Travel concessions on the Glasgow Subway are a matter for Strathclyde Concessionary Travel Scheme Joint Committee (SCTSJC).

Bus travel concessions for older and disabled people are provided by the Scottish Government through the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People (NCTS). Travel concessions on other modes of transport are at the discretion of local authorities. The conditions and extent of such schemes are for local authorities to determine.

In the Strathclyde, area Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) operate a concessionary travel scheme covering the Strathclyde area on behalf of the SCTSJC, which brings together the relevant local authorities and SPT. The scheme provides discounted travel on the Glasgow Subway for eligible elderly and disabled residents in the Strathclyde area who hold a National Entitlement Card.

Extending the NCTS to include the Glasgow Subway would entail additional financial pressures on the scheme and would impact on the money available to support bus services including bus concessions across Scotland.

The 'Children in Scotland requiring Palliative Care' (ChiSP) report, which was published in Spring 2016, set out ten evidence based recommendations and identified where further improvements are needed to support and inform planning for children and young person's palliative care services.

Any charity wishing to access public funding to provide palliative care for children would need to demonstrate that the work undertaken meets an unmet need and that it has the capacity to deliver appropriate services in a manner which is cost effective and in line with usual regulations, such as the nature & scope of current activities, local needs and registration status.

As announced in the Draft Budget for 2017-18 in Parliament on 15 December 2016, the baseline allocation for NHS Grampian will increase to a total of £899.4 million. In addition to this increase, the board can also expect to receive an additional £3 million of recurring (NRAC) National Resource Allocation Committee parity funding.

In the current year as part of the additional £10 million the Scottish Government announced on 21 November to tackle waiting times, NHS Grampian is receiving £918k specifically to address outpatient waiting times.

In addition, the Scottish Government cancer access team is working with NHS Grampian to ensure that surgical treatment for cancer patients is prioritised and to support cancer waiting times performance, this includes £460k allocated in 2016-17 to support increased access to diagnostic and surgical capacity for cancer patients.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has also invested an extra £2.5 million annually in specialist nurse training to improve specialist nursing and care. This funding included up to £700,000 to fulfil the First Minister’s commitment to double the number of Motor Neurone Disease Clinical Nurse Specialists and to ensure that they would all be paid from public funds. That commitment has now been met. NHS Boards made the decision where to prioritise these funds based on local need and NHS Grampian elected to recruit staff in the areas of Rheumatology, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Paediatric Allergy.

We continue to work closely with NHS Grampian to support their efforts to meet the needs of all patients in order to deliver a safe and sustainable service in a variety of settings and these measures will help drive down the use of the private sector for carrying out procedures in the future.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5T-00202 on 15 November 2016. All answers to Topical Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=10626&i=97682&c=1947362&s=S5T-%252000202

This is an operational matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). I have asked the Chief Executive of SQA to write to you.

The level of loan support a student can access is dependent on their household, rather than parental, income. The persons' whose household income SAAS can take into account is laid out in legislation and is comprised of the student and (if appropriate) their parents/step-parents or spouse/partner.

Household income brackets were introduced as part of the simplification review of the student support package in 2013-2014 to enable the Scottish Government to focus support on the lowest income households via the minimum income guarantee of £7,000 (now £7,625).

Before implementing the new system, the Government consulted widely and took views on design from a number of key partners and stakeholders including the NUS Scotland.

As autonomous institutions, universities are responsible for their own course content and examinations. However, under the UK Quality Code they are expected to operate equitable, valid and reliable processes of assessment, which enable every student to demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the intended learning outcomes for the credit or qualification being sought.

It is for NHS boards, local authorities and Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) to assess the need for, the design and delivery of local services, including for those facing problems caused by prescribed or over the counter medication.

At a national level the Scottish Government have contributed to the recent report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs looking at the ‘Diversion and Illicit Supply of Medicines’, and are currently considering the recommendations from the report. Scottish Government have also supported the development of the ‘Clinical Guidelines on Drug Misuse and Dependence’ which set out best practice for those providing pharmacological interventions for drug misusers, ensuring Scottish representation on the expert review group and leading on consultation with those with key interests in Scotland. The updated guidelines will be promoted across Scotland once published.

The Scottish Government is committed to meeting the needs of children with autism. We want all children and young people to reach their full potential. It is imperative that children who are displaying violent behaviours, whether it be in a school or social settings, are provided with access to locally based support.

Children and young people should feel happy, safe, respected and included in the learning environment and all staff should be proactive in promoting positive relationships and behaviour in the classroom, playground, and wider learning community. There are a range of strategies and programmes which schools can and do use to improve relationships and behaviour including good behaviour management and behaviour support teams; solution oriented approaches and restorative approaches; and nurture approaches and programmes to help develop social, emotional and behavioural skills.

Education authorities and other agencies have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended) to identify, provide for and keep under review the additional support needs of their pupils, including children and young people with autism. This would include strategies for management of behaviour.

Children with mental health issues have access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; where violent behaviours indicate a mental health problem then CAMHS support may be appropriate. Under Integration Authorities’ arrangements it is the responsibility of NHS Boards and Local Authorities to ensure they meet the needs of their local population, including considering access to locally-based support to children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

In Scotland we have a clear route for new drugs to be appraised through the long standing Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC).

SMC will consider a resubmission for the use of ibrutinib (Imbruvica®) in adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (without genetic changes known as 17p deletion or TP53 mutation) who have received at least one prior therapy and for whom fludarabine-based regimens are inappropriate at their meeting on 7 March 2017 and expect to publish their advice on 10 April 2017.