Chamber and committees

NHS National Services Scotland as commissioner of hyperbaric services and NHS Grampian who provide and co-ordinate the Hyperbaric Medical Unit in Scotland completed a full risk assessment exercise. Within this they reviewed the impact of the service level agreement with the NHS hyperbaric facility in Oban coming to an end.

This assessment is a matter for NHS National Services Scotland and NHS Grampian and information regarding it is not held centrally by Scottish Government.

The Chief Medical Officer met with the Royal College of Radiologists on 14 December 2023 and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer met with them on 16 May 2024. A representative of the Royal College of Radiologists is a member of the Oncology Task and Finish group that is developing a sustainable operating model for NHS Scotland oncology.

There are no meetings arranged with NHS England.

Development of the Partnership is progressing, with work on-going to identify membership from a wide range of organisations from across the Public, Private and Third Sector. As outlined in the Heat in Building’s Public Engagement Strategic Framework, we have made a commitment to set-up the Partnership during 2024 and will provide further details in the coming months.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to amend the Forced Marriage etc. (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act 2011. Forced Marriage is illegal in Scotland and there are protections under civil and criminal law for any victims or potential victims.

Section 11 of the Forced Marriage etc. (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act 2011 imposes a duty on Scottish Ministers to give guidance on the effect of Part 1 that Act. Section 11(3) states that a person exercising public functions to whom guidance is given under section 11 must have regard to it in the exercise of those functions.

The statutory Forced Marriage Guidance, which is currently being refreshed, outlines the responsibilities of relevant public authorities for developing and maintaining local procedures and practices to enable their practitioners to handle cases of forced marriage effectively. The guidance makes clear that staff may have limited opportunity to speak to a potential victim and as such, must be aware of their responsibilities when they come across forced marriage cases.

We are currently refreshing the Scottish Government’s Forced Marriage Statutory Guidance. To support the launch of the refreshed guidance, we are producing resources for professionals and the general public to raise awareness about forced marriage. We are working with key partners and sector experts to ensure these resources are effective and widely disseminated across public bodies.

Forced marriage disproportionally impacts minority ethnic communities, which is why we continue to work with our newly established network of experts to inform our work to address violence against BME women and girls, including work to tackle forced marriage.

It is vital that survivors have access to support services which is why we fund Scotland’s Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline. Additionally, through our Delivering Equally Safe fund, we support organisations such as Shakti Women’s Aid, AMINA, Saheliya, Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid and the Multi-Cultural Family Base to undertake vital work to tackle forced marriage.

As stated previously in answer to S6W-28153 on 25 June 2024, there has been an expansion of 68 posts in Clinical Radiology specialty training since 2014. Clinical Radiology is a competitive specialty which has historically filled at 100%. The 2025 expansion process is currently underway and will conclude later this year. This will consider the need for expansion in all medical specialties, including clinical radiology and clinical oncology, with the overall aim of ensuring Scotland has a sufficient supply of trained doctors coming through the system to meet anticipated future demand.

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 .

Operational matters such as decisions around clinical space, office space and picture archiving and communication system access are the responsibility of individual health boards.

In their published December 2023 Economic and Fiscal Forecasts, the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast 368,000 children will be eligible for the Scottish Child Payment in Scotland in 2024-2025 and that 329,000 children will receive payments.

They also forecast Best Start Foods will be paid for 51,000 children and pregnant women in Scotland in 2024-2025 and 58,000 Best Start Grant payments will be made, 16,000 for Pregnancy and Baby Payment, 20,000 for Early Learning Payment and 22,000 for School Age Payment.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission do not publish forecasts of the number of children eligible for Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods, or the number of children receiving Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods by constituency.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish Official Statistics for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods, and Scottish Child Payment. The latest statistics, covering the period to the end of March 2024, do not currently include information by Scottish Parliament constituency. These also do not include information on the number of children benefitted from Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods.

The latest statistics show that, as of 31 March 2024, 329,055 children and young people aged 0-15 years were actively benefitting from Scottish Child Payment. This information along with further breakdowns including local authority area, and individual child age can be found at Social Security Scotland - Scottish Child Payment: high level statistics to 31 March 2024 .

The latest statistics show that, in the 2023-2024 financial year covering April 2023 to March 2024, 56,455 individual parents or carers were paid for Best Start Grant. For comparison, 204,460 parents or carers received at least one Scottish Child Payment.

The latest publication for each benefit can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Statistics .

The Scottish Government committed through the Programme for Government 2021-2022 and 2023–24 to improve miscarriage care, part of this work includes the provision of separate spaces in maternity wards in hospitals for those experiencing a pregnancy or baby loss.

We also funded Sands UK to develop and implement the National Bereavement Care Pathway for pregnancy and baby loss in Scotland (NBCP). All 14 NHS Boards are now signed up to the Pathways and implementation is ongoing with continued support from Sands.

The pathways acknowledge that bereavement care is the responsibility of all health professionals working in maternity services. While some NHS Boards have specialist bereavement midwives, all midwives, consultants and other workforce are trained in bereavement care. The maternity workforce, aim to have an informed, skilled team who are all able to provide the specialist care that bereaved parents need.

In addition to wider maternity bereavement supports, perinatal mental health services have a role in ensuring continuity, appropriate support, and signposting/transition for any parent who is within the perinatal period, is in receipt of perinatal mental health services and experiences bereavement.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living with kidney disease in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We expect all NHS Boards in Scotland to adhere to current guidelines and follow best practice when providing psychosocial care for people with chronic kidney disease.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy published in 2023, sets out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

In September 2023, we published the National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions , to ensure effective, equitable, efficient and high-quality person-centred Psychological Therapies (PT) are delivered consistently across Scotland. The Specification sets out the standards to which we expect Psychological Therapies to be delivered, including appropriate staffing

We recently met with Kidney Care UK and welcome and value their work and remain committed to engaging with them on these important matters.