonisation projects are, and continue to be considered against budgets and forecast funding availability.