Chamber and committees

We have invested £10 million in 21-22 to support cancer waiting times improvements. Latest data (Q4 2021) shows that the median wait for melanoma patients on the 62 day pathway (from urgent suspicion of cancer referral to treatment) is 27 days and 0 days for those on a 31 day pathway (from decision to treat, to first treatment).

We are also investing in our £44 million Detect Cancer Early Programme. The Detect Cancer Early website (getcheckedearly.org) features an interactive ‘symptom checker’ tool to raise awareness of the common signs and symptoms of cancer, including skin cancers to improve the likelihood of better outcomes for melanoma patients. To further improve diagnosis, Scotland’s first three Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC) have been established. The Centres provide primary care with access to a new, person-centred fast-track diagnostic pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms (including weight loss, nausea, and fatigue) that are suspicious of cancer.

As part of our NHS Recovery Plan we are investing over £400m to create a network of 10 National Treatment Centres across Scotland, increasing capacity for over 40,000 additional planned elective procedures and diagnostic care across 12 specialities, including cancer treatments.

More specifically, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery manages a Dermatology work-stream, to improve patient pathways, experience and outcomes within the specialty. As part of this work they have committed to ongoing work in relation to Dermatology Nursing Education and working with the British Association of Dermatologists to ensure sustainability and to increase the range of pathways where primary care have access to high quality referral information from a single source.

Work is underway to develop a new cancer strategy for NHS Scotland. Ensuring cancer patients, including those affected by melanoma, have access to equitable, timely treatment will remain a priority.

The Scottish Government does not collect the detailed breakdowns of debts owed to Public Bodies. The information that is collected by Scottish Government will not necessarily distinguish between debts owed by individuals and debts owed by companies and other organisations.

Every Public Body produces and publishes an Annual Report and Accounts, and within this publication will report on amounts owed to them. The information within these accounts on debts owed to the Public Body may be at a relatively high level and may not distinguish between the different types of debt owed to them.

These annual accounts will normally be available online on the website of the individual entity. In the earlier period covered by the request – i.e. starting from 1999 – it may be necessary to approach the Public Bodies directly.

In August 2021 we published the NHS Recovery Plan, which set out actions and commitments that will support inpatient, daycase, and outpatient activity to address backlogs. This will be delivered through the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care. This includes the National Treatment Centre Programme, which will deliver capacity for ring-fenced elective activity. Four centres will open in the next year in NHS Fife, NHS Highland, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Golden Jubilee specialising in orthopaedics.

We recognise the impact long waiting times can have on a patient, from both a clinical and mental health perspective. At this stage in recovery from the pandemic, long waiting patients must now also be considered a priority. That is why earlier this month we updated the Clinical Prioritisation Framework to allow Health Boards the flexibility to treat the longest waiting patients in parallel with the most urgent. The expectation is that NHS Boards will follow the principles of this Framework to prioritise patients based on their particular clinical needs and those who have waited longest. This will allow NHS Board to ensure that the patients with the greatest needs are treated quickest.

We are working hard to abolish excessively long waits that have undoubtedly been exacerbated by the impacts of the global pandemic and we offer our sincere sympathies to all patients waiting for treatment.

Pausing of non-urgent activity during the pandemic has inevitably led to a build-up of numbers waiting for treatment, and the emergence of Omicron and the BA.2 sub-variant in late 2021 has undoubtedly added to existing significant pressure. We are working closely with NHS Boards to get those waiting for treatment the care they need as quickly as possible.

In order to support a sustainable reduction in the backlog of planned care procedures in Scotland, the Scottish Government published an NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021. Backed by over £1 billion of funding, this sets out our plans for health and social are over the next 5 years.

The NHS Recovery plan can be accessed here: NHS recovery plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Most Health Boards across NHS Scotland offer fast-track clinics for patients with an urgent suspicion of skin cancer, including malignant melanoma. We are supportive of coordinating tests where possible to support faster diagnosis and improve patient experience, which is why we are developing national optimal cancer diagnostic pathways.

£10 million was released in 21-22 to support the recovery and redesign of cancer pathways, including to support one-stop clinics, with similar levels of investment expected this year.

