Each Health Board operates their own policy for the management of risk assessment. This includes well established processes with locally agreed trigger points for maintaining a safe service and ensuring patient safety.

At the time of writing only NHS Lanarkshire is at the highest level of escalation, according to their own escalation framework.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

There were a total of 53 deaths in SPS custody during 2021.

The SPS publishes information regarding all deaths in our custody in calendar years on the SPS website. This information is updated on a quarterly basis and can be accessed using the following link: Prisoner Deaths (sps.gov.uk) . The next quarterly update will be published on the SPS website in January 2022 which will provide information on deaths in custody that occurred between October-December 2021.

Catering and events businesses that do not operate within a fixed single venue will be supported through two routes depending on their particular business model.

• The £3 million Scottish Wedding Industry Fund, announced on 17 December 2021, will provide top-up payments to eligible businesses who have previously been supported through this funding route.

A further £19.8 million of funding to support event businesses (including supply chain operators such as catering and events businesses that do not operate within a fixed single venue) which was announced on 3 January 2022.

Scottish Wedding Industry Fund businesses will be contacted directly from week commencing 17 January 2022.

Event funding businesses will be contacted by EventScotland from week commencing 24 January 2022. For the first round of funding, top-up payments will be provided to businesses which were previously supported by EventScotland and VisitScotland under the previous Events Industry Support Fund, Events Industry Support Fund 2 or Pivotal Event Business Fund and have been adversely financially affected by the cancellation or restriction of events between the period from 8 December 2021 to 31 January 2022.

Businesses eligible for support will receive a top-up payment based on pre-COVID annual turnover within the following bands:

£10,000 - £24,999 = £2,000;

£25,000 - £49,999 = £3,500;

£50,000 - £99,999 = £5,000;

£100,000 - £499,999 = £10,000;

£500,000 - £999,999 = £25,000; and

£1,000,000 + = £50,000.

The Scottish Government is currently working with EventScotland and the Event Industry Advisory Group to determine the best way of distributing the remaining funding to support to those event businesses continuing to experience cancellation or postponements in February and March, or who may have previously not had access to COVID-19 event funding support. This will include ensuring that businesses who can demonstrate eligibility for both the Scottish Wedding Industry Fund and the events funding are appropriately funded.

The Chronic Pain Winter Support Fund has been distributed as follows:

As part of our Accessible Travel Framework, and recent engagement with disabled people and organisations that represent them, the Scottish Government have committed to exploring the current provision of passenger assistance currently provided at Scotland’s bus stations. To that end officials within the Accessible Travel Policy Team are currently engaging with bus station managers.

The total number of mental health and learning disability beds within the NHS Scotland estate each of the last five years was:

The Scottish Government’s investments in private companies are made in line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM), supported by a clear economic and commercial rationale and have represented value for money at the time of the investment. While these investments are not without commercial risk, our interventions have protected hundreds of jobs and delivered a national economic return by safeguarding vital businesses and supply chains.

We are working closely with Audit Scotland to strengthen the framework for decisions on future investments in private companies. The SPFM will be updated in January 2022 following feedback from Audit Scotland on planned enhancements to our approach.

We recognise the pandemic’s impact on the economy and businesses across a wide range of sectors. So far, the Scottish Government has provided £79.3 million directly to taxi and private hire drivers and operators in response to the pandemic. Further support of up to £28 million was announced on 5 January 2022 from within the £375 million package of funding announced on 21 December 2021, bringing total support for the sector to over £107 million. We will work closely with delivery partners to make payments to eligible businesses at the earliest opportunity, which is of course our established approach. Eligibility criteria will be published shortly.

Officials across the Scottish Government are working with the bus sector to facilitate solutions to workforce issues through the Labour and Skills Shortages Action Plan, and connecting Local Employability Partnerships who are aware of opportunities in their areas with bus service operators (through the Confederation of Passenger Transport). However, we have no plans to introduce an apprenticeship scheme for bus drivers.

An extension of military aid to NHS Lanarkshire has been approved for the period 7 January until 4 February 2022, by the Scottish Government and the Ministry of Defence.