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The Scottish Government will invest in Changing Places Toilets over this parliamentary term, in order to increase the number of these facilities across the country and to support mobile Changing Places Toilets to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

This investment will be delivered in phases over the course of this parliamentary term. The Scottish Government is progressing the first phase of work to design an investment programme that ensures that the Changing Places Toilets which are built are fit for purpose. We have recently published our Changing Places Toilets: Planning Guide and an accompanying easy read for people who are planning to develop Changing Places Toilets now.

Further details will be available soon.

The Scottish Government is committed to investing in Changing Places Toilets over this parliamentary term, in order to increase the number of these facilities across the country and to support mobile Changing Places Toilets to allow people easier access to events and outdoor venues.

Further details will be available soon.

The local road network is the responsibility of local authorities and they will allocate resources on the basis of local priorities. The vast majority of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government is provided via a block grant and we do not stipulate how local authorities should utilise their individual allocations. It is therefore the responsibility of each local authority to manage their own budget and to allocate the financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

In the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, we are providing over £13.2 billion in the Local Government Settlement 2023-24.

The local authority may also wish to contact the Coal Authority to establish if there is any recourse to them regarding the historical mine works.

Due to an absence of Scottish Government landholdings (i.e. presence of Scotland’s national forests and land) in East Lothian and/or Midlothian, Forestry and Land Scotland have not conducted any tree planting (either restocking or new planting) in the two local authority areas in the period of 2007 to 2022.

The current Health and Social Care Standards were implemented on 1 April 2018 and are published on the Scottish Government website.

The Care Inspectorate is the independent scrutiny body and regulator for care services in Scotland. Since April 2018, the Health and Social Care standards have underpinned inspections and quality assurance functions carried out by the Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and other scrutiny bodies.

Two new standards were published in March 2022 and have a strong emphasis on helping care home residents and their families stay connected. We have provided additional support and resource to the Care Inspectorate (£276,000 over the next two years) to enhance their role in supporting visiting rights through the ‘Anne's Law and Connection for People in Care Homes project’. This additional resource will enable the Care Inspectorate to proactively champion the implementation of the new standards and rigorously monitor its progress.

The Scottish Government has worked closely with the Care Inspectorate and other public bodies as they have raised awareness and understanding of the Standards. “Real stories” videos and animations raising the profile of the standards are available through the Care Inspectorate’s YouTube channel. A one-day Holyrood event took place to help organisations understand how they can be used in delivering quality care and the Standards were promoted at a number of conferences and events, including targeted events for NHS staff. A dedicated website and a Scottish Government Twitter page were created and used to promote the launch of the Standards, and a bespoke booklet for unpaid carers was launched in partnership with the Carers Trust.

The National Transition Training Fund was operational from October 2020 until August 2022. Within this period 885 training places were made available across a number of projects focused on social care. This number excludes college data from the 2021-22 academic year as this data is included within official Further Education Statistics (FES) due to be published in February. A report on the second and final year of NTTF will be published following the publication of FES data, and the college data will be included in the final published report.

Yes. The platform can be found at : Women's health | NHS inform

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring women can access appropriate contraception when and where they need it. Since November 2021, community pharmacies have been able to supply the progestogen-only pill for a 3-month period, if clinically appropriate to do so, and in line with a national Patient Group Direction (PGD). The national roll-out followed a successful pilot in pharmacies across Lothian and Tayside.

This availability of bridging contraception from community pharmacies enables women to access contraception without the need for a prescription and receive healthcare advice and treatment from their community pharmacist. Thereafter, individuals wishing to continue with a regular supply or access an alternative method of contraception, may contact their GP practice to request a repeat prescription or request an appointment to discuss their options.

Contraception can be obtained for free from:

• most GP surgeries

• community contraception clinics

• some genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics

• sexual health clinics

• some young people's services.

However, there are two brands of the progestogen-only available to purchase over the counter (OTC) in pharmacies, increasing choice for women in the ways in which they can access contraception.

The Women’s Health Plan, published in August 2021, contains an action to implement a Women’s Health Service in community pharmacies.

This service will be introduced on an incremental basis over the next few years. The first step was the introduction of bridging contraception in community pharmacies from November 2021.

The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland continues to promote the use of remote consultations, including NHS Near Me, as a means to support access to services and reduce the need to travel to appointments.

As an example of this support, Community Hubs are also being established in areas of Scotland where people could more easily attend and access appointments remotely. These Hubs provide a private space and equipment for members of the public to access digital services, such as video consultations.

More recently, Midwives in NHS Grampian have used Near Me Group s Consultations to provide Antenatal Classes which reduces the need for pregnant women to travel to their appointments. NHS Near Me has provided a short film which contains more information - Near Me Groups for Antenatal Classes, NHS Grampian - YouTube