Seòmar agus comataidhean

A table has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib Number 62617) that provides ongoing maintenance and repair costs per vessel within the Clyde and Hebrides fleet for CalMac Ferries Ltd. contract years 2016-17 to 2021-22.

I met with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland on 10 June 2021.

At this introductory meeting we discussed matters of mutual interest, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill and children and young people’s participation in decision-making.

The choice of disposal method for ordinance found on the Seagreen Offshore Windfarm will be a hierarchy of methods made up of leaving in situ , relocating the UXO, applying a low-yield method which disrupts and disintegrates the UXO without combustion of the explosive material, a low-order method which disrupts the UXO by deflagration without an explosive combustion of the main explosive filling and, only where those methods are unsuitable, to use a high-order method to penetrate the UXO casing and trigger detonation of the main explosive filling.

Bubble curtains are not being used as, due to the water depth at the site, they would be technically challenging and may be of limited effectiveness.

The use of the mezzanine deck on MV Hebrides is a primarily an operational decision for CalMac Ferries Ltd (CFL). CFL continue to engage with the communities and businesses who use the service regarding the use of the mezzanine deck and the potential impacts on timetables, number of sailings and overall capacity for passengers and vehicles. The mezzanine deck was brought back into use on sailings from 9 August 2021.

The £3 million funding was part of the emergency COVID-19 support for culture, protecting jobs and addressing some of the financial pressures facing the three organisations. It was announced on 17 January 2021, comprising £1.4 million for Aberdeen Performing Arts, £800,000 for Eden Court Highlands and £800,000 for Capital Theatres. Funding is being delivered through Creative Scotland. The funding agreements with the three organisations require that the funds must be used in addressing the problems linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in order to enable the organisations to be financially stable in order to develop and present cultural activity when restrictions allow. Later in 2021 Creative Scotland will require the organisations to provide information on the use of funding, including how they have spent it, whether it has allowed them to maintain their workforce and stabilised their financial position.

Proposals to the Bus Partnership Fund are assessed against criteria which focus on the climate benefits of mode shift from private car to public transport. The criteria and weightings are as follows:

• Evidence of congestion and ideas to reduce congestion, through improved bus services (40%)

• How the proposal fits with the partnership area’s overall strategy for integrated transport, to encourage a modal shift from cars to more sustainable transport and reduce emissions (25%)

• Partnership strength and demonstrated commitment, which will include match in kind (20%)

• Deliverability: the ability of the lead local authority and its partners to deliver the proposed developments, including local political buy-in (15%)

Successful bidders to the fund are required to submit monthly progress reports to Transport Scotland. Each subsequent tranche of funding will be dependent upon their passing gateway reviews, which will provide further assurance that the funded infrastructure developments support action on climate change.

As agreed in the ADT Highlands and Islands Working Group terms of reference, the Group met three times. The last of these meetings took place on 4 February 2019

The Group offered external challenge to our consideration of options, and made a valuable contribution to the evidence base in support of maintaining the Highlands and Islands exemption, producing new analysis that underlined its importance to the region.

There are no current plans for the Group to meet again. Scottish Ministers will however continue to consider this on an ongoing basis, taking account of relevant developments.

More information on the Highlands and Islands Working Group can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/groups/adt-highlands-and-islands-working-group/

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Information relating to the number of women aged (a) 50 and over and (b) under 50 currently waiting to start treatment for (i) primary and (ii) secondary breast cancer, would be held by individual Health Boards.

At present, we only collect Detect Cancer Early data for breast, colorectal and lung cancers. Information on patients diagnosed with breast, colorectal or lung cancer during the two-year period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019 by cancer stage is available in the Detect Cancer Early Staging publication at

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/detect-cancer-early-staging-data/detect-cancer-early-staging-data-year-8-1-january-2018-to-31-december-2019/

Information for the two-year period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020 is due to be released on 19 October 2021. This information will be broken down by quarter.

Public Health Scotland are currently developing a dashboard to include provisional monthly and quarterly data for 2020 compared with both 2019 and the average of 2017-2019 for the three cancer sites (breast, colorectal and lung). It is expected that this will be released over August as part of the Covid-19 wider impacts dashboard .

Data published by Public Health Scotland shows that at 31 March 2021, the number of patients waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case was 94,781. The number of patients waiting over 12 weeks at 31 March 2021 was 61,901 (65.3%).

Further breakdown of this data can be accessed on page 28 of the full report at NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Quarter ending 31 March 2021 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Data showing the number of patients waiting to be admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case at 30 June 2021 will be published by Public Health Scotland on 24 August 2021.