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The proposed National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Young Persons is expected to increase patronage and cause modal shift but the precise impact of these changes is uncertain. The Scottish Government will monitor the scheme to assess the level of take up and the impact it has on people’s travel behaviours and on other modes of transport, including active travel.

Evidence from the existing National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Older and Disabled Persons indicates that people who benefit from free public transport tend to be more active as a result. These journeys can be used to access outdoor activities and most will involve an active component, for instance to get to or from the bus stop.

The Scottish Government has established the Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce, comprised of leaders from the bus operating, bus manufacturing, energy and finance sectors, including representation from rural bus operators. At its first meeting the group set out its vision for a future where “Bus operators are exclusively running zero-emission battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell buses, and the bus sector provides an excellent service meeting passengers’ day-to-day needs”. The guiding vision informs all aspects of the Taskforce’s work. The Scottish Government is making £120 million available over the coming years to support operators in both urban and rural areas transition to zero-emission technology. The first phase of our Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund, worth £50 million, is currently open for bids. A second phase will be subject to review of the first.

Since June 2020 the Scottish Government has made up to £210 million in additional financial support available to enable bus operators to continue to run services during the pandemic. It is for individual operators to lead dialogue with trade unions and to determine pay arrangements with their employees. Scottish Government funding is provided on a not for profit basis and any pay increases for staff would need to be funded by bus operators through efficiencies or any reserves they may have accrued prior to the pandemic.

There are approximately 4,400 public service buses registered in Scotland, the majority of which will have to transition to zero emission buses in order to meet the 2023 ambition. The Scottish Government has already supported 272 zero-emission buses through the Scottish Ultra-low Emission Bus scheme 2020-21, which is over and above zero emission buses that have been deployed through other means.

No evaluation has taken place of the ScotZEB scheme as it is still open for applications until 4 November 2021.

Special Advisers in the Scottish Government are bound by the Special Adviser Code of Conduct and the standards of integrity and honesty required of all civil servants as set out in the Civil Service Code. The Scottish Government has accepted the Hamilton Report proposal to give further consideration to matters relating to Special Advisers. We will cooperate with the Independent Advisers on taking this forward as part of any wider revisions to both the Ministerial Code and the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers that might be required.

Further to the answer to question S6W-01792, the Scottish Government invests £862 million in general medical services, and a further £250 million in support of general practice through the Primary Care Fund.

Specific details of actual expenditure would require to be requested directly from individual NHS Boards .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03232 on‎ 4 October 2021 which is 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 .

NHS Scotland's staffing levels are at a record high, with 25,000 more whole time equivalent staff members working in our NHS under this Government.

Supporting our National Health Service is a central part of the Scottish Government’s programme of work. This is backed by record investment of over £16 billion this year which includes funding to support wellbeing and capacity across our NHS workforce.

On supporting staff in relation to mental health issues: for the financial year 2021-22 the Scottish Government has announced an increased budget of £8 million - an increase of £3 million on last year - to provide ongoing support for the mental health and wellbeing of health and social care workforce across Scotland. This includes targeted support to the primary care and social care workforces of £2 million.

On staff wellbeing and safety, our Health Recovery Plan, published on 25 August, outlines that recovery of staff is intrinsic to our collective ambitions for renewing services. Investment in support for staff wellbeing is therefore an essential and vital component of the recovery plans.

On staffing issues, to support recruitment and free up capacity in the short term we will provide £2 million of financial support to NHS Boards to increase capacity within their recruitment teams and support international recruitment.

We will invest £11 million over the next 5 years in new national and international recruitment campaigns and establish a new national Centre for Workforce Supply. International recruitment of healthcare workers will build capacity in our health workforce and complement existing routes into NHS Scotland.

Work has been undertaken throughout the pandemic with national Regulatory Bodies to ensure that as many former nurses, doctors and allied health professionals who wish to return to work in NHS Scotland are able to do so. We will also support the aims of the Young Person’s Guarantee by increasing opportunities for young people to access employment in NHS Scotland and will explore a range of new initiatives, links with schools and increasing apprenticeships.

Table one shows the total number of patients seen and number that waited over 18 weeks to be seen for orthopaedic treatment in NHS Highland, from January 2020 to June 2021.