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The National Out-of-Hours Review Report, Pulling together, was published in November 2015. As part of the implementation of the Review, we are currently considering bids from Health and Social Care Partnerships that explore all aspects of the Review’s recommendations.

We expect NHS boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to use the recommendations in the Review to inform local planning. However, since the integration of health and social care in April 2016, it is the responsibility of HSCPs to coordinate health and care services, commissioning NHS boards and councils to deliver services in line with a local strategic plan to meet the needs of its population. Over time, this will lead to a change in how services are provided with a greater emphasis on preventative services and allowing people to receive care and support in their home or local community rather than being admitted to hospital.

Additionally, our Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care (SFA), which was published in December 2015, sets out our vision that by 2021 everyone who needs palliative and end of life care will have access to it. The SFA was informed by the recommendations in the Review and sets out a series of commitments to realise that ambition including supporting Healthcare Improvement Scotland in providing HSCPs with expertise on testing and implementing improvements in the identification and care co-ordination of those who can benefit from palliative and end of life care.

The National Out-of-Hours Review Report, Pulling together, was published in November 2015. As part of the implementation of the Review, we are currently considering bids from Health and Social Care Partnerships that explore all aspects of the Review’s recommendations including palliative care.

Sir Lewis Ritchie will be undertaking a further national engagement programme, building on the initial engagement programme to all board areas in Scotland, carried out as part of the original Primary Care Out of Hours Review process where he will discuss these bids in more detail.

This work has been carried out by existing members of staff as part of their normal duties. No-one is dedicated exclusively to this work and no additional staff have been employed or redeployed to take forward the work at this stage. In line with usual practice, the number of hours staff have spent on individual tasks has not been recorded.

The total cost of the transport summit was approximately £5,000.

An option for a more frequent weekday service between Dumfries and Carlisle formed part of the recent ScotRail Franchise tendering process.

As a result ScotRail are scheduled to introduce an enhanced timetable from December 2017.

Rail fares are set by franchisees on a commercial basis. For the majority of rail services between Dumfries and Galloway and the Central Belt, fares are set by ScotRail.

In the current franchise period, the Scottish Government has taken action to help keep ScotRail fares down: annual regulated ScotRail peak fares increases are capped at the level of the Retail Price Index (RPI) and off-peak regulated fares increases are capped at one per cent below RPI.

The regulation of fares on rail services from Glasgow to Lockerbie, operated by the InterCity West Coast franchise, is a matter for the UK Government.

As I announced at the Dumfries Transport Summit on the 22 August, we will further assess recommendations for strategic transport infrastructure priorities in Dumfries and Galloway and the rest of Scotland as part of an update to the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR). Any assessment of these recommendations, including the estimated costs will be considered at that stage.

Transport Scotland staff do not routinely record the time spent on individual projects, hence we do not hold that information.

The Scottish Government is taking decisive action to stimulate new forestry planting to meet our ambitious annual planting target of 10,000 hectares. This includes delivering our new Forestry Grant Scheme and commissioning an independent review of the forestry planting approvals process to identify improvements which will help achieve, over the next few years, a step change in the pace and scale of new planting to ensure the long-term availability of timber and to meet our climate change targets. I will be discussing progress with the forestry sector at summits being held in the autumn.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government.