Chamber and committees

The Scottish Ambulance Service currently has around 900 Community First Responders. The number of Community First Responders trained by the Scottish Ambulance Service by SAS Operational Areas between April 2021 - March 2024:

Since October 2022 we have invested £4 million to deliver innovative school age childcare services to around 600 children from 500 families through our Early Adopter Community projects in Glasgow, Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire and Dundee.

On 22 May 2024, the First Minister announced a further £16 million investment over the next two years in the early adopter community projects including expanding delivery to communities in Fife and Shetland. This will enable participating local authorities to increase the number of families supported across these communities, expanding parents’ access to childcare, particularly for those families most at risk of living in poverty.

The early adopter community projects are a key driver for change. They will be a leading source of evidence, data, insights, and evaluation relating to the impact, approach and economic outcomes associated with place-based, people-centred systems of childcare focused on understanding the changes local authorities can undertake to expand access to childcare for those families who need it most, and the difference that can make towards reducing poverty. This work is already informing what system changes are needed at national and local levels to support sustainable delivery of childcare services within communities, and how these link with wider public services which families need.

We are committed to sharing learning across the early adopter community network and with all Local Authorities, to ensure we support future development at a national level. Our independent process evaluation report for the early adopter communities, being carried out by IPSOS Scotland, will be published in September 2024. IPSOS have engaged with project leads, service staff, local delivery partners and families to understand what is working well for them and what could be improved, to support next steps and future investment.

The information requested is available online and can be found in the Transport Scotland’s annual accounts via the ‘Publications’ section of the Transport Scotland website, Publications | Transport Scotland .

Community First Responders (CFRs) are highly valued by the Scottish Ambulance Service and are a dedicated and valuable asset to the communities they serve across Scotland including Mid Scotland and Fife. They form an integral part of the Service’s response, especially but not solely, to Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrests (OHCA)

CFRs are community-based volunteers that, subject to their availability, work to a clinically assured scope of practice to enhance and complement, but not replace, the emergency ambulance response within an agreed geographical area.

Community First Responders (CFRs) are trained to operate within a clinically approved Scope of Practice. CFRs can be asked to attend a range of urgent and emergency medical emergencies including cardiac arrests, chest pains, breathing difficulties, strokes, choking and other similar types of call where a local and quick response may be beneficial to complement the emergency response.

£25,000 per annum.

The legislation sets out maximum processing times and authorities are working within these to process applications as quickly as possible. Existing hosts can continue to operate while their applications are being processed and licensing authorities are prioritising applications from new hosts during this transitional period. Hosts are encouraged to work with councils to supply missing documentation in a timely manner, as incomplete applications will understandably increase processing times.

Licensing authorities administer local short-term let licensing schemes based on a cost recovery model. When I met with the City of Edinburgh Council recently on this matter, it advised it is resourced to handle the volume of enquiries and applications it has received, this includes a team who will specifically focus on ensuring a quick turnaround of temporary exemption applications for the summer period.

Yes, it is the intention of the Scottish Government that Professor Anna Glasier OBE will remain Women’s Health Champion beyond June 2024.

The Women’s Health Champion, Professor Anna Glasier OBE, has been central to the delivery of the Women’s Health Plan, and driving forward action to improve women’s health in Scotland.

The information requested is not held centrally, it is the responsibility of NHS Health Boards to implement these controls.

The Scottish Government Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework which applies to all public bodies in Scotland, including health boards and Local Authorities is the framework to which Network Information Systems Regulation 2018 NHS Health Board compliance audits are conducted against.

Controls within the Scottish Government Public Sector Cyber Resilience Framework require that multi-factor authentication is implemented to cover and manage security risk, defending systems against cyber-attack, detecting cyber security events, and minimising the impact of cyber security incidents.

In 2022-23 and 2023-24 over £70m of Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) was invested by the Scottish Government to deliver a transformational change in holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. The funding was distributed as follows:

• £32m provided annually for Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) to build local service capacity for transformation and the scaling up of holistic family support in local areas. This funding is being provided on a recurring, multi-year basis to 2025-26.
• £0.8m for National Support for Local Delivery – including a package of activity aimed at supporting local transformation. This part of the funding also supports the wider evaluation and research work for WFWF.
• £5.3m was provided to Scottish Government led national policy delivery for 12 specific projects that are transforming how families are supported.

We have prioritised £50m funding in 2024-25 to maintain the programme of activity above. Further details will be provided in a Whole Family Wellbeing investment approach to be published in due course.