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The Scottish Government has been engaging with stakeholders across the country from industry, academia and the public sector to develop a National Innovation Strategy for Scotland, which will set out a roadmap to transform Scotland's economy over the next decade by placing innovation at the heart of our economic growth and societal prosperity and wellbeing. The Scottish Government intends to publish its National Innovation Strategy this month.

No finance options have been explored given that full dualling of the A77 was not recommended as an outcome of the South West Transport Scotland Study published in January 2020. Instead, options for targeted improvements and road safety measures were recommended and these were subsequently appraised and formed the basis of Recommendation #40 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review published in December 2022.

Work is ongoing across government to develop a Scottish Government aviation strategy.

An online public consultation on developing the strategy concluded last year and we published an independent analysis of the responses.

The consultation covered growing international connectivity and airfreight; the transition to low and zero-emission aviation; domestic connectivity; and governance arrangements in the Highlands and Islands.

The transition to low and zero-emission aviation is also relevant to preparation of the Government’s 2023 Climate Change Plan and Just Transition Plan, and it is essential that this work be fully joined up. The aviation strategy is also being developed at the same time as the Islands Connectivity Plan, and coherence here will also be vital.

Public Health Scotland publish Acute hospital activity and NHS beds information which shows the number of available staffed beds and percentage occupancy (Table 4) by financial year (2012-13 to 2021-22) and by quarter (2020 Q2 to 2022 Q1), by NHS Board and hospital location. In addition, PHS produce a quarterly publication which provides similar beds information up to and including the quarter ending 30 September 2022. Data for the quarter ending 31 December 2022 was published on 30 May 2023. The PHS statistics do not provide specific information on COVID beds. NHS Boards reconfigured parts of hospitals during the pandemic, with, in particular, significant increases in critical care capacity, and this should be taken in to account when interpreting the annual bed statistics.

Public Health Scotland also publish statistics on the number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 which is available in the Weekly national respiratory infection and COVID-19 statistical report with Health Board level data available through the Open Data Platform: COVID-19 Statistical Data in Scotland - Daily Case Trends by Health Board - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data (nhs.scot) . Until 7 May 2023, this also included the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICU.

The dualling of the A77 was not recommended as an outcome of the South West Transport Scotland Study published in January 2020. Instead, options for targeted improvements and road safety measures were recommended and these were subsequently appraised and formed the basis of Recommendation #40 of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review published in December 2022.

The Scottish Government fully recognise that the A77 plays a vital role in supporting the local economy through facilitating the movement of goods, connecting people to employment and education opportunities, as well as providing businesses with access to the labour market. The second Strategic Transport Projects Review recommended that improvements are made on the A77, which would increase connectivity through reduced journey times and increased resilience associated with improved safety. All of which is anticipated to have a positive impact in terms of promoting inclusive growth.

Transport Scotland is preparing to undertake an evaluation of the A77 Maybole Bypass Project which opened to traffic on 31 January 2022. The evaluation will be undertaken in line with Scottish Trunk Road Infrastructure Project Evaluation (STRIPE) Guidance, comparing conditions one year after (1YA) opening with forecasts of the impacts made during project design and development. The evaluation will consider scheme objectives; operation, including traffic flows and journey times, environment; safety; economy; integration; accessibility and social inclusion and cost to government. Transport Scotland is aiming to complete this work and publish the evaluation report on Transport Scotland’s website by March 2024.

Full dualling of the A77 was not recommended by the South West Scotland Transport Study (SWSTS), because of the significant cost and environmental impacts when compared with the other transport options for improving travel on this route. In addition, full dualling does not align well with the Sustainable Investment Hierarchy as defined in the second National Transport Strategy.

Only once an intervention is recommended at the Case for Change stage, as the SWSTS represents, would the costs and benefits or disbenefits of not building an option be considered as part of the later stages of the business case process.

The Scottish Government recognises the strategic and economic importance of the A77 Trunk Road which was reflected in publication of second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) in December 2022. Under recommendation 40, safety, resilience and reliability improvements are to be made on the A77 strategic road corridor. This could include, but is not limited to, enhancing overtaking opportunities, widening or realigning carriageways and improving junctions.

In January 2022, resurfacing and lining works were completed at Dutchhouse roundabout. Whilst there are no current minor improvement schemes planned for the Whitletts or Dutch House Roundabouts at the moment, through our ongoing maintenance of the A77, a resurfacing scheme for the A77 Whitletts roundabout including new Intelligent road studs is currently planned for the 2024-25 financial year.

A new Detect Cancer Earlier campaign – Be The Early Bird – was launched on 6 th March 2023 and ran for four weeks, aiming to reduce fear of cancer and empower those with possible symptoms to act early. The campaign has been developed with primary and secondary care clinical input and will be independently evaluated. We have a dedicated page on our NHS inform website, which highlights the causes, symptoms and treatment for bladder cancer .

We know that the earlier cancer is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat and even cure, which is why we continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Early (DCE) Programme. Since DCE launched, positive shifts have been noted. Our new earlier cancer diagnosis vision in Scotland is due to be published shortly as part of our ambitious new 10-year cancer strategy, which will outline the future of the DCE Programme.

The Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan, backed by £70 million investment, was published on 30 November 2021. The Plan focuses on key areas such as clinical pathways, workforce training and development and innovation.

In partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), we are committed to developing and implementing clinical pathways that optimise the value of endoscopy and urology diagnostics in each patient’s care. This includes refreshing ‘Once for Scotland’ clinical pathways to prioritise demand for cystoscopy, including where bladder cancer is suspected.