Chamber and committees

The management and approval of early retirement is a matter for individual health boards. The possibility of Mr Carey seeking access to the early retirement scheme was first notified to Scottish Government officials on 22 October 2014 and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and the First Minister were notified immediately.

The management and approval of early retirement is a matter for individual health boards. Dr Dijkhuizen’s decision to take early retirement was not discussed with the Scottish Government until agreement had been reached, at which point the Scottish Government was notified in the normal way and ministers were informed immediately.

The Scottish Government has not had discussions with UK Ministers and officials in respect of this. I regularly meet with the unions representing offshore workers, and through doing so I am able to listen to any concerns raised, and I am committed to continuing with this approach.

The regulation of workplace health and safety is currently reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government supports the implementation of the Civil Aviation Authority’s review of offshore helicopter safety which includes detailed consideration of inspection regimes and practices for aircraft. We have had no discussions with the UK Government on this matter.

The Scottish Government will shortly be publishing its analysis of the responses to the consultation on proposals to reform fatal accident inquiries (FAI) legislation. The government remains committed to introducing a Bill to implement Lord Cullen’s review of the FAI legislation during the 2014-15 parliamentary session.

The precise allocation of this funding will be announced in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-23017 on 13 November 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/39875.aspx

The Scottish Government has observer status on the governance body overseeing implementation of the recommendations in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) review of offshore helicopter safety. Progress is being made on implementing these recommendations in conjunction with the oil and gas industry, helicopter operators and trade unions. While the Scottish Government has not discussed a public inquiry with the UK Government, we reserve the right to pursue the UK Government to hold an inquiry if we have any concerns about progress being made in implementing the CAA’s review.

The Scottish Government has observer status on the governance body overseeing implementation of the recommendations in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) review of offshore helicopter safety. Progress is being made on implementing these recommendations in conjunction with the oil and gas industry, helicopter operators and trade unions. The Scottish Government reserves the right to pursue the UK Government to hold an inquiry if we have any concerns about progress being made in implementing the CAA’s review.

The Scottish Government has not discussed with the UK Government representations to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee that suggested commercial pressure from customers affects the safety of operations. We note the UK Government’s view that neither the CAA industry nor government has seen any evidence to suggest that safety is being compromised as a result of commercial pressure from the industry.