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Adverse weather affects construction activities in different ways ranging from the need to alter a method of work to completely cancelling a piece of work. Consequently, it is not possible to list every date where adverse weather conditions have affected the construction on the Forth Replacement Crossing. However, the contractor estimates that approximately 20% of the project programme has been impacted.

Referring to my statement on 8 June 2016, the dates on which adverse weather conditions affecting construction during April and May 2016 are the dates on which wind gusts exceeded the threshold to allow critical path activities to take place. These are as follows:

April reporting period:

26 and 27 March (2 days)

28 March (0.5 days)

4, 6, 11, 12, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 29 (9 days)

1, 5 and 26 April (3 x 0.5 days)

April Report Total = 13 days

May reporting period:

2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 20 (9 days)

5, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 (6 x 0.5 days)

May report total = 12 days

The contractor’s reporting period cuts off on the last Friday of the month and so for the April reporting period the 13 days lost were in the period 26 March to 29 April and the 12 days in May were lost in the period 30 April to 27 May 2016.

There are no plans for the Expert Ferry Group to discuss the service specification for the forthcoming Northern Isles ferry services contract. A comprehensive study to inform the specification of the next Northern Isles ferry services contract is underway. This study is being overseen by a working group of key stakeholders, including Orkney and Shetland Islands Councils, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, The Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership and ZetTrans. A public consultation took place earlier this year, with a further round of consultation planned later in summer 2016.

Copies of the published tariff scheme for the Northern Isles ferry service, operated by Serco NorthLink Ferries, for each of the contract years since 2012, is available from the Scottish Parliament information centre (Bib. number 57981).

Guidance on providing equipment to children and young people with disabilities was issued to all Chief Executive Officers in Scotland in March 2015. The guidance provides advice to health boards and local authorities on their statutory responsibilities in relation to the provision of equipment to meet the identified wellbeing needs of disabled children and young people in the community. This advice will support practice that is compatible with Getting it right for every child and the statutory duties that will commence under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-00315 on 13 June 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

Serco Caledonian Ferries Ltd bid sought changes to the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services contract. These changes were deemed non-compliant by Transport Scotland as set out in the Invitation to Submit Final Tender: Volume 2: Instructions to Participants, published on Transport Scotland’s website.

Work is in progress to have the four M8 motorway gantry signs, which currently refer to the ‘Southern General Hospital’ amended to read ‘QEUH and RHC Hospitals’. The standard red sign showing ‘H’ and ‘A & E’ will also be added. The new signing has been agreed with Glasgow City Council, who are co-ordinating the signing of the new hospitals throughout the city on behalf of NHS Scotland. The resigning works are programmed to start on 27 June 2016 and should take around one week. This element of the resigning work will be funded by NHS Scotland

A fifth gantry on the slip road off the M8 westbound at junction 25, which currently only signs for the Clyde Tunnel, will be adapted to include signing for the new hospitals. As some structural alteration is required to accommodate the additional wording, the gantry will have to be removed from the motorway to undertake this work. The resigning will therefore be done as part of a general refurbishment of the gantry programmed for late September 2016 and will be funded by Transport Scotland.

<>This is an operational matter for Police Scotland, with the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to preventing and eradicating all forms of violence against women and girls, and we are clear that a key aspect of our approach to that is access to high quality, specialist services for women and children at risk of or experiencing domestic abuse. Local women’s aid groups are doing important work to support vulnerable women and children, and our priority is to ensure that they continue to receive such support.

<>This is an operational matter for Police Scotland, with the oversight of the Scottish Police Authority.