Chamber and committees

MV Hrossey and MV Hjaltland, the Aberdeen to Orkney / Shetland passenger vessels provide 370 lane metres on the main deck as well as being able to accommodate around 22 cars on the lower deck.

MV Hamnavoe which services Scrabster to Stromness provides 350 lane metres on deck.

MV Hildasay and MV Helliar, the Aberdeen to Orkney / Shetland freight vessels provide 885 lane metres across three decks.

All 26 fully refurbished High Speed Trains will have controlled emission tanks (CET) fitted. The first one will be introduced in October and when they are all operating on Scottish inter-city routes will provide 40% more seats than operate at present.

The class 156 diesel fleet were the only units without controlled emission tanks (CET) at the start of the Franchise and these have remained on the same routes since then. Scottish Government funding enabled CET to be fitted across the full fleet of 48 Class 156 Units, since the start of 2018.

All of the 288 trains with toilets, that are currently leased by ScotRail, have been are fitted with controlled emission tanks (CET) since the start of 2018, as are all Caledonian Sleeper trains. Department for Transport cross border operators (LNER / Crosscountry) currently run High Speed Trains in Scotland that are not fitted with CET as are the 2 loco hauled trains which are hired in by ScotRail and operate on the Fife circle peak services.

I refer the Member to the public version of the Abellio ScotRail Franchise Agreement which contains the targets for cancellation and capacity. Link is: https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/2302/abellio-scotrail-redacted-franchise-agreement-web-version-revised-november-2016.pdfj .

I am pleased that National Museums Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway Council have been able to agree the terms for a 25-year Partnership Agreement which outlines their long-term plans for the display of a significant and representative portion of the Hoard at Kirkcudbright Art Gallery, and future loans and touring exhibitions in Galloway.

The Scottish Government has worked with all partners involved to enable both parties to reach an agreement and to allow for the most important collections ever discovered in Scotland to be made available to the widest possible audience. VisitScotland will work with Dumfries and Galloway Council and National Museums Scotland to promote the Hoard and the wider region.

The New Entrants Capital Grant Scheme (NECGS) is part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2014-20, which assumed £22 million of support for Young Farmers and New Entrants across the programme life. Such has been the level of demand that this budget is now exhausted, though not before supporting over 250 new businesses and at least 600 business development projects. There are currently no plans to reopen schemes.

Looking beyond the current SRDP, the recent consultation - 'Stability and Simplicity' - marked the start of our process to develop a new rural support policy after the UK Government takes Scotland out of the European Union. The consultation made clear the importance that the Scottish Government places upon continuing to support new entrants and sought views and opinions as to how this might be achieved. While it is too early to anticipate exact future funding mechanisms, the Scottish Government will give due regard to the suggestions that have been made in the responses. The Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy will provide a report to Parliament in due course, once careful consideration has been given to the substantial response received.

If an application was received on, or prior to, the scheme closing date (31 August 2018) a small amount of additional time, 10 working days, is allowed to give the applicant the opportunity to submit the final pieces of supporting documentation. However, if the required details are not forthcoming within that time, the application will be rejected. No new applications will be accepted after 31 August 2018, regardless of circumstances.

Pillar One payments commenced in April and we achieved the target of making 95% of Pillar One payments by 30 June deadline. As in any year there are a number of complex cases that take longer than anticipated to resolve and may require additional confirmation from the farmer or crofter. We aim to resolve these more complex cases as quickly as possible.

We started making payments for pillar two schemes in May and June this year, three months ahead of last year. We are making steady progress across the different schemes with the aim of making the vast majority of payments by the end of the year.

Our national health and social care workforce plan details the commitments we are taking to promote the long term sustainability of health and social care services in Scotland. This includes explicit commitments to expand both undergraduate and specialist medical training.

NHS Scotland Boards are required to have the correct staff in place to meet the needs of the service and ensure high quality patient care.