Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15219 on‎ 6 March 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

Spend on our trunk road improvement projects is managed within the Capital Land and Works allocation of £121.9 million as part of the Motorway and Trunk Roads Spending Plans set out in the Scottish Budget: 2023-24. This covers preparation and delivery of a range of projects and programmes including A9 Dualling Perth to Inverness, the A83 Rest and Be Thankful medium and long options and improvements to the A96 corridor as well as a number of other projects and programmes. Spend on each individual project is managed with the Capital Land and Works allocation budget line which reflects the scope of work anticipated to be taken forward within the financial year.

The Blue Flag programme in Scotland was discontinued at the end of 2016 and replaced with the Scottish Beach Awards scheme. Keep Scotland Beautiful will announce the 2023 beach awards winners before the start of the bathing season. In order for a beach to achieve an award there is a criteria for local environmental quality, which includes consideration of the bathing water quality standards.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for monitoring, classifying protecting and improving water quality at designated bathing waters. 98% of bathing waters currently meet the bathing water standards with more beaches being classified as excellent than ever before.

The Scottish Government is currently in the process of developing three sectoral Just Transition Plans, on Transport, Buildings and Construction, and Land Use and Agriculture, following our commitment to deliver Just Transition Plans for high-emitting sectors. We will also be taking account of consultation responses to revise the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

We have shared preliminary discussion material for each Plan with the Just Transition Commission, who continue to advise on current progress and next steps. As advised by the Commission, discussion papers for each Plan are due to be shared publicly in the coming weeks. These will support extensive public and stakeholder engagement over the summer, to inform the drafting of full Plans over the course of the next year.

Since the inception of work to better understand the Arrochar litter sink in 2017, we have determined that approximately half of the litter has originated from the River Clyde catchment, and half from the open sea. We are using this knowledge to focus efforts on tackling the source of the litter over which we can have most influence, that from the River Clyde.

As such, the recently updated Marine Litter Strategy for Scotland includes actions on riverine litter, to prevent it and to support its removal. Our key delivery partner Keep Scotland Beautiful and their Upstream Battle project enables communities, businesses, and schools on the River Clyde to develop local solutions to reduce littering, and also support its clean-up. This initiative also supports citizen science and the outputs will inform further riverine litter policy, aiming to reduce and intercept litter before it reaches our seas. In addition, we are also engaging with Glasgow City Council to consider more options to increase litter removal from the River Clyde.

The Scottish Government provides an annual allocation to Health Boards to meet the costs of providing general medical services either through contracting with GP practices or directly by Health Boards. NHS Grampian will continue to receive an appropriate level of funding based on the practice’s registered patients.

Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership and NHS Grampian are keeping my officials abreast of developments.

Inclusion Health Action in General Practice is a new programme, which will be evaluated. In the first instance funding will be targeted to practices in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde due to it having the most widespread blanket deprivation in Scotland. 81 of the 100 practices serving Scotland’s most deprived communities are within greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Through the introduction of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, it has been the responsibility of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to plan and resource adult palliative care services for their area, including hospice and hospice at home services, using the integrated budget under their control.

The Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on funding support to help deliver hospice at home since 1999.

NHS Health Boards have a legal requirement through the Organisational Duty of Candour Regulations (2018) to review certain types of adverse events (defined as unintended or unexpected incidents that result in, or could result in, death or harm), record each incident where the organisational duty of candour procedure is followed, meet personally with those affected, offer an apology and consider how the learning can be applied.

Boards are required to record all Significant Adverse Event Reviews commissioned and report them to Healthcare Improvement Scotland. This system has been in place since January 2020.

The Scottish Government’s ambitious 10-year cancer strategy is nearing completion, with publication planned this Spring. The strategy will be under-pinned by action plans which will evolve with the changing cancer landscape. The strategy will take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care.

It will encompass a new earlier cancer diagnosis vision for Scotland and will continue to focus on those cancer types that are the largest burden and have poorer survival, in particular the less survivable cancers, including liver cancer.