Seòmar agus comataidhean

CalMac make every effort to avoid cancellations due to technical breakdowns, but it is impossible to completely remove the risk of this happening in technically complex vessels.

Between 2015 and 2024 CalMac have operated over 1.5 million sailings, with 5.2% cancelled. Of those cancelled sailings, 22% were for technical reasons and 62% were related to weather.

The arrival of 13 new vessels by 2029, which started with MV Glen Sannox in January this year, will help improve connectivity and resilience for island residents, businesses, and communities. These new vessels should be able to operate in more challenging weather and sea conditions and will also improve accessibility and route flexibility. Communities and services will also benefit from the provision of shore power upgrades and enhanced port facilities.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the transition to electric vehicles by ensuring that charging infrastructure is comprehensive, convenient, and accessible to all. We understand the importance of enabling those without access to off street parking to charge their vehicles conveniently and safely.

Three local authorities, Dundee, East Lothian and Stirling are currently trialling cross-pavement charging solutions and the Scottish Government is supporting the Scottish Collaboration of Transport Specialists (SCOTS), a network representing transport officers from Scotland’s local authorities and Regional Transport Partnerships, to develop guidance on cross-pavement charging which addresses legal and safety issues and supports all local authorities to enable cross-pavement charging.

This year’s Programme for Government also announced a new pilot grant scheme to help households without off-street parking to install cross-pavement EV charging solutions. Further details of this scheme will be announced soon.

The NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-2026 includes a target to deliver a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings compared to a 1990 baseline by 2030 and net-zero emissions from its estate by 2040. To support this, the Scottish Government is working with NHS Scotland Health Boards to implement a range of energy efficiency and decarbonisation measures, including onsite and offsite renewable energy systems such as solar panels.

The current funding approach for NHS Scotland decarbonisation involves leveraging both public capital and private investment as funding options for renewable energy schemes and to consider partnerships with suppliers through Power Purchase Agreements. Capital funding from the Scottish Government may also be made available for onsite arrays, although NHS Boards are expected to consider renewable energy and energy efficiency measures as part of their planning.

We know that some patients have waited too long for treatment but we are committed to ensuring patients receive the care they need as quickly as possible and across various specialities we will deliver over 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the coming year. Surgical procedures, including cataract surgery are subject to the Treatment Time Guarantee.

Whilst PHS data can be used routinely to identify the specialty of treatment, data at a procedure level is unavailable. The records are designed to collect coded information on the procedure that is planned for the patient, however this information is often either incomplete, lacking in essential detail and/or its accuracy cannot be assured. In addition, the procedure(s) that was planned may not always reflect the procedure actually performed after the patient was admitted for treatment. The latter is not captured through the national datamart. Consequently, PHS is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail.

Work is ongoing to support local surgical teams to increase efficiency and consequently the number of patients that can be treated across the cataract surgical pathway, in line with the Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ guidelines.

The Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to support an increase in surgical throughput across cataract only surgical sessions. CfSD’s clinically-led Cataract Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) promote multidisciplinary team working, and supports local adoption of service improvement programmes.

This short life working group has supported several new and innovative pathway developments, some of which are now being successfully scaled up in a number of sites across hospital eye services, including: high volume cataract surgery in ring-fenced sessions, and delivering one cataract every 30 mins, as per Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ guidelines. In tandem with this, The National Eyecare Workstream is undertaking clinically led peer reviews which supports new and efficient ways of working and shares best practices across the country across a number of ocular sub-specialties, including cataracts.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Local authorities make their own decisions about how to prioritise the provision of holiday clubs based on local need.

Although there is currently no statutory duty to provide school age childcare to all families during the school holidays, we have committed to building a system of school age childcare in Scotland to provide support around the school day and during the holidays, and we want that future system to be accessible to all.

We have been investing in a range of early delivery projects within targeted communities across Scotland which are better informing us about the change needed to deliver a more accessible and affordable system in the future. This includes our Early Adopter Communities in 6 Local Authority areas, our ‘Extra Time’ Programme in partnership with the Scottish Football Association, and our Access to Childcare projects.

In the 2025 Programme for Government, we have also committed an additional £1m to support the provision of holiday playschemes for disabled children across all local authority areas.

My deepest thoughts and condolences are with those families affected by a death in prison custody. The Scottish Prison Service cares for and supports some of the most complex and vulnerable individuals in our society, often at times of personal crisis.

I regularly meet with the Chief Executive of Scottish Prison Service and the safety and wellbeing of people in custody remains part of a continued dialogue. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research report covers a range of distinct topics which will be considered individually.

The Scottish Prison Service have now developed a multiyear recovery plan to prioritise the delivery of offending behaviour programmes, including the introduction of new delivery sites to increase programme delivery and capacity.

A delayed discharge occurs when a hospital patient who is clinically ready for discharge from inpatient hospital care continues to occupy a hospital bed beyond the date they are ready for discharge. Information held nationally on delayed discharges can identify the number of people aged 18 and over who were delayed in their discharge from hospital.

People delayed due to a lack of available social care packages can be identified using Delay Reason code 25D – “Awaiting completion of arrangements - in order to live in their own home – awaiting social care support (non-availability of services)”.

Figures from Financial Year 2020-21 to 2024-25 (inclusive) are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Number of people delayed due to Awaiting completion of arrangements in order to live in their own home, awaiting social care support (non-availability of services) in the financial Years 2020-21 to 2024-25 by Health Board.