Peel Ports is a commercial company and the Scottish Government has no direct locus in business decisions made by the company on how to best utilise its resources.

However, the Peel Ports CEO of Peel Ports, Mark Whitworth, has written to me this week outlining the importance of the dry dock at Inchgreen and their plans to attract contracts and work that will utilise this facility. This includes the potential to generate investment and new jobs in Inverclyde should they be successful in attracting new contracts. Mr Whitworth has offered to meet to discuss this issue as well as other investment Peel Ports plan for its Scottish operations.

We would generally use the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE)
generation to compare across technologies.

Although it is from 2016, BEIS have a publication which gives the
costs per MWh of each technology.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads
/attachment_data/file/566567/BEIS_Electricity_Generation_Cost_Report.pdf

Unit costs for electricity production vary from site to site
and are dependent on a number of factors including

the type of generating technology, the age and efficiency of
the technology, the fuel required, the cost of that fuel, and the
cost of finance. A widely accepted method for cost comparison
 across technologies is the Levelised Cost of Electricity,
which BEIS last published in 2016 (link above). This looks at a
 range of scenarios, but the below
gives an indication of costs for projects commissioning in 2025,
and gives the following unit costs
in response to the question:

a) Renewable Sources:

·         Onshore Wind: £61/MWh

·         Offshore Wind: £86/MWh

b) Fossil Fuels

·         Combined Cycle Gas Turbine: £82/MWh

·         Reciprocating Diesel Engines: £187/MWh

c) Nuclear:

·         Nuclear: £95/MWh

Since the publication of this report from BEIS it has been apparent
that generation costs have been driven lower (as evidenced
by the 2017 Contracts for Difference auction clearing price
of £57.50 for offshore wind), and the above costs are
likely to therefore be higher than in reality.

Also, expected trends are that fossil fuel (gas, coal, oil)
and carbon prices will continue to rise for the foreseeable
future, resulting in an increasing upward pressure on electricity
generation costs from fossil fuel generation. This is in comparison
to renewable generation which does not require fuel to operate,
and therefore will not have this upward unit cost pressure from fuel.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has confirmed that there are 211 inpatient beds at the Royal Hospital for Children and 16 inpatient beds on the paediatric ward (Ward 15) at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. The Board advise that for the year 2016-17 Ward 15 only had an average occupancy of 50%.

There is no planned change to the inpatient bed complement at the Royal Hospital for Children (RHC) as a result of the closure of Ward 15 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH). NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has provided assurances that there is adequate bed capacity at the RHC to accommodate the demand following the closure of Ward 15. For context, the RHC had a provisional bed occupancy of 69% in 2016-17. In the same period, Ward 15 at the RAH had an average bed occupancy of around 50%; i.e. there was consistent local demand for around 8 inpatient beds with an available capacity at the RHC many times that number. The Health Board has further confirmed that in the most recent period of activity (October - December, 2017) the inpatient bed occupancy at Ward 15 was only 37%.

As set out in my response to question S5W-13949 and the Statement I delivered to Parliament on 23 January 2017, I carefully considered all the available information and representations before coming to a final decision.

The proposals attracted overwhelming clinical support and were consistent with national policy, modern clinical standards and best practice. The clinical view was clear that the proposals were in the best interests of local children and that they would result in better clinical outcomes. This was the view of the paediatric clinicians at both Ward 15 and the Royal Hospital for Children whom I met when I visited those facilities on 5 July 2017 and 29 September 2017, respectively, as part of my consideration of the proposals. Following my decision, these views were reiterated in a letter received from the lead paediatric clinicians and the chief nurse for paediatrics at Ward 15 and the Royal Hospital for Children.

The Scottish Government is committed to equality for disabled children and young people in Scotland, and to ensuring that all children can achieve their potential. The framework is rights based and is from birth to adulthood and includes;

Information Provision and Signposting: So that children, young people and their parents will be more aware of services available nationally and locally, and will understand their rights and entitlements and how to realise them.

Accessibility: Families will better understand how to access the national levels of support available, with examples of best practice and improvement works to highlight the ambition that access to support and services will be easier and more efficient.

Transitions: Support and services for children and young people at key points of transition will be better aligned and more responsive to the needs of young people. Services available and transition processes will be more clearly understood by children, young people and their parents.

The final framework will be an interactive pdf that parents can access the information they require.