Chamber and committees

Patient care and service delivery are the statutory responsibility of local healthcare providers. NHS Boards are responsible for working with their partners to plan and provide health services which meet the needs of their populations.

When a patient has an experience that does not meet their expectations, they should contact their local Health Board at NHS Inform.

The Scottish Government remain committed to supporting all Boards to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. We have allocated £48.6 million of supplementary funding to Boards this year via the Mental Health Outcomes Framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. This is in addition to the £36.7 million directly allocated to Health Boards via the Outcomes Framework in 2022-23, and to the total package of core funding that Health Boards receive.

In Scotland it is illegal to ride an electric scooter on a public road, pavement, cycle paths, shared paths or any public place. Enforcement of this is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, with oversight provided by the Scottish Police Authority.

More broadly, the Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland’s road travel safe for everyone. The Scottish Government published a Road Safety Framework to 2030 in 2021. The framework sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050.

The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group was established to ensure a multi-agency, strategic approach towards the development and delivery of Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy .

Members are drawn from the following organisations:

• Age Scotland
• BEMIS
• CEMVO
• COPFS
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• Equality Network
• Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA)
• Interfaith Scotland
• Police Scotland
• Respectme
• YouthLink Scotland
• Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (observer)

Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) (observer)There is currently no expectation in the Terms of Reference for the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group that individual names of members from attending organisations will be published.

The Scottish Government is increasing the number of pharmacist pre-registration training places from 200 by an additional 120 places over 5 years from December 2019, to create the opportunity for more pharmacists to enter the profession. To date we have increased places by 76, with the remaining 44 places due to be available by 24/25.

The deployment, working conditions and health and wellbeing of officers are matters for the Chief Constable. There are processes and mechanisms in place for the Scottish Police Federation to raise any concerns or suggestions for change with Police Scotland through the Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee (JNCC), whose membership includes staff associations and trade unions.

I have three scheduled meetings per year and met with the Scottish Police Federation on 21 December 2022, 10 May 2023 and is scheduled to meet them on 21 September 2023. The Federation also meet regularly with senior Scottish Government officials. During these meetings matters of interest and concern to federation members are discussed.

We continue to work with the Scottish Cancer Coalition to mark cancer awareness months, as well as using Detect Cancer Earlier channels to help promote key messages and share case studies which often prompt others to take action.

A new Earlier Cancer Diagnosis Vision was developed as part of the new ‘Cancer Strategy for Scotland’ (published June 2023). The vision is to reduce later stage disease by 18 percentage points in 10 years’ time, a focus on reducing the health inequalities gap, particularly those from areas of deprivation will remain.

Ministers have no plans at present for further bill workshops. The Agriculture reform programme is currently hosting engagement sessions across Scotland to hear from farmers and crofters, and increase awareness of Agricultural Reform.

The Agricultural Reform Roadshow started in June 2023, visiting 25 agricultural shows and marts across Scotland.

A full list of the roadshow dates can be found at Agriculture Reform Programme (ARP) roadshow dates 2023 (ruralpayments.org)

As stated in response to S6W-17748, this analysis predates improvement work that has been undertaken across all cancer regions, but the situation clearly requires continued prioritisation and close attention.

The Deputy National Clinical Director and Scottish Government officials have recently met with the clinical leads for ovarian cancer for the Northern Cancer Alliance and South East Scotland Cancer Network to discuss the survival dataset and a meeting with the West of Scotland Cancer Network is being scheduled.

In terms of access to surgery, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are increasing dedicated theatre capacity at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary site for the gynaecology oncology team.

On 22 June 2023, the Scottish Government published the Agriculture Bill - Analysis of Consultation Responses which details the findings of this extended engagement and total number that attended the events.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of Scotland’s hills and mountains and provides investment to help people enjoy them safely.

In addition to Scottish Government’s annual grant of £312,000 to Scottish Mountain Rescue, sport scotland invests around £2,308,050 of Scottish Government and National Lottery funding to help ensure the safety of mountain users. This includes approximately £1,635,000 for Glenmore Lodge, £379,000 for the sport scotland Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) and £42,000 for the Mountain Weather Information Service.

sport scotland also provides £252,050 to Mountaineering Scotland, which helps to support work on mountain safety. Mountaineering Scotland offer training and information to mountain users to promote safety, self-reliance and the enjoyment of our mountain environment. They also chair a Mountain Safety Group, which was established to monitor and review mountain safety strategy, collaborate with partners, and provides leadership across mountain safety.

We will continue to work with sport scotland and partners to provide more people with safe opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and reap the physical and mental health benefits of physical exercise in nature.