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With regard to retentions and the answer to S5W-14750, we expect to be provided with the outcome of the UK Government review of retention payments in the construction industry shortly. We will draw our own conclusions from the UK Government analysis and implement any measures we deem necessary.

It is a normal and necessary market reaction for prices to rise in answer to system tightness, driving a receptive and flexible supply response. The expectation is that this short-term increase in wholesale prices would not feed through to household bills at this time – energy suppliers typically buy their energy over several months to help smooth out price fluctuations, thereby insulating consumers from price fluctuations.

The Scottish Government works closely with National Grid – as well as with the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Ofgem and Scotland’s gas and electricity network operators – to ensure that the supplies of energy to Scottish consumers remain resilient, and that Scottish circumstances and priorities are taken fully into account.

The stations in question, at Cockenzie and Longannet, were decommissioned in 2013 and 2017 respectively. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the source or quantities of coal used to generate electricity at these stations.

When purchasing Glasgow Prestwick Airport, the Scottish Government sought external legal advice to ensure compliance with European Union State Aid rules.

The Scottish Government has not approached the European Commission for advice on this matter.

The Scottish Government believes that employers should take a progressive approach to relations with trade unions. It is for each council to decide how to deal with such matters in respect of their staff. Councils are autonomous bodies, responsible for managing their own day to day business and answerable to their electorates and not to the Scottish Government.

The First Minister was not aware of West Dunbartonshire Council’s decision before her meeting with the STUC on 5 March as the decision was only made at the council’s budget setting meeting on that day.

In April 2012 the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) introduced the Patient Needs Assessment (PNA), a tool which ensures they provide the most appropriate assistance and advice to callers requesting access to Patient Transport Services (PTS).

In December 2017 SAS made improvements to the PNA for both patients and Health Boards. This was to provide a better understanding of the patient’s needs, ensuring they get the most appropriate response.

These improvements followed a review which included feedback from both patients and staff about what changes they would like to see to improve patient experience and in appropriately identifying patient needs. Between March and October 2017 a number of change ideas were tested, involving 300 patients.

The changes to the PNA itself focussed primarily on amendments to the order of the questions asked, whilst also reducing the frequency in which SAS take a patient through a PNA from 24 hours to 6 weeks. The eligibility criteria for patients requesting PTS did not change following the review.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. You may wish to contact the Scottish Ambulance Service directly to request this data.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Skills Development Scotland collects information on disability as part of the initial registration of a Modern Apprentice. Disclosure of disability is self- declared by Modern Apprentices through their response to a disability monitoring question which asks if individuals have impairment, health condition or learning difficulty. This is aligned to the question wording recommended by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) after extensive consultation with disability partners, modern apprentices, training providers and employers.

Skills Development Scotland also asks the question: ‘Do you have a social/communication impairment such as a speech and language impairment or Asperger’s syndrome/other autistic spectrum disorder, or cognitive impairment, which would include individuals with learning disability.

In 2016-2017 the number of Modern Apprentices self-declaring a learning disability was 92, which is 0.4% of the total Modern Apprenticeship starts for that year.

In addition 1,098 of the 2016-17 Modern Apprenticeship starts self-declared a learning difficulty such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or ADHD which is 4.3% of the total Modern Apprenticeship starts for that year.

Skills Development Scotland will publish 2017-18 Modern Apprenticeship Quarter 4 Statistics in June 2018.