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NTC Forth Valley will open in summer 2023 at a projected cost of £12.7 million.

NTC Golden Jubilee Phase 2 - will open in winter 2023 at a projected costs of £82.3 million.

The business cases for the remaining National Treatment Centre in NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Grampian, NHS Tayside, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Lothian, including the new Edinburgh Eye Pavilion, are under development and costs/opening dates will be confirmed when final business cases are submitted.

We are committed to ensuring the highest standards of animal welfare. Where lethal control of beavers is required to be undertaken, this must be carried out under licence by an authorised person who must have attended training in beaver ecology, the law, and best practice in beaver control as well as holding the appropriate firearms certificate. Furthermore, NatureScot now require carcasses from licensed control to be submitted for independent post mortem in order that aspects of beaver health and welfare can be monitored, other than in the exceptional circumstances where a carcass cannot safely be retrieved.

The latest available figures for the number of beavers killed are for the calendar year 2021. A summary of licence returns for 2021 is publicly available on the NatureScot website at https://www.nature.scot/doc/summary-beaver-populations-and-licence-returns-covering-period-1st-january-31st-december-2021 .

To summarise, during that period eighty seven beavers were killed under licence and thirty three animals were trapped and translocated from conflict areas to licensed projects. NatureScot intends to release the figures for 2022 as part of a Beaver Management Report planned for the end of May this year. We expect to see a further shift in the proportion of beavers being trapped and translocated as opposed to being lethally controlled.

The Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) Forum develops and promotes health and safety guidance for the waste management industry with input from industry experts and other bodies, such as the Health and Safety Executive.

Existing WISH guidance offers advice on eliminating or reducing the risk of serious injury associated with the handling, storage and disposal of unwanted or unidentifiable gas cylinders (‘orphaned’ cylinders) that may appear in the waste stream.

WISH has also advised that it is developing new guidance on how Material Recovery Facilities can address the dangers of gas cylinder and aerosol explosions.

Following discussion at the Waste and Resources Sector Forum, waste sector stakeholders are considering any other actions that could be taken to address key fire safety risks. We will continue to work closely with the sector to consider any further actions required to ensure safe recycling and disposal of nitrous oxide canisters.

Information published by Public Health Scotland ( Social care – Demand for Care at Home services ) provides the number of people waiting for a social care assessment, as well as the number of people who have been assessed and are waiting for a package of care. These figures, however, represent only a subset of unmet need.

Scottish Government analysts are considering options for increasing our understanding of the nature and level of unmet need in adult social care, and will continue to engage with external partners to develop appropriate approaches and deliver new insights over the coming months.

This information is not held centrally within the Scottish Government.

Any arrangements for NHS patients to be treated at an Independent Sector hospital would need to be made between the patient, NHS Board and their clinical team.

While a patient has the right, at any time, to exercise choice and seek private treatment, there can never be the expectation that the NHS will pay for it. The reimbursement of any costs incurred when a patient opts for private treatment, however, is a matter for consideration by the local Health Board.

The Scottish Government publishes an update on progress on all major capital investment projects every 6 months in its Infrastructure Investment Plan and includes information on the following the projects:

• NHS Grampian - Aberdeen Baird Family Hospital and ANCHOR Centre
• National Waiting Times Centre Board - Hospital Expansion Programme - Phase 2
• NHS Lothian - National Treatment Centre
• NHS Highland – National Treatment Centre
• NHS Forth Valley - National Treatment Centre
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde - North East Hub
• NHS Ayrshire & Arran - Foxgrove (National Secure Adolescent Inpatient Service)
• NHS Tayside - Ninewells Electrical Infrastructure Zone 3
• NHS Ayrshire & Arran - National Treatment Centre - Ayrshire & Arran

The full report is published here:

Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: Major capital projects progress update (September 2022) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The literature review 'The development of cognitive and emotional maturity in adolescents and its relevance in judicial contexts' was commissioned by the independent Scottish Sentencing Council to inform its work in developing a sentencing guideline on young people. Its conclusions specifically relate to those aspects of adolescents and young people's cognitive and emotional development and maturity which are relevant to judicial decision-making with a particular focus on its relevance to decisions about the sentencing of young people convicted of criminal offences.

As the report focuses specifically on how evidence about the development of cognitive and emotional maturity in adolescents and young adults is relevant to decision making in judicial contexts, the Scottish Government has not undertaken a formal assessment of its findings' relevance in other policy areas.

Further to the answer provided to question S6W-11404 issued on 4 November 2022, I can confirm that all Health Boards now have access to Clinical portals within acute services.

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

The Scottish Government does not yet have complete YPFF data for the whole period of 2022-23 so we are unable to state the percentage of successful claims across the 12 month period. We expect Health Boards to have provided this data by the end of May 2023.

On 2 January 2023, the number of people waiting for social care support assessment was 7,143. The latest data published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) shows that there were 6,706 waiting for a social care support assessment on 17 April 2023.

Please note:

• The demand for a package of care is unknown in advance of the assessment taking place, and some of the people being assessed will not need a package of care.
• Scotland estimates are derived by summing the number of people waiting from the partnerships. This excludes 3 Health and Social Care Partnerships who were unable to supply data.
• Figures are collected each Monday.

Source: Public Health Scotland, Social care – Demand for Care at Home services , published 25 April 2023.