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There are a number of complexities around UK benefits and student systems and these can impact negatively on each other. With the Scottish Government Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary, maintenance elements of the Bursary are considered as income for Universal Credit and other means-tested reserved benefits.

If a Universal Credit award is removed due to ‘excess income’ such as the bursary, students would also lose entitlement to Scottish Government benefits such as Scottish Child Payment. This includes the non-means tested bursary, the Spouse or Cohabiting Partner Allowance, the Child Dependent Allowance and the Lone Parents' Grant.

The Scottish Government have introduced a Special Support Loan for 2024-25 academic year and have obtained agreement from the Department for Work and Pensions that this element of student income will be disregarded when assessing Universal Credit entitlement.

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote to Viscount Younger of Leckie , Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions, on 17 April 2024 asking for Student Maintenance Loans to also be disregarded as income for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit entitlement, particularly as they are a loan which must be repaid, but no reply has been received to date.

It should also be noted that due to the receipt of the non-repayable Paramedic, Nursing and Midwifery Bursary, students are not eligible for student loans. The Scottish Government has committed to carrying out a review of student finance for paramedic, nursing and midwifery students.

The Scottish Government understands the financial challenges faced by all students, including nursing and midwifery students, and recognise that this has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish Government package of support for Scottish student nurses and midwives is currently at its highest level, and is the highest level of support available to nursing and midwifery students across the UK. The annual £10,000 bursary is non-means tested and non-repayable. Eligible students receive free tuition, free uniforms, free disclosure and health checks as well as the reimbursement of clinical placement expenses (travel and accommodation).

Both the Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Midwifery Officer have participated in roundtable events hosted by the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwifery, where they have heard first hand student testimony around financial hardship.

Following those discussions, but alongside the work of the Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce and the findings from the royal colleges’ student surveys, the Scottish Government has committed to carrying out a review of nursing and midwifery student financial support.

The hospital group codes that have been quoted in the question are only present in data that are used for the Public Health Scotland ‘Costs Book’. Therefore, the figures quoted below are based on hospitals that have been assigned with one of the hospital group codes in this annual data collection to support the Scottish Health Service Costs publication. Information is available for financial years 2007-08 to 2022-23 (most recent). Group code ‘J26’ (community hospitals) was not used until the 2009-10 data collection. A mapping exercise identified that group codes ‘A5’ and ‘B10’ (both since discontinued) were previously used to define community-based hospitals up to that point, and this is reflected in the following table. It should also be noted that changes over time in the following table will reflect system reconfigurations, e.g. the Acute Services Review in Greater Glasgow, where several smaller acute facilities were reconfigured over two larger main sites, including the opening of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus in 2015.

Another important point of context is that models of patient care have changed markedly over the 17-year time period covered by the question, with initiatives such as ‘Hospital at Home’ now offering supported care at or closer to home, where possible, in place of longer hospital stays.

The following table sets out the number of hospitals by group code in financial years 2007-08, 2009-10 and 2022-23:

Currently there are no territorial NHS Boards consulting on major service change proposals on the future of hospitals.

Any major service change proposals being considered by NHS Boards are subject to at least three months formal public consultation and, ultimately, Ministerial approval; in line with national guidance which is available at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/planning-people-community-engagement-participation-guidance-updated-2024/ .

The procedures surrounding Redetermination Orders are contained within the relevant legislation (The Stopping Up of Roads and Private Accesses and the Redetermination of Public Rights of Passage (Procedure)(Scotland) Regulations 1986.

Transport Scotland undertook a review of the Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) process, which included Redetermination Orders, in 2021. Stakeholders consulted during this review included local authorities. As part of the findings of this review Transport Scotland has highlighted that Redetermination Orders are not needed in all circumstances.

For example, if a local authority has made a TRO which effectively determines the means by which the public can exercise their right of passage over the road then it may not be necessary to also have a Redetermination Order to give effect to the restrictions on traffic. However, the decision on whether a Redetermination Order is required for a project ultimately remains with the relevant Roads Authority.

Since 2020 Transport Scotland has received 7 Redetermination Orders for determination where objections have been maintained. 6 of these have received a Ministerial Decision within an average of 4 months without referral to a Public Local Inquiry. One other is under active consideration having been received on the 4 th June 2024.

The Scottish Government have not entered into, or signed, any agreement with Pentland Ferries.

The charter agreements of the MV Alfred from Pentland Ferries, vessel owner, for use on Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract (CHFS) have all been undertaken by the operator, CalMac Ferries Ltd. The Scottish Government has provided funding to CalMac Ferries Ltd to enable the charter of the MV Alfred and this was confirmed as £15.1m, in the Freedom of Information request published on 8 February 2024: Information relating to Scottish ferries costs and upgrades: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Forestry and Land Scotland reduce impacts on red squirrel by scheduling operations to avoid the breeding season in areas that are thought to hold higher than average densities of red squirrels. Prior to any harvesting operation, a pre-operational survey is carried out to assess the extent of use of the felling coupe by red squirrels, and to locate squirrel dreys.

If red squirrels are identified as being present, various mitigation may be enacted, such as retaining drey trees, avoiding areas with dreys until after the breeding season, and directional felling to slowly usher adults and kits into adjacent stands. During operations machine operators are required to report any dreys felled with kits in them. No such reports have been made in 2024 or 2023 seasons.

It is impossible to know with certainty whether in fact any kits are killed each year , for example if unobserved dreys are felled, which are consequently unreported by machine operators. FLS have therefore calculated a hypothetical maximum assuming worst case scenarios in all assumptions. Based on the current felling and harvesting programme, the potential numbers for a) 2024 and b) 2025, is:

a) 903 (or 1.2% of the estimated population of kits in Scotland)

b) 876 (or 1.17% of the estimated population of kits in Scotland)

This will change as the programme is adjusted and finalised.

Only a small proportion of the theoretical deaths of squirrel kits due to forest operations would be extra mortality, as over 70% of young kits naturally die during their first winter.

Any discussions around the charter, including a crew fatigue management plan are solely a matter between the owner of the vessel, Pentland Ferries, and the operator CalMac Ferries Limited.

The number of sailings CalMac Ferries Ltd has provided with the charter vessel, MV Alfred, across the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) between 1 May 2023 and 30 April 2024 is 1,086.

The Scottish Government has not held discussions with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) regarding maritime safety compliance in respect of the MV Alfred. The MCA are responsible for the inspection and surveying of ships to ensure that they are meeting UK and international safety rules.

The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and crew welfare standards and for these to be applied in the case of all vessels and personnel accessing our ports and coastal areas.