Details of the National Scheduled Care Programme titled "Getting Ahead – sustainable whole system management for elective services" was issued on 25 January 2016 under a Health Directorate Director letter. This can be accessed at the following link: http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2016)02.pdf.

Section 52 of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 provides ministers with powers to direct integration authorities, including integration joint boards, in relation to their carrying out of functions conferred on them by the Act.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30038 on 4 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30051 on 4 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The number of school leavers not in education (higher education or further education), employment or training are shown in the following table:

1. Includes school leavers on activity agreements or in voluntary work. These are considered positive destinations in the Summary Statistics for Attainment, Leaver Destinations and Healthy Living publication. The figures presented also include school leavers where their destination was recorded as ‘unknown’.

2. The methodology and data available for 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 changed meaning caution should be exercised when making comparisons over time.

Source: The data included in the table comes from Skills Development Scotland’s (SDS) follow up of school leaver destinations. Information on the destination of leavers from publicly funded schools was provided to the Scottish Government by SDS. SDS collected information on the destination of each young person they had identified as being a school leaver during September 2014 (initial destination) and March 2015 (follow-up destination). The follow up destinations data provided in this table presents information on the outcomes of young people approximately nine months after leaving school.

While these figures outline the number of school leavers who are not in education, employment or training, the main headline measure used by the Scottish Government is the percentage of school leavers in a positive follow up destination. This considers voluntary work and activity agreements to be positive destinations, alongside higher education, further education, employment and training. The figure for 2013-14 school leavers not in a positive destination on this basis is 4,142 (including unknowns).

The percentage of school leavers in positive destinations at the time of the follow-up was 84.0% in 2007-08 and 91.7% for 2013-14 school leavers.

No: as set out in the relevant national guidance (available at: www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2010_01.pdf), only proposed major service change in the NHS is subject to ministerial approval.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, who hold the responsibility for the planning and provision of local services, made the Scottish Government aware of its plans to re-provide the activity from ward six at the Vale of Leven Hospital in late November 2015, following the approval of these plans by the board's Acute Services Committee.

The redesign plans, made to ensure that services are as efficient as possible and due to be implemented in April 2016, will allow the majority of patients currently treated on ward six to be treated in the hospital’s surgical day bed unit, with extended operating hours. The remaining patients (those who require an inpatient stay) will be accommodated in the Lomond Ward at the Vale. As such, the plans will have no effect on the level of surgical service and after care received by local people at the hospital.

Resource transfer arrangements have been superseded by the resource delegation arrangements required by the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014. The legislation requires agreement to be reached on budgets for delegation to integration authorities by 1 April 2016.

The £250 million of integration funding provided for in the local government settlement will be allocated to health boards, to whom ministers will give written direction to delegate the full sum to their integration authorities. Integration authorities will then allocate their share of the resources to their local authorities to meet the commitments set out in the settlement.

Details of hospital catchment areas are not held centrally. Specific information may be available from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde who are responsible for the planning and provision of local services.

As made clear by the statement of the Chair of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on 15 January 2016 (available at: www.nhsggc.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/news/2016/01/chairmans-statement/), there are no such formal proposals.