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A total of £30m of Scottish Government funding is being made available through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund to support the aim of doubling the public network to 6,000 charge points by 2026; with the expectation of leveraging an additional £30m from private sources.

Transport Scotland is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charge point strategies and infrastructure expansion plans, to identify and take forward the opportunities to work with the private sector to grow Scotland’s public charging network. These plans are identifying local and regional charge point needs, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial charge point operators.

Under Health and Safety legislation, which is reserved, it is the responsibility of the employer to satisfy themselves of the competence of first aiders. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides relevant guidance on first aid provision and on event safety Events health and safety (hse.gov.uk) . The Events Industry Forum’s ‘ purple guide ’ includes example first-aid and medical assessments for an audience at an event.

Organisations providing first aid at events must comply with their responsibilities under general health and safety legislation, which is reserved.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance on how to manage events safely Events health and safety (hse.gov.uk) .

The HSE confirmed that an amendment in 2013 to the Health and safety (First – Aid) Regulations 1981 removed the responsibility of the HSE to approve first aid training providers and qualifications. The (Health and Safety) regulations now require employers to assess the needs for their workplace and ensure that they provide adequate and appropriate first aid to employees who are injured or become ill at work.

The regulations apply to employees only, but are accompanied by guidance strongly recommending that non employees are considered when employers decide on the first aid cover necessary for their workplace.

The Scottish Government has promoted the use of the UK Government and National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) website, “Protect UK”, to all relevant Scottish stakeholders. This website includes guidance on First Aid preparedness for organisations. This was in response to the recommendation outlined in Volume 1 of the Manchester Arena Inquiry to create a central library for guidance and advice that organisations and members of the public could access.

Scottish Government officials are currently undertaking further work and engagement with stakeholders to scope the potential extent of issues raised by unregulated private first aid companies and consider the most appropriate and proportionate next steps.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18867 on 21 June 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18442 on 13 June 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer intends to complete the Scottish Government’s review of homecare medicines services by the end of the current financial year. Representation will be sought from all stakeholders with an interest in the successful delivery of the service, including healthcare professionals and patients.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18922 on 22 June 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government has no plans to establish a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund.

Financial support for travel to hospital is available for patients and authorised escorts, in line with eligibility criteria and medical requirements under the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme and Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme. Boards also have discretion to reimburse patient travel expenses where it is viewed to be an extension of treatment costs and deemed to be clinically necessary.

Furthermore, the Young Patients Family Fund helps families of young inpatients under 18 to cover some of the costs of hospital visits. This fund is available for all patients including those diagnosed with cancer.

There is no register of authorised first aid providers however, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance which sets out steps an employer should take to ensure the training their first aiders receive is adequate and appropriate for the needs of their workplace. The guidance gives examples of the types of training provider the employer might select: Selecting a first-aid training provider: A guide for employers GEIS3 (hse.gov.uk) .

Under Health and Safety legislation, which is reserved, it is the responsibility of the employer to satisfy themselves of the competence of first aiders. HSE provides relevant guidance on first aid provision and on event safety Events health and safety (hse.gov.uk) . The Events Industry Forum’s ‘ purple guide ’ includes example first-aid and medical assessments for an audience at an event.

The R100 contracts are expected to connect over 114,000 premises upon completion. Around 99% of those connections will be fibre to the premises (FTTP) which is capable of delivering gigabit download speeds, over 30 times faster than our original superfast commitment.

For those who live or work in premises that are outwith the reach of commercial and R100 contract build plans, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) remains available and offers up to £5,000 to secure a superfast broadband connection. As this is a demand-led scheme it is not possible to provide dates by which people might be connected.

There is also on-going delivery of commercial superfast broadband networks and we continue to engage with the industry to understand their future plans.