Seòmar agus comataidhean

The certification of a vessel by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency ensures that it meets the regulatory requirements for the waters in which it will sail. The deployment of vessels is a matter for owners and operators.

It is estimated that 7% of the 40,000 predicted annual passenger journeys from/to Conon Bridge Station would result from passengers transferring from road to rail. This equates to 2,800 journeys switching from road to rail when Conon Bridge station reopens on 8 February 2013.

Bidders of the new ScotRail franchise will be asked to set out their strategy for procuring, leasing, cascading and refurbishing rolling stock. As part of the specification for the new franchise, bidders will also be asked to demonstrate how they will improve the comfort and suitability of trains operating on longer distance routes such as the Highland Main Line.

The first phase of the Highland Main Line improvements has been completed delivering two extra trains per day each way from December 2011 and journey time improvements of up to 17 minutes from December 2012. Network Rail is expected to deliver a report on proposals for phase two by summer 2013.

The percentage of (a) adults and (b) children with type 1 diabetes receiving insulin pump therapy in each NHS Board, as of December 2011, is set out in the following table:

The progress that NHS boards are making with increasing insulin pump provision against the commitments set out within the Chief Executive Letter CEL 4 (2012) on Insulin Pump Therapy for People with Type 1 Diabetes, will be published soon after March 2013.

We have no plans to consult as this is not a current policy proposal. We have ongoing informal dialogue with stakeholders and organisations. One example is the A9 Safety Group. This includes representation from the Road Haulage Association, which has proposed trialling an increase from 40mph to 50mph for HGVs on the A9.

Powers to set national speed limits and maximum speed by class of vehicle were devolved to the Scottish Parliament under the Scotland Act 2012. Since then, we have had no discussion with the UK Government regarding proposals to increase speed limits for HGVs.

Transport Scotland has used computer-simulated traffic modelling of the A9 to inform accident prediction techniques. This indicated that a higher HGV speed limit, on its own, would lead to a slight increase accidents involving death and injury. This research pertained to the A9 only and the findings would not necessarily be the same for other roads in Scotland.

Road Safety is a priority for the Scottish Government. There are currently no plans to increase either national speed limits in Scotland or the maximum speed by class of vehicle. We are aware of arguments about driver frustration leading to unsafe overtaking of slow-moving HGVs and “platooning”. However, there is currently no hard evidence to suggest that increasing speed limits of HGVs would solve these problems and increase road safety.

We have neither sought nor received any advice on having different HGV speed limits in Scotland and England. We sought powers to be able set our own national speed limits in Scotland and to set maximum speed of vehicles in Scotland based on the roads, policies and aspirations for Scotland and not to have these imposed on us by a UK Government.

A Short Life Working Group, consisting of key representatives from Health boards, Information Services Division, and Scottish Government, was established in January 2012 to investigate the implications of introducing both insulin pumps and consumables onto the Drug Tariff.

As £2.5 million of funding was secured to increase insulin pump provision in March 2012, it was agreed that this work stream be re-visited at a later date. This was to allow the CEL 04 (2012) to embed into the service. This would also allow more accurate information to be collected to consider the impact on services of placing insulin pumps and the associated consumables on the Drug Tariff. It is anticipated this further work will commence in April 2013.

Placing insulin pumps and consumables onto the Drug Tariff is one of two options to assist NHS boards in meeting the costs of insulin pump therapy to boards. The other avenue being investigated is reviewing the NHS Scotland contract for insulin pumps. A meeting has been set for 13 December 2012 with national procurement colleagues to explore this possibility further.