³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Nurses are on the Agenda for Change pay system which matches staff to a series of pay bands according to their job description. There are nursing staff from Band 2 to Band 9, depending on their level of responsibility, with qualified nurses starting at Band 5. Pay scales for NHS Scotland staff are published each year and become Annex 3(S) of the Scottish Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions Handbook. An archive of historic pay rates going back to 2004 is set out in Annex 2(S). The Handbook can be found on-line at - .

We published guidance on relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education in 2014 and the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group are currently looking at what else can be done to improve the delivery of LGBTI inclusive RSHP education. Scotland does not have a statutory curriculum, learning is tailored to meet the needs of individual children and young people.

The Scottish Government published Respect for All: The National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland's Children and Young People on 15 November 2017 which provides guidance to schools on tackling prejudice-based bullying.

Transport Scotland attended a community meeting in Culter on
5 December 2017 to explain the junction changes. Although permanent traffic signals have been operational since 5 December, they are still on a temporary phasing until the traffic is introduced from the AWPR itself. I am advised that this has improved the situation for road users. Temporary signals are also still in place outside peak times to complete associated barrier and verge works.

When complete, the AWPR will deliver over a £6 billion economic benefit for the North East, reducing costs to business and providing opportunities for increased sales and over 14,000 jobs created in the first 30 years after the scheme opens. Around 1,500 people are currently working on the project, including on-the-job training for apprentices and local employment opportunities for long-term unemployed people. I would like to thank road users in the area for their patience whilst these essential works are being undertaken.

Investing in rail is a key priority of the Scottish Government, with over £7 billion committed since 2007 to support Network Rail’s operation, maintenance, renewal and enhancement of the rail infrastructure, and to deliver the economic and social benefits of the ScotRail franchise contract across the full network. This core investment is not disaggregated to individual route levels.

In respect of investment in the bus network we are unable to provide a geographical analysis. The national figures for Support for Bus Services in respect of Concessionary Fares and the Bus Service Operators Grant are published on the Transport Scotland website to 2015-16 - . The investment in respect of 2016-17 is £53m for the Bus Service Operators Grant and £194m for Concessionary Travel.

The details of support for the Green Bus Fund are also published on the Transport Scotland website -

The Scottish Government also provided support for the Bus Investment Fund in financial years 2013-14 (£1m), 2014-15 (£2m) and 2015-16 (£4m).

Although the Scottish Retail Sales Monitor is a useful indication of retail trends the more widely recognised measure of retail sales activity is the Retail Sales Index, based on the Retail Sales Inquiry carried out by the Office for National Statistics. This survey captures approximately 90 per cent of the British retail industry in terms of turnover. Estimates of the Retail Sales Index for Scotland are produced by the Scottish Government. The latest release (2017 Q3) showed that the volume of retail sales in Scotland remained stable in 2017 Q3 compared to the previous quarter (2017 Q2) and expanded on an annual basis (2017 Q3 on 2016 Q3) by 0.6 per cent.

We recognise, and these figures show, that UK Government austerity measures and Brexit are affecting consumer confidence and spending. Despite this, we are doing everything within our powers to support our economy, including our retailers. For example, this year we have reduced the business rates poundage by 3.7 per cent and funded total rates relief of around £660 million, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme which will lift 100,000 properties out of rates altogether. In addition, we are working with the Scottish Retail Consortium to develop a retail strategy which will set out a clear road map for future tax and regulatory changes.

The Scottish Government National Unscheduled Care Team is working with hospitals across Scotland to minimise unnecessary long delays in A&E departments and deliver safe, person centred and effective care to every patient, every time through the six essential action improvement programme.

Scotland has outperformed the rest of the UK in terms of performance against the four hour A&E target for more than two and a half years and has the lowest rate of long (12 hour) delays in the UK. Figures released this week (5 December) show that the number of patients delayed more than 8 and 12 hours in October 2017 has reduced compared to the previous month (September 2017) and has also reduced by more than 10% and almost 50% respectively compared to the equivalent period the previous year; the number of patients waiting over 12 hours in October 2017 was the lowest in any October since 2013.

However, we recognise that more needs to be done to sustainably improve performance especially as we go in to the winter period, which is why we have put record investment and increased levels of staffing into hospitals to further reduce waits in A&E departments. I recently announced an additional £5million to support winter resilience this year, over and above the £9 million, announced in May 2017, to support unscheduled care - total of £14 million for winter 2017.

The Glasgow Airport Access Project is being taken forward jointly by Glasgow City and Renfrewshire Councils and it is for their project team to assess the future journey time of services. The recent independent audit commissioned by Scottish Ministers has highlighted that there are a number of factors that affect journey time when comparing the tram-train and bus, this includes the actual origin and destination of trips, the ease of access to either tram-train or bus, service frequency and journey times on the M8 and in Glasgow City Centre. These all vary over the course of the day.

A copy of the full audit report and executive summary can be found at:

The Glasgow Airport Access Project is being taken forward jointly by Glasgow City and Renfrewshire Councils therefore it is for their project team to undertake the economic analysis of the costs, benefits and impacts of their proposals. An independent audit of the Outline Business Case was commissioned by Scottish Ministers, which included a review of the economic case as presented. A copy of the full audit report and executive summary can be found at: