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This is an operational matter for the Scottish Enterprise, who administer the GlobalScot network. I have asked their Chief Executive to respond.

We are not currently aware of any Health Boards that are not using a form of asynchronous communication as part of their public service offering.

The Scottish Government has not carried out any assessment between the number of potholes and road cycling accidents on the trunk road network.

An analysis of injury collisions for all severities on the trunk road network for the most recent full 3 year period (8 November 2019 to 7 November 2022) identified a total of 78 collisions involving a pedal cyclist. This makes up approximately 3.6% of the total number of injury accidents on the trunk road during this period. Of these 78 accidents, none were identified with a contributory factor “Poor or defective road surface”.

The table below shows the number of cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme as of the end of the day on 31 December 2022, broken down to local authority level.

This data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The table includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application.

The Scottish Government continues to make progress on drafting the refreshed Tobacco Action Plan and this is due to published in Autumn 2023.

The following table details the number of meetings of the Tobacco Action Plan - Short Life Working Groups since their inception in 2022.

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, litter collection and clearing detritus is the responsibility of the Local Authority even when the road is a trunk road (but not a motorway or specified a ‘Special Road’ that has particular regulations which dictate permitted vehicle use). Consequently, the responsibility for clearing litter and detritus on the A78 remains with North Ayrshire Council.

Traditional skills are promoted in a number of ways by non-departmental public bodies such as Skills Development Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. These include apprenticeships, which are a key way for employers to invest in their workforce and provide skills that the economy needs now and in the future, as underlined by our commitment to a skilled workforce set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

As part of the Scottish Government’s Youth Employment Strategy, Developing the Young Workforce, we have worked with employers and sector bodies to develop a programme called “Build Your Future” that promotes careers in construction and heritage skills, including stonemasonry, to young people through construction skills tasters.

A short life working group is currently being led by Historic Environment Scotland to identify how sustainable models of stonemasonry training can be developed in Scotland. Historic Environment Scotland also directly supports and works with organisations across Scotland to promote skilled heritage jobs through provision of advice, support and mentoring. Through its grants programmes, Historic Environment Scotland also directly supports the employment of skilled craftspeople on third party projects, as well as requiring grant recipients to engage in education, training and outreach to promote skilled heritage jobs.

The Scottish Government publishes survey data on the use of vaping products by under 16s collected through the Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study and via the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS), which ran between 2002 and 2018.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14172 on 31 January 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

Improvements to the A702/A703 junction were made in early 2012 to simplify the layout to reduce the number of southbound lanes on the A702 on the approach to the junction with Old Pentland Road. In addition, footway build-outs were formed to improve sightlines for drivers joining the A702 from the side roads. These measures were carried alongside high friction surfacing and road marking enhancements being introduced at the junction.

Design work to install traffic signals at the junction is ongoing, with a preferred option being agreed by both Transport Scotland and Midlothian Council in 2022. A detailed design is programmed to begin in the coming financial year, which will take into account the numerous site constraints at this location .