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This is a matter for the Scottish Police Authority. However, the Scottish Government welcomes any improvements aimed at strengthening the Scottish Police Authority's corporate governance procedures and revisions to its Standing Orders are part of that. The Standing Orders, approved by the Authority’s Board on 28 June 2018, provide greater transparency as to why an agenda item may be taken as an item of private business.

The replanning of the programme is continuing and we will establish costs incurred since January 2016. as well as provide projected costs of the merger as they emerge through the course of the replanning process.

The number and percentage of cases dealt with within 26 weeks of caution and charge to verdict nationally in each year since 2007-08 is shown in the following table:

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and recognises how this can blight people’s lives. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a wide range of measures for dealing with all forms of antisocial behaviour and our national strategy is based on prevention, early intervention and diversionary activities.

It is likely that the reduced use of antisocial behaviour fixed penalty notices (FPN) is the result of an overall fall in levels of antisocial behaviour committed in Scotland – as demonstrated by our population surveys and similar to the significant reduction in levels of recorded crime (down 43% since 2006-07) – and the introduction of the Recorded Police Warning scheme, which commenced in January 2016 which provide an additional tool to police when dealing with antisocial behaviour.

The Scottish Government is currently working with a group of local authorities to use their expertise and knowledge to inform, refresh and update all of the guidance documents on tackling antisocial behaviour.

The Formal Adult Warnings system was replaced with the Recorded Police Warnings scheme in January 2016. Recorded Police Warnings provide a proportionate, formal way of dealing with low level offences which commonly do not result in court action and will still appear on records for two years.

The types of crime covered by the scheme are a matter for the Lord Advocate as part of his independent role as head of the system of prosecution.

Please accept my apologies for the significant delay in this response.

The former NHS Tayside Director of Finance took early retirement in accordance with the relevant terms and conditions. There were no other arrangements made between the departing staff member and their former employer and there were no enhancements paid by the Board.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15139 on 19 July 2018 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .

Police Scotland have a number of disposals available to them for dealing with young people involved in offending behaviour. The use of restorative justice warnings are just one of those available. Other disposals include early and effective intervention, formal warnings, recorded police warnings and referral to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. The decision on which disposal to use is a matter for police officials.

The use of restorative justice warnings has decreased since 2009-10, however, the use of other disposals has increased during this time. The Youth Justice Strategy Preventing Offending: Getting it right for Children and Young People published by the Scottish Government in 2015 continues to promote a preventative agenda of keeping young people out of formal systems and using early and effective interventions where possible.

In March 2018, Keith Brown, the then Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work advised Parliament that we are committed to opening sections of the road in advance wherever possible but it may be prudent to anticipate a late autumn 2018 date for the overall project opening. I am pleased to advise that the 7km section, between Parkhill (Goval) and Blackdog, opened to traffic on 27 June 2018 and I anticipate further sections of the new road to be available in the coming weeks.

Transport Scotland will continue to work with the contractor to ensure the project is delivered at the earliest opportunity.

I look forward to the considerable benefits being delivered when the remaining sections of the AWPR open in the coming months.

Our first priority is always public safety and our risk appetite, as agreed through the Joint Programme Board, remains low. Until the re-planning exercise is completed, it would be premature to make comment on ICT requirements and costs.