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The project is being delivered by Amey through the Network Management Contract as emergency works. As design and construction are progressing concurrently, there are few mechanisms to penalise later than expected completion under the terms of this contract.

Transport Scotland has an experienced Project Board in place to oversee the governance of the project. The Project Board provide financial oversight and evaluate performance. They also monitor project progress and decision making with scrutiny of Amey and the internal project team. Gateway reviews have also been undertaken, in consultation with Scottish Government’s Internal Audit and Assurance team, to ensure successful project delivery.

Transport Scotland also has the Performance Audit Group (PAG) who ensure value for money through auditing, monitoring and reporting on the financial, technical and performance aspects of this project. In addition, further support is provided by Turner and Townsend, who apply expert scrutiny of the programme and project risks.

The Scottish Government do not hold this information.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) can be contacted for information related to independent clinics registered with them.

An economic assessment was carried out based on the scenario of a prolonged full closure in order to inform decision making in managing these important viaducts, which indicated significant detriment to the Scottish economy if the viaducts had to be closed.

An economic assessment reflecting the current traffic management arrangements, of two lanes open in each direction, has not been undertaken.

The National Specification is intended to be published by the end of 2025,

I can confirm that guidance on responding to racism and racist incidents in schools was published today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836916987

This guidance forms part of a wider whole school approach to addressing and responding to racism and racist incidents, being developed by the Anti-racism in Education Programme’s racist and racist incidents workstream. The whole school approach will be published in early 2026.

Today, we are publishing the findings from the Scottish Government’s Horizon Scanning project. The Future Trends for Scotland report and the accompanying Trend pack describe the 60 trends likely to be important to Scotland over the next 10 to 20 years. This publication does not cover potential policy or strategy implications and is not a statement of government policy or intention, rather it is about providing open analysis to spark reflection and guide decisions in a complex interconnected world.

Publishing the findings from the project fulfils the commitment made to the Finance and Public Administration Committee, will contribute to a wider debate about trends affecting Scotland in the future and will support other organisations and our partners in their own work in planning for the opportunities and plausible future risks.

I can confirm that guidance on fostering positive, inclusive and safe school environments was published today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836917014

The guidance supports schools’ approaches to use of consequences as part of approaches to improving positive relationships and behaviour.

New guidance on risk assessments for violent, aggressive and dangerous behaviour was also published today: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836917953

Decisions on whether to install defibrillators in schools are a matter for Local Authorities.

The Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy: 2021-2026 does not include a specific commitment to placing defibrillators in Scottish schools. Our policy is to work with Save a Life for Scotland partners, taking a data driven approach, to optimise defibrillator placement and ensure they are publicly accessible and registered with the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The Scottish Government provided the Resuscitation Research Group funding for PADmap. PADmap is a free to use, data-driven service to help defibrillator guardians make informed decisions about where to place their devices in order to have the most impact.

There is no proposal to transfer neonatal care services to Aberdeen. In July 2023 I announced that three hospitals in Scotland, the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital would provide neonatal intensive care for the very smallest and sickest babies, based on evidence provided to The Best Start review by expert academics and professionals, that survival and outcomes for these babies is better when they are cared for in a smaller number of specialist units. All Neonatal Units in Scotland will continue to provide care for the vast majority of families locally and only a very small number of families will be affected by the change to the model of care.

The process of determining which units should provide Neonatal Intensive Care was undertaken by the Perinatal Sub Group of the Best Start, comprising NHS clinical leads, senior management and service user representatives.

The Scottish Government has consulted with families on implementation of the proposals so that their concerns and priorities are included when the pathways and processes for the new model of care are designed. A survey was launched on Citizen Space on 21 June 2024. The results of the survey and focus groups will now be shared with the Regional Planners to support implementation.

Our expectation with the new model is that care is delivered as close to home as possible. It would be highly unusual for babies to have to transfer to Aberdeen from the central belt and would only happen in exceptional circumstances when the central belt units reach capacity in intensive care. Currently NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian have plans in place to build additional capacity in their Neonatal Intensive Care units as part of the change process.

There is no available data on the number of prosecutions for online child sexual abuse that have taken place in each of the past five years.

COPFS uses a live, operational database to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies throughout Scotland. The database is designed to meet business needs in the processing of criminal cases, rather than for statistical analysis, and the information within it is structured accordingly.