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The Scottish Government remain committed to ensuring the Arran ferry service is fit for the future, and to finding a solution at Ardrossan that can be delivered in a cost effective way, reflecting the needs of all of the partners involved. We understand and share frustrations at the pace of progress on the Ardrossan Harbour redevelopment.

Ongoing discussions and negotiations around the delivery of improvements at the port have been complex but the business case review is substantially complete, and project partners continue to work on this as quickly as practicable. The next meeting of the Ardrossan Task Force will be convened soon after the business case and cost review exercise has been submitted to Ministers for a decision.

The Scottish Government has a centrally-managed contract with Office Papers to supply newspapers on an ad-hoc rather than subscription basis. The guidance on spending on newspapers allows for current awareness; to help identify and monitor local and regional issues and to support policy and operational delivery.

For software subscriptions, the Scottish Government uses robust contract management procedures in relation to the procurement of licensing for software subscriptions, procuring through national public sector procurement frameworks to ensure transparency, quality and value for money. Criteria will vary depending on business needs, costs and value.

In relation to the Scottish Government's policies or guidance in relation to spend on professional membership subscriptions, we have published guidance. The key points are that any professional membership the Scottish Government supports must be a) directly relevant to the person's current job, b) of relevant value to the SG, and c) further the person's continuous professional development. The funds and decisions on professional memberships are held by local senior managers, not centrally.

Number of hospital admissions of pedestrians injured is shown in the following table. The source is SMR01, Public Health Scotland, extract: January 2025.

From April 2019 to March 2024, the total number of hospital admissions in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary hospital for pedestrians injured in collisions involving pedal cycles, is 9.

During the same period, less than 5 hospital admissions were recorded for pedestrians injured in collisions involving two- or three-wheeled motor vehicles. The source is SMR01, Public Health Scotland, extract: January 2025.

The Scottish Government is investing £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to free, high-quality outdoor play in their own communities.

Funding to support the Play Parks renewal programme has been allocated as follows:

2021-22 - £5 million

2022-23 - £5 million

2023-24 - £10 million

2024-25 - £15 million

The following table shows how much funding has been allocated to each local authority since 2021.

The Scottish Government agrees that research needs to be carried out in order to improve our collective understanding of all forms of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation. As such, we are continuously looking to improve local and national data and evidence around child protection, including child sexual exploitation. However, any data must be gathered in a manner that is appropriate, sensitive and minimises the risk of re-traumatisation of victims.

A National Child Protection Data Group has been established with members from the Scottish Government, Care Inspectorate and the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS), which oversees this work and has developed a work plan for 2024-25.

In a joint effort, CELCIS, the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Government has also developed a minimum data set for Child Protection Committees (CPCs), which is a ‘package’ of data collation, presentation, analysis, reporting and scrutiny supports to support child protection improvement, local planning and service development, and expanded analytical capacity.

In addition, a national dataset is published on an annual basis to support the publication of the Scottish Government’s annual children’s social work statistics. Data on prevalence of child sexual exploitation within child protection processes is included in this publication.

Childlight is also a global research centre of expertise on child sexual abuse based at the University of Edinburgh and has an aim of improving collection and use of data on child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE). Officials continue to engage the Centre on its work and Childlight is a member of the new National CSAE Strategic Group.

Additionally, progress continues to be made on data gathering and sharing by agencies in Scotland. Data on reported concerns about child abuse or neglect is collected by Police Scotland and reported nationally in a monthly dashboard, and this dataset is currently being extended to provide more in-depth analysis of characteristics and trends in abuse and exploitation. This will provide an improved understanding of prevalence of different forms of abuse, including child sexual abuse and exploitation.

However, we continue to consider opportunities to explore the scale and nature of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

While no formal post-legislative review has yet to be undertaken, my officials have been informally monitoring the use of Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders (ETROs) by local authorities. Given the initial low uptake of ETROs following the legislative changes made it was felt that no formal review was required at that time.

Officials have advised that the scope of a review is currently being considered and that we plan to write to all local authorities to gather their views on the ETRO procedures within the next 4 months. It should be stressed that this review is often undertaken post-legislative change and would look at the numbers of ETROs brought in under the new legislation and any common issues local authorities are facing to help inform any further legislative change in the future. The review will not impact on the operation of existing ETROs or of TROs that are subsequently made under the current legislation.

Officials have also had a number of informal discussions with a number of local authorities who were in the initial stages of considering if an ETRO was suitable for various schemes. No specific record has been made of these conversations given that they are standard discussions between Transport Scotland and local authority officials

As set out in answer S6W-32929 on 15 January 2025, the Scottish Government have confirmed that the replacement of the Eye Pavilion is a strategic priority and the 2025-26 Draft Budget has provided the necessary funding to allow the development of the business case to restart.

NHS Lothian’s Eye Pavilion replacement program had progressed to an Outline Business Case, the second of three approval stages, and therefore no Full Business Case or final estimate of costs has ever been produced.

We also do not yet have an updated cost estimate of a new eye hospital in Edinburgh, therefore it is not currently possible to answer this question. NHS Lothian are in the process of re-establishing the project team and will provide an updated forecast in due course.

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

I am pleased to confirm that the 2025 Education Improvement Plan was published today: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836911227.

The Improvement Plan sets out the actions that will be taken to deliver the seven key educational outcomes set out in the National Improvement Framework, the evidence to support those actions and how we will measure progress against them.

In addition, the Scottish Government also published an update on actions from the 2024 National Improvement Framework and Improvement Plan setting out progress on existing actions from across the education and skills landscape: www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836911234.

The Scottish Government has committed £10m over 2023–2025 to support delivery of Scotland's food and drink strategy, Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World. This funding facilitates a range of activities and direct engagement with grocery retailers to help increase the volume of Scottish food and drink on retail shelves, including Scottish seafood. Activity includes: hosting regional Sourcing Scotland Meet The Buyer events to connect retailers and producers; participating in various sales exhibitions; placing graduates within retail and wholesale buying teams to drive sales; and working with the Scottish Wholesale Association and Scottish Grocers’ Federation to increase sales through wholesale and convenience channels.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government is providing Marine Fund Scotland funding towards Seafood Scotland’s Market Development Project, which involves work to ensure Scottish seafood’s profile grows in UK markets. This includes specific activity with various stakeholders throughout the supply chain to look at ways of increasing the amount of Scottish seafood within retail settings.