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The Best Start emphasises parents as key partners in caring for their baby and aims to keep mothers and babies, and families together as much as possible in the crucial early weeks, with services designed around them.

The new model of care aims to minimise the separation of families, and to support parents with babies in neonatal care. We have a number of measures already in place to support families:

• Providing accommodation for parents to stay on or near neonatal units;
• Roll out of the Young Patients Family Fund (formerly the Neonatal Expenses Fund) to support families with the costs of travel, accommodation and food whilst their baby is in neonatal care;
• and
• Repatriating babies to their local neonatal units as soon as clinically possible.

Under the new model of care mothers in suspected extreme pre-term labour are transferred before they give birth (in-utero) to maternity units in the hospitals that have neonatal intensive care units. Experience from the Early Implementer Boards indicates that this will happen in the vast majority of cases. On occasion when it is not possible to transfer mothers before they give birth, the baby will be stabilised and transferred to a NICU by the specialist neonatal transport service ScotSTAR, and the mother will be transferred to the maternity unit in the same hospital as her baby.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of physical activity in Scotland and the positive impact that has on physical, mental and social health and wellbeing. We should all feel included, and able to take part and access the benefits of being active.

It is the responsibility of local authorities, under the Local Government and Planning Act 1982, to ensure that there is adequate provision of facilities for recreational, sporting, cultural and social activities within the local authority. This should include the provision of gym facilities that are accessible and inclusive, with a fair pricing structure.

sportscotland’s 2022-23 annual review of local authority charges for sports participation in Scotland highlighted 27 local authorities, offered a concessionary scheme for disabled people which provided reduced or free use access to sports and leisure facilities.

The Options Appraisal Report , published on 25 July 2023 describes the process undertaken to determine the three final Neonatal Intensive Care Units, and the feasibility analysis and testing that followed the conclusion of that process. Annex A of the Report includes the criteria and weighting used for the Options Appraisal Process. Annexes C and D of the report outline the data that supported the Options Appraisal process.

Further detail on the methodology and the scoring of individual units can be found as part of the following Freedom of Information request:

Information relating to Options Appraisal Report: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We do not hold information on the revised projected passenger journey times between Glasgow Central Station and London Euston Station following the UK Government’s recent decisions on High Speed Two.

The UK Government has yet to advise us what its plans for Glasgow to London rail services will be in the light of this recent cancellation.

The Scottish Government is of the view that this decision will not assist modal shift from air travel.

The Scottish Government’s Fair Work Action Plan sets out actions to promote fair and inclusive workplaces across Scotland. We are committed to using all levers at our disposal to extend Fair Work conditionality with clear standards and minimum requirements to cover all forms of Scottish Government support within the limits of devolved competence.

The Scottish Government expects the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to continue promoting the Fair Work principles and to monitor adherence across the college sector, as outlined in the Ministerial letter of guidance issued to the SFC on 1 June 2023.

The first workshop will be set up by the end of 2023 as outlined in the Short Life Working Group report, published on 2 October 2023.

As noted in S6W-19908 on 31 July 2023, the age ranges for breast screening are based on recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent expert advisory group which informs decisions taken across the UK on screening programmes. There is no clear evidence that the benefits of screening this age group outweigh the potential harms.

Since October 2022, women aged 71-74, and those over 75 with a history of breast cancer, have been able to self-refer for a screening appointment. Due to the challenges around programme capacity and wait times as a result of the pandemic, self-referrals for those over 75 without a history of breast cancer remain paused. This ensures those between 50 and 70 and for whom screening has clear benefits are prioritised. The most recent statistics show that breast screening uptake has increased across Scotland which is the most important factor when maximising cancer detection and effectiveness of the screening programme.

Considerable work has been undertaken to improve programme capacity, including extending screening hours, using additional mobile units, and optimising appointment allocation. The scale of the challenge facing the screening programme since the pandemic means it has taken time for this work to have a significant impact. However, considerable progress has been made, and the scope to extend self-referrals to all those over 75 remains under active review. Both Parliament and NHS Inform will be updated when any decision is made to lift the current pause.

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

In our Control Period 6 (2019 – 2024) through our High Level Output Statement (HLOS) we tasked Network Rail with development of an efficient electrification technical specification optimised for Scotland, in order to deliver an efficient and affordable rolling programme of electrification, with appropriate plant, staff and resources based in Scotland. We have built on this on our Control Period 7 HLOS with a requirement placed on to Network Rail to continue to deliver and further develop the efficient electrification technical specification agreed across Team Scotland (Network Rail, Transport Scotland and ScotRail).

With all rail infrastructure works, including railway electrification, Transport Scotland’s officials actively engage with Network Rail and rail industry partners to seek ways to reduce the cost of construction.

For example, Transport Scotland participates in Network Rail Scotland’s Decarbonisation Innovation workstream. This workstream aligns with Network Rail’s Efficient Electrification work with the goal of enabling cost and time savings for electrification schemes as well as identifying process and safety improvements.

Transport Scotland has maintained a rolling programme of electrification work, unlike elsewhere in Great Britain, as reflected in current work on Barrhead and then East Kilbride to ensure learning curve benefits are consolidated.

Stantec's Community Needs Assessment report on transport connectivity for Cowal and Rosneath has recently been finalised and is intended for publication by Transport Scotland in the new year once its contents have been reviewed and considered.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The member may wish to contact the British Transport Police.