Chamber and committees

All eligible individuals will be offered a safe and effective vaccine that has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and in line with Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice. JCVI have consistently said that ‘simplicity is the cornerstone of a successful public health vaccination programme’ and allowing a choice of vaccine is not possible for logistical and planning reasons.

For Winter 2022, the JCVI has advised using Moderna and Pfizer bivalent vaccines that target the original and Omicron strains of Covid-19. For those with specific allergies, or conditions which contraindicate these vaccines, an alternative is available in exceptional circumstances. If an individual has concerns about a medical condition or allergy then they should highlight this to the local vaccinator who would be best placed to advise.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government would expect the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA) to aim to raise the Scottish Stroke Care Standards to drive improvements when a standard is being met or exceeded by most services. In line with this, the SSCA standard for CT brain scanning was raised in 2020. Changes in standards are highlighted in the annual Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme (SSIP) reports.

Further information on the Scottish Stroke Care Audit can be found at: https://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/index.html

Information on committee processes in relation to individual planning applications which are called in by Scottish Ministers is not recorded centrally. The figures below are the collective total of applications called in by Scottish Ministers per year from 2012 to date. This includes cases called in at points before, during and after consideration by a council committee, and also those where the council’s consideration had been delegated to planning officials.

The requested information on how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time NHS staff work in pulmonary rehabilitation services is not centrally available.

The Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) service is run by a team of specialists which includes but is not limited to:

• Physiotherapists

• Pulmonary Rehabilitation Practitioners

• Assistant Pulmonary Rehabilitation Practitioners

The service is run for people who are having difficulty managing symptoms associated with a diagnosed breathing problem.

Information on how many Physiotherapists currently in post can be found in the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The requested information on how many shifts have been provided by (a) staff bank and (b) agencies in each NHS board area in each of the last 10 years is not held centrally.

Information on the total hours worked by Nursing and Midwifery bank and agency staff by NHS board since March 2012 can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Bank and Agency) tab, change measure to 'hours worked'.

£25.8m has been allocated to date through the Bus Partnership Fund (BPF) and has been awarded to support local authorities, in partnership with bus operators and Regional Transport Partnerships, to deliver bus priority infrastructure.

Funding has been awarded through the BPF for Partnerships to undertake the projects outlined in Table 1 below. The approach in the first year of the Fund was to deliver infrastructure already identified that could be constructed in the short term. This includes making permanent previously temporary projects that Transport Scotland funded to help passengers and operators during Covid through our Bus Priority Rapid Deployment Fund (BPRDF).

Given the limited number of projects that were ready to implement we also provided funding for business development in the form of Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) studies and Outline Business Cases (OBC). This essential work will enable Partnerships to identify more projects that provide the most benefit for passengers, businesses and communities across Scotland while ensuring value for money.

Table 1: Bus Partnership Fund awarded projects as at September 2022

A review of the content of the Scottish Health Survey took place between 18 July and 26 September 2022. The review asked users to explain their use of the current survey content and provided the opportunity for them to suggest any new questions, which could include questions relating to eating disorders. A report will be published in advance of the 2024 survey reporting the findings of the review and decisions on the survey content going forwards.

A public consultation was held early in the process of developing the new strategy. Over 250 responses were received, which are being independently analysed and will be reported in the Autumn. We are also holding a series of workshops with people with lived experience of cancer in September 2022 to help us gain further insight into the consultation responses and hear directly about peoples’ experiences of cancer. Respondents include those with blood cancers and blood cancer charities.

In addition, we are holding meetings with third sector representatives including those working on blood cancers. All their views will contribute to the evidence that will inform the new cancer strategy.