Chamber and committees

Comparative figures for expenditure were published within the 2016 Audit Scotland report, Maintaining Scotland’s roads: A follow up report. These indicate that the average expenditure for all Scottish Local Authorities was around £4935 per km in 2014-15. Transport Scotland expenditure on maintenance of the trunk road network in the same year was £47,200 per kilometre.

Transport Scotland does not routinely benchmark performance against Local Authorities. Transport Scotland measures road condition differently to Local Authorities and the purpose, usage, and levels of services for trunk and non-trunk roads are very different and are not directly comparable.

The number of Consultants specialising in Ophthalmology who are employed by each Board in NHS Scotland is available on the ISD Website: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2018-12-04/Medical-and-Dental.asp .

The published data shows two Ophthalmology related specialties: Ophthalmology and Medical Ophthalmology. Numbers of Consultants, or any other medical grade, can be selected and shown by either headcount or whole time equivalent.

ISD does not hold any information on staff who are not directly employed by NHSScotland.

ISD does not hold quality assured data for the final part of the question asking for detail of the “(a) level and (b) specialisms” of each consultant ophthalmologist in position.

Further notes :
Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the Workforce Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce/ .

Since 2007-08, pre-wetted salting has been used on all our Trunk Road Units.

Pre-wetted salting involves spreading dry salt and brine in the proportion of 70% dry salt to 30% of fully saturated brine with a salt concentration of around 23%. The addition of the brine to the dry salt takes place at the point of spreading and has the following main advantages—

• Salt requires to go into solution before it becomes effective in preventing ice formation. The addition of the brine has the effect of reducing, if not eliminating, the time lag before the salt becomes effective after spreading.
• The brine minimises the amount of dry salt removed from the carriageway by the draught from the spreading vehicles, road traffic and strong cross winds. More salt adheres therefore to the road surface after spreading and this can increase the length of time the salt lasts without retreatment.
• The brine ensures that the “bounce” of salt crystals onto the road side verges during spreading is minimised and that the greater proportion of the salt spread is contained within the carriageway. This leads to reduced corrosion on roadside structures and environmental benefits.

The changeability of the Scottish weather patterns means that even with this best practice method of precautionary salting ice formation on roads can still occur. Motorists should be aware therefore that there will still be times when motorways and trunk roads will not remain completely free of snow and ice.

I have not had any formal meetings with Peel Ports specifically to discuss these matters. However, a meeting is planned for 19 February 2019 to discuss Peel Port's plans for Inchgreen Drydock.

Transport Scotland and Network Rail are continuing to work collaboratively with the Glasgow Airport Access Project team as they reconsider the evidence base and transport appraisal work to address comments raised in an independent audit of the Outline Business Case. The audit highlighted concerns around the potential impact of a Tram / Train option on services using Glasgow Central Station and its approaches, including those to and from Inverclyde and Ayrshire.

It has been clear for some time that introducing a Tram / Train type solution to the very busy heavy rail network south of Glasgow Central Station would be challenging. The recent South Glasgow Timetable Capacity Study, commissioned by Transport Scotland at Ministers request, has concluded that while it may be possible to introduce a Tram /Train service to Glasgow Airport, this would have a detrimental effect on performance of existing and future services using Glasgow Central Station, including those on the busy Inverclyde, Ayrshire, Shotts and East Kilbride lines, and require:

(i) the reduction of current rail services, and/or

(ii) the deferral of future service enhancements, and/or

(iii) significant and high cost infrastructure enhancement at Glasgow Central and on approaches which are currently not funded.

On 30 January I Chaired the Glasgow Airport Access Executive Steering Group which includes the Leaders of both Glasgow City and Renfrewshire Councils and representatives from Glasgow Airport and Network Rail. At this meeting the group heard updates on the progress of the audit close out work including how the significant concerns over the Tram / Train impact, costs and deliverability have been considered and how the other options for improving connectivity to the Airport have been developed. The project team now intend to a present Personal Rapid Transport (PRT) connection to Paisley Gilmour Street within the updated Outline Business Case to the Glasgow City Deal Cabinet in due course.

In 2019-20, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will be supported with additional investment of £75.4 million, increasing the Board’s resource budget to £2,231.2 million. Frontline NHS Boards will also receive a share of £392 million to support reform and improve patient outcomes across primary care, waiting times, mental health and CAMHS, trauma networks and cancer.

As announced in October, a new three year financial planning and performance framework will be introduced from 2019-20. This will require NHS Boards to deliver a break-even position over a three year period, rather than annually as is the position at present. This will provide additional financial flexibility for Boards, supporting them to deliver the measures set out in the in the health and social care delivery plan at a national, regional and local level.

Investment in social care and integration will exceed £700 million and the Scottish Government continues to ensure that our partners in Local Government receive a fair funding settlement, despite further cuts to the Scottish Budget from the UK Government. Local Authorities will receive a funding package of £11.1 billion in 2019-20 – a real terms increase of over £210 million for essential public services in Scotland. This total includes an additional £160 million that has been allocated to increase Local Authorities’ expenditure on health and social care and mental health.

We continue to work with farmers, food producers and industry bodies to drive forward the Ambition 2030 food and drink strategy. Our Programme for Government sets out a range of new measures to support the sector, building on the range of work that is already ongoing.

Indeed, direct investment and support to the food and drink sector in Scotland from the public sector across a range of areas including skills, education, research, industry development, standards and capital investment equates to approximately £100 million per annum. This support is provided on a national basis, and is therefore available to businesses across the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency.

Examples of companies in the region that are benefitting from food processing and marketing cooperation grant funding awards are the Ardgowan Distillery, which was awarded a grant of £983,000 towards construction of a new distillery at Inverkip, and the Start-up Drinks Lab which was awarded a grant of £22,000 towards creating a small scale bottling facility at Port Glasgow. Both awards were made in November 2017.

The Scottish Government has also committed to invest £1.2m in the Food For Life programme over 2018-21 to try and get all 32 local authorities achieving its award in their schools. The programme supports councils to get more local produce on the table and a Local Authority holding the award within an area provides obvious opportunities for local producers. I know the Food For Life team are currently in engagement with a range of Local Authorities across Scotland, including Inverclyde Council with a view to achieving the award.

Connect Local, Scotland’s Local Food and Drink Advisory Service which is funded by the Scottish Government, provides support to build connections between local producers and entrepreneurs, micro-businesses and SMEs by offering specialist advice for enterprises with limited experience of marketing local food and drink. In doing so it works to improve communication within the supply chain to help deliver stronger working practices between suppliers, processors, sellers and consumers. The service is available across Scotland and anyone seeking advice on the range of food and drink support available to them should visit https://connectlocal.scot/ .