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The Scottish Government is aware of the study published by the University college London on LNG capable ships and of its main conclusions. There is considerable research being carried out into the viability of various future marine fuels and vessel technologies and the Scottish Government, as a global leader on wider climate change policy and actions and as an owner and operator of vessels, is maintaining a close view on developments.

We are aiming for the Government-owned ferry fleet to make the strongest possible contribution towards achieving our target of a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2045.

The Scottish Government recognised in 2021 that partial implementation of the pharmacotherapy and community treatment and care services, on a national level, meant that general practice was facing a difficult winter without all of the support Scottish Government and the BMA had agreed it should have in 2018. £1,765,382 and £823,388 were allocated to GP Practices in Lanarkshire and Forth Valley GP Practices as sustainability payments in 2021-22.

This year, GP practices in Lanarkshire and Forth Valley will receive £1,172,236 and £549,074 in Sustainability Payments this year in addition to their regular funding (Global Sum and Income & Expenses Guarantees) of £81,651,926 and £38,245,691 respectively, to which an uplift will be applied backdated to April 2022.

We also now have more than 3,220 healthcare professionals recruited to support general practice and are committed to investing at least £170 million a year on growing primary care multi-disciplinary teams.

Addressing Rail accessibility remains a matter reserved to the UK Government, and the removal of the station ramps was driven by changes made by the industry safety regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

To ensure compliance with the regulations, ScotRail is implementing a priority project to rollout the new ramps now required. This is due to the implementation of a new ORR specified standard and is being implemented widely across the UK.

ScotRail advise that when the train is longer than the platform, for safety reasons, the rear doors which are not accommodated on the platform do not open.

The Scottish Government specifies the provision of staff to assist passengers on all ScotRail trains. This includes providing guidance to passengers requiring assistance about the right location to join a train if they intend to get off at a station with short platform.

I will be addressing the Scottish Agritourism Conference on the 6 December, where I will be giving an update on the progress of the Strategy.

The Lived Experience Experts Panel doesn’t reflect traditional policy panels, which meet together on a regular basis. It is most similar to the Experience Panel in place for Social Security. It functions as a pool of people with lived experience who can be called upon to take part in co-design and research to support service development.

This means that the panel don’t have meetings together, although members will often attend group sessions with a small number of other people in the panel.

Panel members are currently being invited to introductory sessions to support their participation in co-design sessions. The first introductory session is scheduled for15 November, with up to 20 of the panel attending. We expect the co-design sessions to begin shortly after that.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government as this is an operational matter for the independent Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water. I have therefore asked SEPA’s and Scottish Water’s Chief Executives to write to the Member to provide details.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all communities within Scotland, including NHS patients in Inverclyde, can access a NHS dentist.

We have provided over £150 million of financial support to date to maintain the capacity and capability of NHS dentistry and agreed further funding into the new year to address the cost of living crisis.

From April 2022 we have re-introduced a system of fee per item payments that incentivises NHS dental teams to see patients. Public Health Scotland statistics (link attached) show that these measures have increased patient examination appointments and are comparable to pre-pandemic levels, allowing more patients to be seen and dental practices to begin to register more patients as they work through the pandemic backlog.

Public Health Scotland - Monthly Statistics - Dental Activity

NHS registration is significantly higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK, with more than 95% of the population registered with a NHS dentist.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11675 on 8 November 2022. 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