Chamber and committees

We do not hold the information requested on the number of Baby Boxes distributed to fostered and adopted babies.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout, as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

Following publication of the draft Orders and Environmental Statement, Transport Scotland received a significant number of objections to the proposed scheme. Although Transport Scotland engaged widely with objectors, it was unable to resolve all objections. In view of this, a Public Local Inquiry was held from 31 January to 8 February 2023. As with all trunk road projects this is the appropriate statutory forum for considering objections received and not withdrawn. The independent Reporter is now giving detailed consideration to all evidence before making recommendations to the Scottish Ministers for a decision.

Construction of the proposed scheme can only commence if it is approved under the relevant statutory authorisation process and thereafter a timetable for its progress can be set.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland does publish statistics on the number of children registered with a dentist but data on the accommodation status of patients is not collected. Registration statistics can be viewed at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/dental-statistics-registration-and-participation/dental-statistics-nhs-registration-and-participation-24-january-2023/ .

This is a matter for independent hospices, Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

We recognise the importance of swimming pools and other sports facilities in supporting the physical and mental health of the nation. sport scotland, our national agency for sport, are supporting Scottish Swimming to deliver the Scottish Swimming Facilities Project to accurately understand the current swimming pool provision, life cycle and predict the landscape in the short, medium and long term.

We have asked sport scotland to write to Mr Miles Briggs MSP with more details of the Scottish Swimming Facilities Project and to keep him updated as it progresses.

The Scottish Government values the crucial role carried out by kinship carers and is committed to delivering a Scottish Recommended Allowance for them, alongside foster carers. We acknowledge that it has taken far longer than we would like. That is why we are actively exploring all available options and working at pace with CoSLA, to deliver the allowance as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government is not currently considering the development of a Scottish patients clinical trials charter.

On 13 February 2023 the Scottish Government published an independent report on Improving Equity of Access to Cancer Clinical Trials in Scotland. We will be working with the cancer clinical research community to prioritise and develop the report's 51 recommendations.

Improving equity of access to cancer clinical trials in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Our Programme for Government in 2021-22 committed to provision of high-quality child palliative care, regardless of location, supported by sustainable funding of at least £7 million per year through Children’s Hospices Across Scotland. Scottish Government officials are in discussions with CHAS about the sustainability and oversight of funding going forward.

It is the responsibility of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to plan and commission adult palliative and end of life care services for their areas using the integrated budgets under their control.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and myself met with hospice sector representatives on 14 March to discuss the pressures that the hospice sector are currently facing, including representatives of adult hospices and CHAS.

The Scottish Government does not collect statistics on the number of foster carers registered with local authorities or independent/voluntary service providers.

Police Scotland hold management information on recorded incidents of abandoned vehicles. Not all abandoned vehicles will relate to cars and an incident may relate to more than one abandoned vehicle. Figures are available at a Scotland level from 2019, which was the first calendar year where information was recorded consistently across all police divisions. The 2023 figure relates to a partial year (from 1st January to 10th March).