Chamber and committees

MV Isle of Lewis’ most recent period in dry dock for scheduled annual maintenance work was 28 January to 14 February 2019.

The cost of repairs to the vessel after the technical incident at Castlebay Ferry Terminal on Barra in April 2019 was £4,189.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with Dumfires and Galloway Health & Social Care Partnership (DGHSCP) as part of their active engagement with the Scottish Government's Improving GP Sustainability Working Group. As part of this work officials, including professional advisers undertook a series of GP practice visits in the Dumfries and Galloway area in February 2019 to offer further support.

They are currently exploring opportunities to help improve recruitment and retention through working with the Scottish Government funded Scottish Rural Medical Collaborative (SRMC). They are also working on improving GP wellbeing due to the tragic incident of a GP who took their own life in Lockerbie last year.

Our strategy to recruit and retain GPs underpins our commitment to recruit 800 additional practicing GPs by 2027, and is backed but our commitment to invest an additional £250 million in direct support of general practice by the end of this parliament.

Consultants acting on behalf of Transport Scotland are currently conducting an extensive, network-wide evaluation of RET, which will focus on the 2015 roll out routes, and feature secondary data analysis for the full network. The evaluation is due to conclude around the end of 2019.

This study will determine the medium to long-term effects of RET across the network as a whole and help to inform future policy relating to RET and ensure that decisions are taken in full cognisance of all relevant issues and challenges.

We do not intend to publish the Parking Standards document until the Transport (Scotland) Bill has been passed by the Scottish Parliament and the relevant parking provisions have been commenced. This will ensure that any changes to the parking provisions at Stages 2 and 3 can be taken into account in the standards, ensuring that they are fully aligned with the legislation and that the powers conferred by the Bill to publish the standards are fully in force.

It is also our intention to undertake a public consultation on the draft parking standards after the Bill has passed. In the meantime, we continue to engage with stakeholders through our Parking Standards Working Group on the development of the document.

The Scottish Government's national cancer strategy ‘Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action’ was launched in March 2016 alongside a commitment to spend £100 million over 5 years to improve the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of those affected by all forms of cancer across the whole of Scotland, including Dumfries and Galloway.

ScotRail’s proposed Remedial Plan in relation to the passenger satisfaction KPI is scheduled to be received on 3 May 2019. This will be subject to scrutiny, evaluation and assessment and proper legal process in order to produce a satisfactory and contractually binding Remedial Agreement. This process is likely to take some weeks. The Remedial Agreement will then be published.

Following the purchase of the two freight vessels, employment terms and conditions of staff employed on the MV Hildasay and MV Helliar will be given full consideration by Serco NorthLink Ferries, reflecting the principles set out under the Scottish Government’s Fair Work Framework.

Crew on board the freight vessels will continue to benefit from the principles set out in the Fair Work Framework such as; access to NorthLink’s extensive training programme, genuine workforce engagement and payment of the Living Wage.

The number of doctors in training in Dumfries and Galloway has remained at 94 each year since 2015, rising to 95 in 2018-19. The 95 covers all Foundation, Core and Specialty trainees including General Practice.

In accordance with the franchise, a Remedial Agreement has been entered into between Scottish Ministers and Abellio ScotRail to contractualise the Remedial Plan. The contractual terms of the Remedial Agreement between Scottish Ministers and Abellio ScotRail contractually commits Abellio ScotRail to deliver a series of time bound commitments that are designed to improve the performance of Abellio ScotRail with a view to them exiting Breach Performance Level for the Suburban East and Express Other PPM sector by May 2020. In the event ScotRail fails to deliver on any of the contractual commitments as set out and programmed in the Remedial Agreement, this will constitute an Event of Default under the Franchise Agreement.

Section 129 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 places a duty on Scottish Ministers to review and publish a report on the operation of the seal licensing regime every five years. The next review is due to report on 1 September 2020.

The review will cover all aspects of the operation of the seal licencing system.