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An underlying principle of the new National Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland being developed will be equitable and timely access to palliative care as needed, by each person of any age, living with any illness, in all places.

The Strategy Steering Group has established a number of working groups to address priorities, including a Workforce, Education, Training and Resources Working Group, to support the workforce and ensure care is delivered by a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency workforce that is trained, skilled, valued and supported.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The funding and commissioning of specialist and general palliative and end of life care services, including workforce planning and allocating resources for staffing, is a matter for Integration Joint Boards. A wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector, will be involved in providing palliative care to people and their families.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are responsible for managing all training provided to doctors in Scotland. NES ensure that all doctors receive high quality training in line with curricula that is set by the relevant Medical Royal College so that they are able to demonstrate that they have met all GMC curricular requirements, in order to practise independently as a GP in the UK.

The General Practice Specialty Training (GPST) programme lasts for 3 years with trainees typically spending 18 months in General Practice and 18 months in secondary care i.e. hospital settings.

All GP practices receive funding for protected time consisting of one session a month (usually within practice time) to allow GPs to maintain and develop their training and skills, and those of their practice teams.

Training currently provided to GPs on the diagnosis and treatment of UTIs include:

1. Educational activities during the first year of training under most GP Speciality Trainees (GPSTs), such as: tutorials, case based discussions, post consultation prescribing checks and referral reviews that are undertaken by their GP educational supervisors.

2. Management of UTI’s (uncomplicated lower UTI’s in females) in primary care also occurs through the Scottish Pharmacy First initiative. https://www.nss.nhs.scot/publications/pharmacy-first-scotland-urinary-tract-infection-uti/ .

3. The RCGP ‘Being a General Practitioner’ Curriculum Guide ( https://www.rcgp.org.uk/mrcgp-exams/gp-curriculum/clinical-topic-guides#kidney ) section on Kidney and Urology includes: Urinary tract infections in children and in adults including lower urinary tract infection, pyelonephritis and persistent/recurrent infection There are questions based on this clinical topic guide within the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA- OSCE style exam) which form essential components of the MRCGP exam.

4. SIGN 160: “Management of suspected bacterial lower urinary tract infection in adult women. A national clinical guideline. September 2020” is a readily available resource for all GPs in Scotland.

5. All GP practices receive an annual prescribing report which focusses on antibiotic prescribing and review of current guidelines on management of UTI’s in primary care. Each Health board has its own guidance - see below:

https://www.clinicalguidelines.scot.nhs.uk/nhsggc-guidelines/nhsggc-guidelines/emergency-medicine/diagnosis-treatment-and-management-of-uti-in-children-rhc-glasgow/

https://handbook.ggcmedicines.org.uk/guidelines/infections/urinary-tract-infections-utis/

6. Evaluation of the impact of Scottish Reduction in Antimicrobial Prescribing (ScRAP) programme on GP Practice management of patients with suspected UTI – is an example of initiatives regularly offered to GP practices to review their antibiotic prescribing. GPs through annual appraisal have to demonstrate annual QI initiatives and many include antibiotic prescribing in UTI’s and compliance with local and national guidelines.

7. Common reference sources used by GPs (GP notebook, NICE CKS guidelines, BNF, BMJ best practice) all have comprehensive sections on management of UTI in adults and children.

Transport Scotland are in regular discussions with a range of operational partners, including Police Scotland and local road authorities, to explore ways to enhance road safety in the north of Scotland. This includes discussion through the Road Safety Framework Local Partnership Forum which last met on 15 June 2023.

Over the summer months additional and targeted safety camera and police officer resources have been deployed across the road network, including the North Coast 500, to encourage good driver behaviour and enhanced levels of speed limit compliance.

The Scottish Government does not hold or collate any information relating to the registered address of companies who own wind turbines in Scotland.

The UK Government’s Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) tracks the progress of UK renewable electricity projects. The database can be filtered to show all projects in Scotland and their operators.

Transport Scotland undertakes an annual assessment of the safety performance of the entire trunk road network, including the A702. Whilst accident patterns and rates in the form of Route Accident Reduction Plans (RARP) are considered, all locations where three or more personal-injury accidents have occurred in a three year period are screened. Further investigations are then carried out and, where appropriate, mitigation measures are prioritised for delivery.

Through this assessment, the Garvald junction, north of Dolphinton on the A702 has been identified for further investigation. The Operating Company, BEAR Scotland, has been instructed to carry out an accident investigation and prevention study. Road safety engineers will review recorded injury accidents and the operation of the junction, with recommendations for improvements being made as appropriate. The study is expected to be complete by the end of this financial year. Any recommendations for improvements will be considered thereafter and prioritised for delivery alongside other casualty reduction commitments in the South East Unit.

The new Small Business Unit will be scoped out as part of a new Business and Better Regulation Directorate that will be formed from 18 September. Budget allocations will be finalised following budget planning work now underway.

The second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) was published in December 2022 and will inform the Scottish Government’s transport investment programme over the next 20 years and help to deliver the National Transport Strategy. STPR2 recommends a potential Sound of Harris/ Sound of Barra fixed links as well as another between Mull and the Scottish mainland.

STPR2 included a considerable programme of engagement activities at a national and regional level with participation from local stakeholders, communities and businesses throughout the process. All of Scotland’s local authorities with island and remote communities were represented on at least one regional transport working group which helped to inform STPR2.

The STPR2 Delivery Plan is currently being progressed and will provide further insight on the programming and delivery of all 45 recommendations including the potential for the 3 fixed links. In the preparation of the Delivery Plan, Transport Scotland officials are currently considering how best to consult and engage with all stakeholders including islands, remote communities and other interested parties.

Research published in 2020 (commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with Transport Scotland and Scottish Enterprise) assessed the current and future use of batteries in Scotland across the entire length of the battery supply chain, from manufacturing to predicted quantities available at end of life. This research is published and is available here: Battery use in Scotland now and in the future | Zero Waste Scotland.

More recently the Scottish Government commissioned further research with Zero Waste Scotland to identify what practical actions Scotland could take to encourage and benefit from a circular economy - encouraging the reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling of electric vehicle batteries. This research will be published in due course.

In Scotland 40.7% single-track railway kilometres are electrified.

The Scottish Government does not hold vehicle kilometres information centrally, however some 76% of passenger journeys are made by electric train.

The volume, route and traction type for rail freight varies considerably from year to year. It is estimated that in the financial year 2022 to 2023, 50% of rail freight moved in Scotland was electrically hauled.

A considerable constraint on increasing this proportion is the number of freight terminals and ports at the other end of rail freight journeys in England that remain unelectrified.