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The completed Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine line was transferred to Network Rail in 2008. Since that time Network Rail has been responsible for maintenance including the introduction of speed restrictions.

The following table sets out the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula target shares for 2013-14 and 2014-15 and the year-on-year change (based on the current health board boundaries), alongside the proportionate increase in the actual board funding allocation.

Note that the uplift to the actual allocations depends on the overall increase in funding and on the distance between a board's target share and its actual share in the base year (referred to as the 'parity position'). Typically a board whose actual allocation share is less than its target share will have a higher rate of uplift than a board whose actual allocation share is higher than its target share.

Table: Health board NRAC target shares for 2013-14 and 2014-15 and the year-on-year proportionate change in the target shares and in actual board allocations.

Note that the development of the target shares between 2013-14 and 2014-15 is affected by the revisions to the formula following the recommendations of the working group which reviewed the morbidity and life circumstances adjustment for the Mental Health and Learning Difficulties programme; the revisions to the formula following the recommendations of the working group on remote and rural issues, and; the revisions to the National Records of Scotland population estimates following the census undertaken in 2011.

Further details of the formula changes and the effects on target shares can be found on the website of the Technical Advisory Group on Resource Allocation at:

http://www.tagra.scot.nhs.uk/subgroups.html

Further information on the NRAC target shares can be found at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Resource-Allocation-Formula/resource-allocation-latest.asp

The following table outlines the number of times the 07:20 train from Dunblane to Edinburgh service has been reduced to either three or two carriages:

On each of these occasions (one hundred and twenty three in total) the operator was fined, under the short-formation incentive procedures of the current franchise.

The following table outlines the number of times the 17:26 train from Edinburgh to Dunblane service has been reduced to two carriages:

On each of these eighteen occasions (in total) the operator was fined, under the short-formation incentive procedures of the current franchise.

The Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) came into force on 1 January 2014. The scheme was agreed by the Department of Health in England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). Devolved administrations requested inclusion in the negotiations but were refused.

The PPRS in place from 1 January 2014 operates differently from the previous scheme. The key aspect for the Scottish Government is ensuring that the mechanism in the scheme agreed by the UK Government and ABPI provides a fair return for Scotland. Discussions are ongoing between the four nations and have not yet concluded.

It is not possible to estimate with certainty the level of savings which may be achieved as generic versions become available for branded drugs whose period of patent protection is expected to expire. This is because it is not known in advance how many generic manufacturers will choose to offer versions of the drugs in question, the prices at which such drugs will be offered, or what other contingent market impact there may be. Over the last 10 years there has been a shift away from developing new medicines for primary care and towards those for treating rare conditions and cancer. This means that from 2013-14 until 2017-18 and beyond there are far fewer primary care medicines with patent protection due to expire.

As part of work ongoing between Scottish Government and NHSScotland on the financial implications of the change in approach being adopted by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) consideration is being given as to how the Rare Conditions Medicines Fund will best support the anticipated increase in medicines accepted by the SMC.

There are no plans at this stage to invite Healthcare Improvement Scotland to undertake a national review of child major incident reviews.

The Scottish Government has initiated discussions with the Royal College of Midwives about the recommendations made in the report Tackling FGM in the UK: Intercollegiate recommendations for identifying, recording and reporting and we will take these forward.

Recruitment to GP training is co-ordinated on a UK-wide basis by the GP National Recruitment Office to a nationally recognised selection criterion, and has been operating since 2006. After successful selection, applicants will be matched in rank order to their highest available preferred Deanery for the next stage of assessment and, if successful, it will be the Deanery that will make them an offer.

NHS Education for Scotland(NES) is the Deanery for Scotland, and the information in the following table has been provided by them.

Category 1: candidates on Foundation Programme at application stage.

Category 2: candidates who submitted a Foundation Achievement of Competence Document as evidence of foundation competence. These will have completed a foundation programme in the previous three years and may be applying from another specialty and wish to change career or may have taken time out to work abroad.

Category 3: candidates who submitted an alternative certificate as evidence of foundation competence. These will have been more than three years beyond a Foundation programme and likely established in another specialty, or be overseas doctors.

Expenditure on NHS Counter Fraud Services in each of the last five financial years is shown in the following table:

The planned budget for NHS Counter Fraud Services in 2014-15 is £1.7 million.