Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government, maintains a multi-modal model of traffic data which covers the area serviced by the A720. Traffic information is obtained from 39 automatic traffic counters which are located along the route. Information from this model can assist in forecasting future traffic demand on the region’s major roads.

Links workers undergo a robust selection process to ensure they can work autonomously, are able to work with patients who have complex issues and prevent issues from being bounced back to the GP. The existing Links Workers funded by the Scottish Government come from a range of backgrounds including community development, nursing and some have counselling qualifications. Training and learning needs are included in their personal development plans and reflect the needs of the patients that Links Workers find themselves working with. This may include ASIST, Safetalk, Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid, motivational interviewing as well as other mandatory training.

The Scottish Government provides direct support to National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh and the National Mining Museum of Scotland in Midlothian. The Scottish Government also funds Museums Galleries Scotland to provide support to a range of local authority and independent museums and galleries across Scotland, including in the Lothians.

The Scottish Government is currently examining information provided by Health and Social Care Partnerships on use of the Integrated Care fundin 2015-16. Going forward partnerships will report on their investments and outcomes through their annual performance reports.

Allocations from the Integrated Care Fund (ICF) are part of the overall resources available to Health and Social Care Partnerships and sit within the context of Partnerships’ strategic commissioning plans. From 2016-17 reporting on ICF spend, and outcomes achieved, will be through Health and Social Care Partnerships’ annual performance reports. These will be published from July 2017.

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 requires each Integration Joint board (Health and Social Care Partnership) to publish an annual performance report setting out an assessment of performance in planning and carrying out the integration functions for which they are responsible. Health and Social Care Partnerships will report on the use of the Integrated Care Fund through their annual performance reports.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Distribution of the Integrated Care Fund is a matter for local Health and Social Care Partnerships based on their strategic plan and the needs of the local communities that they serve.

Transport Scotland is developing a new ITS Strategy for the next ten years which will set out how we continue to efficiently use and develop technology solutions to enhance road capacity and operations on the Scottish Trunk Road Network. The strategy will support the objectives of the National Transport Strategy and the Strategic Road Safety Plan and will build on the active traffic management systems already in use, for example, as part of the Forth Replacement Crossing project.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) requires governments to take action to remove barriers to independent living and enable disabled people to enjoy real freedom, dignity and equality. It is the framework that the Scottish Government uses to improve the lives of disabled people and deliver change.

In 2015 we published a draft action plan for consultation setting out how we will implement the UNCRPD (2016 to 2020) which commits us to taking practical actions across all areas of Government to make changes for disabled people. We are strengthening and developing the plan on the basis of the consultation responses and will publish the final Disability Action Plan in December 2016.

As part of the draft plan the Scottish Government committed to consulting on the Scottish Law Commission’s review of Adults with Incapacity (AWI) legislation with particular reference to issues around deprivation of liberty and thereafter to carry out a scoping exercise in relation to a wider review of AWI legislation. That consultation has concluded and the Scottish Government is now actively engaging with service users and stakeholders to determine the focus for areas of reform.

During the passage of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2015, the UNCRPD was referenced for example through measures taken to strengthen the provisions in the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 which promote supported decision making such as advance statements and advocacy. The new Mental Health Strategy will be subject to an Equality Impact Assessment.