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The process to return Glasgow Prestwick Airport to the private sector continues and decisions have still to be taken in relation to the prospective sale of the business. We have committed to updating Parliament on the sale process at the appropriate stage and to protect the integrity of the process we will not be making any further comment at this time.

Discussions between Glasgow Prestwick Airport and parties interested in purchasing the business are commercially confidential. Any interested party will, however, be aware of all the sources of the airport’s revenue through their due diligence process with the airport.

Proposals to the Bus Partnership Fund are assessed against criteria which focus on the climate benefits of mode shift from private car to public transport. The criteria and weightings are as follows:

• Evidence of congestion and ideas to reduce congestion, through improved bus services (40%)

• How the proposal fits with the partnership area’s overall strategy for integrated transport, to encourage a modal shift from cars to more sustainable transport and reduce emissions (25%)

• Partnership strength and demonstrated commitment, which will include match in kind (20%)

• Deliverability: the ability of the lead local authority and its partners to deliver the proposed developments, including local political buy-in (15%)

Successful bidders to the fund are required to submit monthly progress reports to Transport Scotland. Each subsequent tranche of funding will be dependent upon their passing gateway reviews, which will provide further assurance that the funded infrastructure developments support action on climate change.

(i)The Third Sector Resilience Fund

(a) The £25 million Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF) was open to all third sector organisations (TSOs) in Scotland affected financially by Covid-19.

(b) 151 awards totalling £2,518,605 were made to organisations under the category “Creative Industries” which included theatres and workshops.

An analysis of the TSRF was published in November 2020 -

Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF): analysis of applications and wards - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

(ii) Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund

Data for awards made specifically to performing arts venues through the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund is unavailable at this time. 154 awards were, however, made to businesses which fell within the Creative Industries sector accounting for £12.473 million of the funding awarded. This fund ran concurrently with the Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund through which 552 payments were made to businesses classified as being in the creative industries sector contributing £5.725 million of funding.

Additionally, a total of £24.5 Million has been available specifically to performing arts venues via the Performing Arts Venue Relief Fund which was distributed in two stages. This is in addition to the £28 million made available through the Cultural Organisations and Venue relief fund which was also distributed in two stages.

(iii) Heritage Emergency Fund

The Heritage Emergency Fund is a UK wide fund supported by the National Lottery. Further information on funded schemes can be found at www.heritagefund.org.uk or alternatively contact scotlandcontact@heritagefund.org.uk.

As outlined in the response to S6W-00053 on 26 May 2021, the Scottish Government provided Openreach with a finalised speed and coverage template (or SCT) for the R100 North lot (Lot 1) contract at the end of March 2021. Openreach has completed its remodelling exercise and having been reviewed through Scottish Government governance and assurance structures, it is now undergoing rigorous review through Building Digital UK (BDUK). The full picture across the R100 North lot contract area is still expected to be available in the coming weeks. Our online address checker will be updated to reflect this information once assurance checks are complete and the contract change has been approved. 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 .

Transport Scotland continues to progress detailed proposals to deliver the Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan which was published in July 2020. rail-services-decarbonisation-action-plan.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

This includes developing the potential options to serve the West Highland Line by hydrogen or battery trains as well as considering partial or full electrification of the Highland Main Line. As set out in the action plan, these are longer term projects that will contribute to our commitment to decarbonise passenger services by 2035. A full update on progress with the action plan will be provided in 2023.

NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are at a record high and the nursing and midwifery staff group is the largest, accounting for just under 64,000 Whole Time Equivalent (42%) of the workforce, an increase of 5% from the previous year. Information on the number of Clinical Nurse Specialists by specialist cancer fields is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01706 on
‎ 24 August 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 Scottish Government encourages anyone planning to visit a Scottish Island to test for coronavirus prior to travel, this includes any Ministers, staff or agency employees who are traveling to the islands. Scottish Government staff are not routinely travelling for work purposes and continue to work from home wherever possible.

Pre-departure testing for travel to the Scottish Islands is a voluntary scheme, however, everyone is encouraged to participate in order to reduce the risk of inadvertently carrying coronavirus into one of the island communities. Information on travel, including to the Scottish islands, is set out in the COVID-19 Framework for Decision Making – Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis, which is available at www.gov.scot/coronavirus .

Following clinical advice, and in agreement with stakeholders, we will not be running a sepsis awareness campaign while the COVID-19 public awareness campaign continues.

We are aiming to re-start the annual sepsis public awareness campaign in 2022. In the meantime we are in discussion with sepsis charities around how we can support them in other ways to raise awareness of sepsis.