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The Scottish Government keeps its records management plan under review as stipulated in the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011. It is reviewed annually, or sooner if changes to the law require it.

The Scottish Government keeps its Mobile Messaging Policy under review and updates annually.

NHS Boards are allocated approximately £150 million of formula capital funding which is used to maintain their estate and refresh and replace their equipment base.

The remainder of the portfolio’s capital allocation is mainly directed towards delivering the capital projects that were included in the Scottish Government’s five year Infrastructure Investment Plan which was published in February 2021.

This is an operational matter for Consumer Scotland. I have passed your query to Sam Ghibaldan, the Chief Executive of Consumer Scotland, who will provide an answer to you directly.

The Scottish Government is continuing the phased implementation of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2019. A presumption in favour of pre-recording the evidence of child witnesses in cases which involve specified offences is already in place in the High Court, unless specific exceptions apply. We remain committed to extending this presumption to children giving evidence in relevant cases in the sheriff courts and will publish a revised Implementation Plan by the end of March.

We continue to support national rollout of the new Scottish Child Interview Model for Joint Investigative Interviews with over £2 million funding and have committed further support through the Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder Phase. The model aims to secure a child’s best evidence at the earliest opportunity, while minimising retraumatisation. We have commissioned an independent evaluation of the model and its expected outcomes. It is anticipated that the model will be available across Scotland by the end of 2024.

The Scottish Government is still awaiting some responses to the Lessons Learned report from partners in the National Collective Bargaining process and is currently considering next steps with respect to the report’s recommendations that are for Scottish Government to progress, particularly in relation to the independent Chair of the National Joint Negotiating Committee (NJNC).

Once all responses have been received from all partners in the National Collective Bargaining process, the Scottish Government will engage with the Education, Children and Young People Committee on those findings.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22728 on 21 November 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) is designed to support the families of all babies, children and young people from birth to age 18 who require inpatient care in Scotland. Posters and leaflets to promote the Fund are available in every Health Board and we continue to work with all Boards to maximise awareness and promotion of the scheme.

The Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) is currently reviewing its website and has confirmed that it intends to signpost to the YPFF in its update.

As noted in the answer to S6W-22430 by Fiona Hyslop on 7 November 2023, we do not hold specific data on the frequency or average duration of road closures for the purpose of crime scene investigation. This is consistent with the answer to S4W-23569, answered by Derek Mackay in 2015, which noted that Transport Scotland does not hold definitive data that indicates when Police Scotland have carried out a crime scene investigation.

The information provided with the answer to S4W-23569 sought to be helpful by providing what information was held by Transport Scotland i.e. the number and duration of closures on specific routes. However the answer clearly advised that the information provided represented where police attendance was reported and which may or may not have involved a crime scene investigation. It also noted that Police Scotland do on occasions close roads for crime scene investigation without notifying Transport Scotland.

We would therefore reiterate that the closure of a road in the aftermath of an accident is a matter for Police Scotland, who liaise with NHS colleagues as appropriate to understand if accident investigation is merited. The decision to reopen a road after an investigation is also a matter for the Police in their operational capacity.

There have been no disciplinary cases against Scottish Government employees as a result of a failure to ensure that the records for which they are responsible are complete and accurate.

The independent research which aims to examine the impact and scale of vigils and protests which take place outside of healthcare settings providing abortion services is ongoing.

The research was commissioned by the former Ministerial-led working group on safe access zones in 2022, and a final report is due in 2024. In the interim the Scottish Government will publish a literature review, which has been prepared as part of this research, before the end of 2023. In addition to this, a year 1 report which outlines the work that has been undertaken to date will be submitted to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee as part of the call for evidence for the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.