Seòmar agus comataidhean

Health Boards are responsible for the health and safety of NHS staff. Scottish Government officials have been assured by NHS Greater Glasgow and Cycle (NHS GGC) that they have the necessary controls, protocols and support in place to protect staff. We will continue to work closely with NHS GGC to monitor the safety and wellbeing of staff at the Langhill Clinic.

NHSScotland has joined the multi-agency Your Safety Matters (YSM) initiative, led by Police Scotland. YSM aims to minimise incidents of violence and aggression in workplaces, through campaigns, sharing resources and good practice.

Abuse towards NHS staff is unacceptable, and the courts have extensive powers to deal robustly with those who carry out such appalling behaviour on emergency workers.

Professor Anna Glasier OBE was appointed as the first Women’s Health Champion for Scotland on 26 January 2023.

Professor Glasier has been contracted to work four days a month, with her tenure coming to an end in June 2024.

Professor Glasier recently published her first Women’s Health Champion update blog which can be found here: Health and Social Care My first update as Women's Health Champion - Health and Social Care (blogs.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has committed to a process of a judge-led inquiry once all legal proceedings relating to the malicious prosecutions are at an end. The exact form of inquiry will be determined at the point once all legal proceedings are concluded. The Scottish Ministers will announce when an inquiry will be held and the Justice Directorate has been identified as the directorate to lead on providing advice to Ministers.

The former Lord Advocate, James Wolffe KC, advised Parliament on 9 February 2021 that the Crown is committed to supporting an inquiry.

Shelagh McCall KC has been instructed to independently consider reports of criminal conduct from a legal perspective in relation to the prosecutions connected to Rangers Football Club. This process is in place to ensure that any allegations of criminal conduct are considered fairly and objectively.

The civil litigation and the work of Shelagh McCall KC remains ongoing at this time, and it would be inappropriate to comment on specifics in respect of these cases. However, the Crown remain committed to supporting an inquiry once all legal proceedings have concluded.

ScotRail implemented the consulted timetable in South West Scotland in May 2022 and advised this was a new starting point and passenger use would be closely monitored. As a result, in May 2023, a further five additional services will operate during the day between Ayr and Kilmarnock, improving access to employment, education, healthcare and leisure facilities for communities in south west Scotland, as many of these services originate or terminate at Girvan.

ScotRail advise that there are currently no plans to change the five trains per day which currently operate between Girvan and Stranraer – these operate at the times customers told ScotRail were most useful to them. ScotRail will continue to monitor passenger use of rail services to Stranraer and engage with communities to ensure the service level meets local needs.

Across Scotland safety cameras are deployed through the Scottish Safety Camera Programme primarily where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding. This is in accordance with criteria contained in the Scottish Safety Camera Programme Handbook.

There are a range of sites along the A75 where mobile safety camera resources are deployed.

An annual site prioritisation exercise is underway to assess the performance of all existing safety camera sites across Scotland and to identify locations which meet minimum criteria requirements. If new locations are identified on the A75 which meet minimum criteria requirements then consideration will be given to deploying additional camera resources on the route.

Transport Scotland officials regularly meet with the A77 Action group, to which representatives from the ferry operators are invited. Meeting invites to these meetings are sent to PO Ferries, Belfast Harbour and Stena Line.

The last meeting of this group was held on 3 February 2023, however, the last meeting attended by ferry operators was in September 2022.

Representatives from Transport Scotland’s operating company AMEY also meet the ferry operators on an ad hoc basis, as part of the consultation process around planned roadworks on the trunk road network.

The Scottish Safety Camera Handbook is kept under continuous review by the Road Safety Strategic Partnership Board which provides strategic support and direction to the Scottish Safety Camera Programme. This acts to ensure safety camera resources continue to maximise their casualty reduction potential to communities across Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the benefits magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) could provide to eligible patients with essential tremor. However, we do not formally assess the impact of clinical interventions.

Transport Scotland is unable to estimate the annual daily traffic flow (AADT) for the entire A1 trunk road within the Scottish Borders. However, the following table provides the AADT taken from the two traffic counters Transport Scotland operate on the A1 trunk road in the Scottish Borders.

A success rate of tree planting is not recorded as such. The planting is designed to deliver specific objectives such as landscape integration, screening/shelter, and ecological enhancement etc. However, this does not necessarily mean 100% of the stock planted needs to establish in order to achieve the objectives. A number of annual inspections are carried out by the landscape architect throughout each year of the 5 year establishment period. These inspections determine whether the planting is on course to deliver the intended design outcomes, and can result in remedial actions for the contractor to carry out.

The planting design is for a relatively high density of approximately 1 plant per square metre. It is anticipated that some plants will fail due to natural competition or the challenges presented by local conditions. In areas where a significant proportion of plants fail then it would be more likely that replanting will be required, and this has been the philosophy adopted for the first few years of the maintenance period. It is estimated that approximately 25% of plants have failed to establish over the first three years since planting. The inspections have determined that approximately 15% of plant failures will require to be replaced in order to achieve the aims of the design.