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The great majority of abortions in Scotland are early medical abortions, where one or both medications are taken at home. These patients do not require bed spaces. Only a small minority of abortion patients require inpatient treatment, mostly as a day patient.

Whilst factors, including access to a bed, may sometimes cause a delay, Health Boards do their best to ensure patients can access abortion treatment as quickly as possible.

During the first trimester, all mainland NHS Boards within Scotland are able to offer surgical abortions, although access to surgical abortion is limited in some Health Board areas.

Currently no Health Board in Scotland is able to provide second trimester surgical abortions; if a patient is unable to access a medical abortion locally in the second trimester (over 20 weeks’ gestation), their Health Board will refer them to a service in England for treatment.

The £46 million funding was intended to support strategic change in the college and university sectors and was not part of the core teaching funding allocations. Despite a very challenging financial climate, the Scottish Government committed nearly £2 billion to Scotland’s universities and colleges in 2023-24. Part of the reason for withdrawing the £46 million funding was to allow the Scottish Government to fund public sector pay deals. Strategic change remains necessary and we will be taking this forward with the Scottish Funding Council, colleges and universities in the context of reform, building on the purpose and principles for post-school education published in June 2023. This can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/post-school-education-research-skills-purpose-principles/

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table shows the number of breaches where an authorised mobile telephone was used in the prison setting up to and including 31 July 2023, when the provision was withdrawn:

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Prison issue mobile telephones for use by those in our care, were withdrawn from use on 31 July 2023.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The total cost for providing prisoners with mobile phones since the roll out in June 2020 and the end of the provision in July 2023 has been £5.972m. These figures include all costs associated with usage, running costs and mobile handsets purchased, as well as the capital implementation spend.

Introduced during the COVID-19 global pandemic, prison issue mobile phones provided those in our care with the ability to maintain contact with family and friends during an extremely difficult and challenging period.

The monthly passenger carrying statistics on each route in the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract with Serco NorthLink from January 2023 up to the latest available figures can be found on Serco NorthLink Ferries’ website here: NorthLink Statistics | NorthLink Ferries .

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manage 204,782 hectares of woodland within the rainforest zone, of which 17,960 hectares are considered to be rainforest habitat, or of high potential to be restored to rainforest habitat. These consist of PlantLife IPA, and other areas of ancient woodland sites. Within the Rainforest zone 13,297 hectares of Scotland’s National Forests and Land are classified as plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS).

FLS will begin restoration of up to 780 hectares of priority rainforest area this year in Cowal, Argyll (Kintyre & West Loch Awe), Loch Lomond Basin, Wester Ross. Activity will include INNS control, PAWS restoration and deer management.

It is anticipated natural colonisation will occur within PAWS under restoration and generally throughout rainforest habitat following a reduction in deer densities, buffering zones for natural colonisation are being planned within Land Management Plans.

We seek to ensure that people can access vaccination appointments as close to home as possible. Health Boards continue to recognise and support the needs of rural communities in planning and delivering the winter vaccination programme.

Health Boards continue to use outreach options to provide vaccination in rural areas. This winter, community pharmacies, ‘pop-up’ clinics and support from Scottish Ambulance Service mobile unit teams have been used to improve access and reduce travel distances.

Most Health Boards aim for a maximum travel distance of 10 miles or a travel time of 15-30 minutes and always consider public transport routes when choosing vaccination venues.

Community support and local transport solutions are utilised where possible in order to support those with additional barriers. Boards are also able to utilise local intelligence and provide flexible options including some weekend and evening appointments.

When booking their vaccination, I would encourage people to continue to check the online portal or call the national vaccination helpline as new appointments do become available regularly.

A transport appraisal of passenger and freight ferry services between the Northern Isles and the Scottish mainland, in line with the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), was undertaken in 2016-2017 to inform the specification of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract awarded in 2020. The study report is published here:

final-report-appraisal-of-options-for-specification-of-2018-northern-isles-ferry-services-april-2018.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

Serco NorthLink Ferries (SNF), as operator of the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract, keeps freight services under review and discusses these regularly with key stakeholders and Transport Scotland. SNF publish its carrying statistics, including freight, here:

NorthLink Statistics | NorthLink Ferries