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The Scottish Government is clear that the single crewing of traditional double crewed emergency ambulances should only happen in exceptional circumstances, such as short notice sickness absence when cover cannot be secured. The Scottish Ambulance Service is working hard to try and deliver this.

The information requested is not held centrally for the period sought.

However, across Scotland the Scottish Ambulance Service has advised that total incidence of single crewing for April to June 2012 (inclusive) was 469 shifts, representing 1.0% of those shifts that were rostered to be double crewed. Of that total, many of the instances of single crewing occurred due to exceptional circumstances. Excluding these, the figure for single crewed shifts under non-exceptional circumstances was 0.7% across Scotland.

Community planning partnerships (CPPs) are already expected to ensure that a decisive shift to a preventative approach is embedded in the single outcome agreements (SOAs) that they agree with the Scottish Government. This expectation was reaffirmed and strengthened by the review of community planning and SOAs undertaken earlier this year in partnership between the Government and COSLA. The Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed that CPPs are to put new SOAs in place for 1 April 2013, and those new SOAs will be expected to include a strong focus on prevention.

The information requested is not held centrally, this is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has advised that it does not use private ambulances in Scotland.

It is for each Partnership to decide how it wants to disburse Early Years and Reshaping Care for Older People Change Fund resources locally. Allocations from the Reducing Reoffending Change Fund are still to be made but it will provide funding for partnerships of third and public sector organisations.

In August 2011, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth convened a short-term, high-level group of Scottish ministers, trade union and employers’ representatives to consider the UK Government’s policy of increasing employee contributions to public service pensions by an average of 3.2% of pensionable pay. That group met three times during August and September 2011.

Tri-partite negotiations on public service pension reform in Scotland are being taken forward at individual scheme level. Cabinet Secretaries initiated these negotiations in March 2012. Representative trade unions and staff associations are involved in each negotiating group and a wide range of issues have been discussed. Negotiations are ongoing.

The 2012-13 Reshaping Care for Older People Change Fund of £80 million is 0.7% of the total Health and Social Care Budget.

Yes.

The law requires that any action for damages arising from a personal injury – including asbestos-related diseases - should be made within a three-year period.

The Scottish Government is committed to modernising the law on damages for personal injury and intends to publish a consultation paper, by the end of the year, which will be informed by the Scottish Law Commission’s report and recommendations on Limitation and Prescribed Cases. This consultation paper will set out the Scottish Government’s policy position on principles relating to the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 and invite views on how the law should be reformed.

Following consultation, it would be our intention to legislate on these issues in the course of this Parliament. The terms of such legislation will of course take account of the outcome of the consultation.

It is for the Scottish Ambulance Service to recruit and train staff to meet service needs and to ensure that an appropriate mix of paramedics and ambulance technicians is in place to provide front line services. The Scottish Government has committed to providing funding to recruit and retain around 150 additional front line staff as part of the deal to move ambulance crews to a 37.5 hour week inclusive of rest breaks. A proportion of these will be paramedics. I understand 40 students finished their initial training in August and are now deployed, that a further 64 students started training in August, and that applications for the 80 places available on the training course which starts in December are presently being considered.