Taking next year's local government finance settlement plus the other sources of income available through potential increases in council tax, and Health and Social Care Integration, the overall increase in spending power to support local authority services amounts to £241 million (2.3 per cent in cash terms) or over £91 million (0.9 per cent in real terms).

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

The figures highlighted under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 request reflect the continued vigilance of staff in detecting improvised weapons in HMP Perth.

The safety and well-being of prisoners and staff is and will continue to be a key concern for the Scottish Prison Service. In order to ensure prisons are safe for all, SPS will continue to invest in staff training and technology to aid staff in their duties.

All establishments will continue to undertake robust searching of prisoners and areas which supports the identification and recovery of illicit or unauthorised articles, including weapons. Any individual found in possession of such weapons will be reported to Police Scotland and prison managers will put in place an appropriate management plan for the individuals involved.

All bat species in Scotland are given protection under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 as a European Protected Species.

The Scottish Government remains determined to protect and conserve bats in Scotland. Our membership of the European Union has driven up environmental standards and the Scottish Government is not prepared to see these benefits lost as a result of the UK Government's decision to leave the EU.

In matters relating to ocular melanoma, the Scottish Government relies on the clinical expert advice of the National Specialist Scottish Ophthalmic Oncology service, whose advice is that there is currently insufficient evidence on the benefits of the use of MRI scanning for the detection and treatment of metastatic disease in people with ocular melanoma.

The recent SALSUS report (published 25 October 2016) shows that drug taking among young people in Scotland remains low.

Education and prevention is a key strand of Scotland’s drug strategy, the ‘Road to Recovery’, and is integral to our approach to reducing the number of people with problem drug use in Scotland. Our ambitious substance misuse education programme already ensures that all young people have credible and accessible information and advice, and through our ‘Know the Score’ website and ‘Choices for Life’ secondary school education programme we have expanded our education campaign to include new psychoactive substances (NPS).

We are now assessing current education and prevention activity across Scotland, including the findings from our recently published literature review, to understand what interventions are most effective. This will help us develop advice and guidance on effective substance misuse education and prevention activity for our stakeholders, practitioners and policy makers. We also commissioned the Scottish Drugs Forum to undertake research aimed at furthering our understanding around the prevalence, motivations and harms associated with NPS use amongst vulnerable groups within Scotland, including young people, and we are currently working with stakeholders to take forward recommendations from the report.

While the Scottish Government works in close partnership with all NHS boards to provide the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare in Scotland, it is the responsibility of each board to plan their workforce to deliver high quality, safe and sustainable services to meet the needs of its population.

In NHS Tayside, Nursing and Midwifery vacancies have increased from 1.4% in September 2007 to 5.0% in September 2016. However, the Nursing and Midwifery Establishment increased by 8.5% during the same period, to 5,499.7 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE).

In NHS Fife, Nursing and Midwifery vacancies have decreased from 4.2% in September 2007 to 2.2% in September 2016. The overall Nursing and Midwifery Establishment increased by 2.7% during the same period, to 3,603.1 WTE.

Fluctuations in Nursing and Midwifery vacancies reflect the creation of new posts in NHS boards, mainly as a result of information from our innovative workload and workforce planning tools which help boards plan for the number of staff they require.

In order to reduce the reliance on agency staff, the Scottish Government and NHS National Services Scotland have launched a nationally coordinated programme for the effective management of all temporary staffing. The team are working with NHS Tayside to establish Regional and National Staff Banks to allow boards access to a high quality, flexible, workforce of appropriately qualified, experienced and competent staff when required, who work on NHS contracts and provide better value for money than alternative methods of filling the gaps.

These are individual clinical decisions made following discussion between clinicians and patients.

Current guidance suggests that there is currently insufficient evidence on the benefits of the use of MRI scanning for the detection and treatment of metastatic disease in people with ocular melanoma.

Following Which? research from November 2015 that showed people in Scotland receive more nuisance calls than the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government held a successful Nuisance Calls Summit on 29 June 2016 with regulators, industry and consumer groups. Three key themes were identified that will be explored in more detail at a short life Nuisance Calls Commission which first met on 30 November 2016. It aims to find practical solutions to the problem of unwanted calls which make long term differences and reduce their impact on people’s lives.

The Scottish Government supports the general principle of driver education as an alternative to prosecution, where this is appropriate and is committed through Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 to consider if a Speed Awareness Course would make an effective contribution to road safety measures in Scotland.

Police Scotland are currently working with key road safety partners to develop potential options for the introduction of these courses. Partners include the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as the approval of the Lord Advocate would be required before a speed awareness course could be introduced in Scotland.

We have announced a £54.1 million package of support over 5 years to improve access to mental health services. This includes £24.7 million to improve capacity to see more people more quickly, £24.6 million to improve workforce supply and train existing staff and £4.8 million through Healthcare Improvement Scotland for a Mental Health Access Improvement Support Team who will provide a comprehensive package of support to work in partnership with Boards to improve access to mental health services.

Through our investment programme, the mental health access improvement support team is working with Boards that are facing particular pressures to deliver sustained improvements, and ensure services are designed and delivered in the most efficient way. NHS Forth Valley are one of the first Boards to be working with the improvement team.

The £54 million comprehensive package of support to improve access to mental health services also provides funding for additional staff, for workforce development and for in-depth improvement support to local services. This strand of work is being undertaken by NHS Education for Scotland who have met and discussed need within each Board in Scotland before offering a tailored package of support.

For NHS Forth Valley this offer includes CAMHS staff with three full time MSc PTPC Graduates, early psychological intervention practice support for Children’s Services as well as Clinical Psychology Posts in Older People’s Services, in response to demand in this area.