Education Authorities have duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils. Under the Act, a formal diagnosis is not required for a child or young person to receive support.

However, we recognise that early identification of an additional support need, such as dyscalculia, dyspraxia or dyslexia, can ensure that children and young people get the support that they need to reach their full potential. Our national approach recommends that the Scottish working definitions of dyslexia and dyscalculia are used by practitioners, schools and local authorities during a collaborative and holistic assessment process. This process should take place over a period of time and should include consultation with teachers, school staff, parents, pupils and other relevant agencies when there are concerns about a pupil’s progress.

We provide a range of free professional learning opportunities for teachers aimed at supporting practitioners to further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in supporting learners with dyslexia, and reduce barriers to learning. This includes the Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit and identification pathway, launched in 2017, and the Dyslexia and Inclusive Practice online professional learning modules, which enable staff to gain professional recognition in this area.

Scottish Government funds a Scottish Dental Access Initiative Grant for Health Boards to provide capital funding to dental practices looking to set up or increase their facilities in areas where NHS dental provision is less available. Qualifying areas include remote, rural and island locations, with the number of areas increased at the last annual review in December 2021.

The Recruitment and Retention Allowance has recently been reviewed to ensure that Boards with more rural geographies have the opportunity to attract newly qualified dentists. The new arrangements mean that newly qualified dentists joining the list of a Classification 1 area can receive additional payments of up to £25,000 over two years, with vocational trainees attracting payments of £12,500 over one year. The full details can be found at UPDATE: Amendment No. 155 to the SDR – Recruitment and Retention Allowance | Scottish Dental .

We are determined to ensure that NHS dental services emerge well-placed to care for the oral health of the whole population and we are now moving forward with NHS dental recovery.

We have seen in April that the revised payment arrangements combined with the relaxation of IPC measures are having a substantial positive impact in improving NHS patient access and ensuring the sector is able to quickly return to more normal levels of activity and clear the backlog.

No assessment has been undertaken by the Scottish Government or VisitScotland.

VisitScotland does not create driving routes but rather, promotes successful ones on its website. Its website outlines that the route begins over the Border. VisitScotland is not however responsible for signage for such routes which is managed by the relevant authority. In the case of local roads, this falls to local authorities.

VisitScotland does not hold information on visitor numbers to businesses based outside of Scotland. VisitEngland may however hold this data.

VisitScotland’s summary of statistics in relation to pre-pandemic visitors to Dumfries & Galloway can be found here: Dumfries & Galloway - Tourism Statistics & Research | VisitScotland.org

Court programming is a matter for the senior judiciary, supported by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS). SCTS have advised that jury trials resumed in Dumfries and Galloway on 19 April 2021, and since then the number of people cited for jury duty and excused on the grounds that they cannot reasonably travel to the Remote Jury Centre in Ayr is 128. During that period, no jury trials in Dumfries and Galloway were adjourned due to a lack of jurors.

There are currently no plans for ScotRail to operate passenger services from Lockerbie railway station as it is already served by other Train Operating Companies.

This Government has delivered the highest spending, and more teachers, per pupil than any other UK nation. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Schools and local authorities are encouraged and supported to consider innovative ways to ensure there are a wide choice of courses available to their learners. It is for them, working together with partners, to plan course choices in their areas. Expansion of course choice is reflected in the growth of vocational provision for young people in the senior phase. There has been a year on year increase in the number of school leavers attaining vocational qualifications at level 5 and above of the Scottish Qualifications & Curriculum Framework since 2014. The latest attainment stats reflect an increase from 7.3% in 2013/14 to 26.1% in 2020/21.

The Scottish education system is set up in such a way that decision making is devolved to the most appropriate level, enabling local education authorities to make choices that meet their local circumstances and needs. As a result schools, supported by their local authority, plan the reading curriculum to meet the needs of the learners within their own local context.

Access to literacy specific research is available through the National Literacy Professional Learning Community on Glow.

Decisions about the use of particular literacy resources and programmes are informed by purpose, context and the specific needs of learners. Consequently, such decisions are taken at a local level by schools and teachers themselves.

Education Scotland offers support to practitioners through online platforms such as the Glow based National Literacy Professional Learning Community.

The exchange of factually accurate patient information is pivotal to the delivery of high quality, safe, patient centred healthcare whether it takes place locally, regionally, nationally in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK. Normal practice would be that where a patient is referred by a specialist team in Scotland to a specialist team in another part of the UK, the clinician responsible for their care would write a formal referral letter which would include details of the patients diagnosis, investigations already undertaken, treatments pursued so far and any proposed treatment plan or specific request of the team to which they are referring. It is also often the case that the referring clinician may provide some further detail as part of a Multidisciplinary Team Discussion, Virtual Consultation or telephone call.

On the occasion that the treatment is unplanned, the NHS facility providing the treatment should contact the individual’s GP Practice, in Scotland, directly to exchange key information from their patient record. NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) are available to support Scottish practices and the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to facilitate the sharing of records and or important information about the patient.

Systems integration and providing greater access for the public to their health and care data is a priority for Scottish Government and our ambitions are set out in our Digital Health and Care Strategy which was published in October 2022 and available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-digital-health-care-strategy/