Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Agriculture Census was paused in 2022 which means no results were published in 2022. However the Scottish Government will launch the latest Agricultural Census on 1 June 2023 and plan to publish the 2023 results this autumn. The exact publication date will be pre-announced in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics as soon as possible.

Dumfries and Galloway Council were one of 165 organisations which responded to the consultation on the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) draft report, undertaken between January and April 2022. The Council’s responses covered a range of topics, including potential improvements to the A75. All responses were considered in production of the suite of final reports and statutory impact assessments, published on 8 December 2022.

The funding proposal is in the final stages of completion and will be sent to the UK Government for consideration during week commencing 1 May 2023.

Transport Scotland officials last met with members and officials from Dumfries and Galloway Council to specifically discuss upgrades to the A75 at the spring Convention of the South of Scotland on 28 February 2022. Transport Scotland’s Director of Transport Strategy and Analysis presented a paper which included details about STPR2 Recommendation 40 (Access to Stranraer and the ports at Cairnryan).

In addition, Transport Scotland officials have quarterly liaison meetings with Dumfries and Galloway Council officers, Police Scotland and the Trunk Road Operating Companies to discuss road maintenance and other operational issues. The most recent meeting took place on 16 February 2023.

It is the responsibility of Local Health and Social Care Partnerships to put in place services to meet local needs, including the needs of adults with ADHD.

The 2020 Programme for Government included a commitment to consider a National Clinical Pathway for ADHD. In order to deliver on this, the Scottish Government commissioned the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to carry out a feasibility study to investigate how such a pathway would work and benefit adults diagnosed with ADHD. The Feasibility Study was published in January 2021, with the report finding that a multi-disciplinary neurodevelopmental approach, inclusive of ADHD, was needed.

Following on from the study, the Scottish Government has provided funding of £650,000 for adult neurodevelopmental pathway trials. The final report , including the findings and recommendations of the trials were published in March. We have accepted the recommendations and we are working with NAIT on implementation.

We understand the importance of sport and physical activity for children and young people in Scotland and the positive impact that it has on their physical, mental and social health.

Through sport scotland, our national agency for sport, we are working in partnerships with Scottish Governing Bodies of sport (SGBs), local authorities, leisure trusts, sports clubs and community organisations, schools, colleges and universities to provide opportunities for all to participate in sport, to break down the barriers, financial or otherwise, that keep too many people from leading active lives.

sport scotland has provided the SFA with an investment of £1,347,400 in the current financial year to help support a wide range of grassroots activity, supporting the SFA’s Football for All strategy. This includes developing children and young people’s football, all of which aims to provide a pathway for anyone to enjoy participating in football.

As set out in the Programme for Government we are working with sport scotland to ensure that Active Schools programmes are free for all children and young people by the end of this Parliament, providing them with more opportunities to take part in sport, such as football, before, during and after school.

In the 2021-22 academic year (last full year of data - 2021-22 data reflects the return to activity following the COVID-19 pandemic), 218,000 participants made 3.5 million visits to Active Schools activities with Football being the most popular and visited activity.

ScotRail implemented the consulted timetable in South West Scotland in May 2022 and advised this was a new starting point and passenger use would be closely monitored. As a result, in May 2023, a further five additional services will operate during the day between Ayr and Kilmarnock, improving access to employment, education, healthcare and leisure facilities for communities in south west Scotland, as many of these services originate or terminate at Girvan.

ScotRail advise that there are currently no plans to change the five trains per day which currently operate between Girvan and Stranraer – these operate at the times customers told ScotRail were most useful to them. ScotRail will continue to monitor passenger use of rail services to Stranraer and engage with communities to ensure the service level meets local needs.

Across Scotland safety cameras are deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding. This is in accordance with criteria contained in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook.

There are a range of sites along the A75 where mobile safety camera resources are deployed.

An annual site prioritisation exercise is underway to assess the performance of all existing safety camera sites across Scotland and to identify locations which meet minimum criteria requirements. If new locations are identified on the A75 which meet minimum criteria requirements then consideration will be given to deploying additional camera resources on the route.

Transport Scotland officials regularly meet with the A77 Action group, to which representatives from the ferry operators are invited. Meeting invites to these meetings are sent to PO Ferries, Belfast Harbour and Stena Line.

The last meeting of this group was held on 3 February 2023, however, the last meeting attended by ferry operators was in September 2022.

Representatives from Transport Scotland’s operating company AMEY also meet the ferry operators on an ad hoc basis, as part of the consultation process around planned roadworks on the trunk road network.

The Scottish Safety Camera Handbook is kept under continuous review by the Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board which provides strategic support and direction to the Scottish Safety Camera Programme. This acts to ensure safety camera resources continue to maximise their casualty reduction potential to communities across Scotland.