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We are committed to improving safety on our trunk roads including the A77. We have invested over £88.7 million on the A77 since 2007 to ensure its safe and efficient operation. In addition, we have spent approximately £35 million on four separate road schemes on the A77 and are currently constructing the Maybole Bypass at a cost of £29 million.

We carry out an annual road safety review on the entire trunk road network including the A77. From this review a number of schemes were completed in the last year including the installation of safety measures at the A77 / A751 junction north of Cairnryan, upgraded road markings on the approach to Dutchhouse Roundabout and a scheme is programed for construction shortly to upgrade the street lighting columns at the Holmston Roundabout with passively safe columns.

Other schemes currently under design include the signalisation of the Doonholm Road junction at Ayr, further safe systems measures including upgraded traffic signs, safety barriers and footway improvements at the A751 junction and measures to manage speed of traffic through Girvan.

Additional average speed cameras were installed and became operational on 29 April 2021 on the A77 Ayr Bypass between Whitletts Roundabout and Bankfield Roundabout.

As part of a package of measures to encourage active travel, removing barriers to accessibility and improve pedestrian and cycle safety we are also investigating upgrades to the existing footway from Bogend Toll to Dutchhouse Roundabout, increasing the width of the shared use path from Holmston to Whittlets Roundabout and a pedestrian crossing assessment is currently ongoing in Kirkoswald.

As part of this Government’s manifesto commitment, all NHS dental charges will be removed in the lifetime of this Parliament.

Currently, those in the most financial need receive their NHS dental treatment free of charge, whilst those on a low income may be entitled to help with health costs under the Low Income Scheme (LIS).

The Care Inspectorate is the regulatory body for care services in Scotland, which supports improvement. The Care Inspectorate carry out regular comprehensive inspections of all care homes in Scotland, and are accountable to Scottish Ministers. By law all care providers in Scotland must be registered with the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate looks at the quality of care in care services, including care homes to ensure it meets high standards. Where improvement is needed, it supports services to make positive changes.

In addition, as part of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s strategy for pharmaceutical care in Scotland ‘Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care’ the Scottish Government committed to improving the pharmaceutical care of residents in care homes. A Scottish Pharmacy Clinical Leadership Fellow has been appointed and is focussing on key improvement areas such as: developing a national pharmacy care home specialist interest group, reducing medicines waste, undertaking a national audit to determine the pharmacy resource to care homes, developing a pharmacy care home training resource with NES, reviewing how care home residents access medicines and investigating the benefits of using information technology in care homes (for example using electronic medicine administration records (eMAR) and medicines, care and review (MCR).

Medicine administration is primarily recorded on medicine administration record (MAR) charts. The dose/dosage is recorded along with the times for administration. This will either be specific times or it may be words such as breakfast, noon etc. A small number of care homes use an electronic MAR (eMAR) system, where the timing of the medicines is recorded electronically. This can confirm that the resident’s medicines were administered, the time of administration and confirmation of the stock balance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00019 on 26 May 2021. The answer is available on the Parliament's website at: .

No, in summer 2021 our current vaccination status letters will be replaced by fully digital Covid Status Certificates to be used for outbound international travel. There are no plans at this stage to also use these certificates to introduce Test and Release for inbound international travellers from amber list countries. We are working across the 4 nations to consider the role of Covid Status Certificates for inbound travel .

The timeline for publishing the Island Connectivity Plan remains the beginning of 2023 when the current Ferries Plan (2013-2022) ends.

The Scottish Government is currently progressing a programme of reform of Scotland’s planning system, including implementation of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019.

The right to appeal certain planning decisions made by local planning authorities is a long-established and important part of the planning system, recently supported by the Scottish Parliament in passing the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. In the vast majority of appeals independent reporters from the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) are appointed to decide the appeal. In all cases the reporter is required by statute to make the final decision on the planning merits of the case, in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The reporter takes full account of submissions made by all parties involved in the appeal, including those made by members of the local community.

Since 1 January 2018 reporters have made the final decision on 8 planning appeals in East Dunbartonshire Council area - refusing the appeal on six occasions and allowing the appeal and granting planning permission on two occasions. One of the proposals granted planning permission was an extension to the Bearsden Golf Club and the other for residential development in Bishopbriggs. In both appeals the reporter found that the proposal conformed with the Development Plan.

Transport Scotland continues to make good progress on the 2018 Smart Ticketing Delivery Strategy, having introduced smart interoperability, exceeded smart journey targets, established the Mobility as Service Investment Fund and continuing to support operators during the pandemic so that over 90% of bus services now accept contactless payment, reducing contagion points for passengers. Work on the Transport Act Smart Ticketing and Bus Open Data measures was paused during the pandemic, however is now reconvening, with consultation on the National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board expected this summer. Additional projects responding to the pandemic have also been delivered, including multi-operator ‘Bus capacity tracker’ service through Traveline Scotland - significantly improving people’s ability to plan their journey and travel safely - and a trial supporting the NHS track and trace on board rail and ferry services.

The cost incurred due to disruptions, including potential charter of any additional tonnage, if available, would depend on the time over which vessels were chartered for and under which conditions. We are actively exploring opportunities for chartering additional tonnage, including consideration of the suitability of MV Pentalina to increase resilience across the network. In addition, we have also confirmed new investment of £580 million in ports and vessels to support and improve Scotland’s ferry services over the next five years, as part of our wider infrastructure investment plan.