Meanwhile, we continue to support the Dermatology Consortium that are exploring solutions for the rapid diagnosis of skin cancer in NHS Scotland.

: In way of introduction it may be helpful to provide a general summary of the Scottish Government estate and the approach used in the management of asbestos. For buildings occupied by the core Scottish Government there are 18 owned (Crown) and 47 leased. The Scottish Government also has responsibility for the management of asbestos in these leased properties. Every agency looks after their own estate and are consequently not covered under the auspices of the facility management services contract for the core estate.

The Scottish Government estate comprises buildings and sites that are used to deliver the business of the core Scottish Government. These buildings are primarily offices. The estate includes a small number of other facilities that support the agriculture and marine sectors such as the Bull Stud Farm at Knocknagael, Inverness and Marine Scotland Science fishery research stations around the country. The Scottish Government estate does not include any buildings or sites to which the public have regular access. On occasion, visitors may attend for pre-arranged meetings when they would be accompanied.

Most of the buildings on the core Scottish Government estate were constructed at a time when asbestos was still in use as a building material and have been surveyed. Asbestos Management Plans have been produced where appropriate. This includes an Asbestos register and action plan on how to mitigate any risks from Asbestos Containing Material (ACM). Each case is assessed individually and it is often recommended to be safer to leave asbestos in place than to remove it. Our maintenance contractor regularly inspects areas of known asbestos to confirm that they have not been disturbed. Sometimes asbestos will be removed as part of wider building works. In such cases a refurbishment/demolition survey is undertaken ahead of any works happening. Information is then relayed to the Scottish Government’s Project Management Unit. The safe removal of any known asbestos is then integrated into the Project Delivery Plan.

There are 17 buildings currently known to contain asbestos.

In the last three fiscal years numerous operations have been carried out to remove asbestos from buildings for which the Scottish Government is responsible. This is summarised in the following table:

Building on the success of the bus priority on the M90 / M9 Queensferry Corridor Actively Managed Hard Shoulder (AMHS) for buses, Transport Scotland recently opened an additional section on the M8 eastbound approach to Hermiston Gait.

Through the Bus Partnership Fund, Transport Scotland has awarded £25.80m of funding for local bus partnerships to design and deliver bus priority measures on both local and trunk roads. This initial funding is for appraisal work to support local transport authorities towards developing business cases for further bus priority investment in their regions. Next steps will be dependent on the outcomes of this work.

Transport Scotland is also currently finalising the strategic business case for the Glasgow managed motorway network, which includes consideration of bus priority on the M8 alongside the M80, M77 and M74. This will be published along with information on the next steps, once the second Strategic Transport Projects Review has been finalised.

All these measures are aimed at reducing the negative impacts of congestion on bus services and addressing the decline in bus patronage.

We are working hard to abolish excessively long waits that have undoubtedly been exacerbated by the impacts of the global pandemic and we offer our sincere sympathies to all patients waiting for treatment.

Pausing of non-urgent activity during the pandemic has inevitably led to a build-up of numbers waiting for treatment, and the emergence of Omicron and the BA.2 sub-variant in late 2021 has undoubtedly added to existing significant pressure. We are working closely with NHS Boards to get those waiting for treatment the care they need as quickly as possible.

In order to support a sustainable reduction in the backlog of planned care procedures in Scotland, the Scottish Government published an NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021. Backed by over £1 billion of funding, this sets out our plans for health and social are over the next 5 years.

The NHS Recovery plan can be accessed here: NHS recovery plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

It is not possible to undertake an assessment of the impact on emissions from road vehicles as a direct result of the reduced ScotRail timetable. There is not specific data available on any change in road vehicle kilometres that could be attributed to reduced rail services.

Transport trends data since 16 May 2022 show a fall in rail travel of 14% and an increase in concessionary bus patronage and car use, both by 1% in the same period.

ScotRail’s temporary timetable aims to provide the best possible service to as many passengers as possible with the available resources. The major determining factor is driver availability by rostered hours, location and with the necessary competencies, which fluctuates daily.

ScotRail has regularly reviewed the temporary timetable to take account of stakeholder feedback, wherever possible, and changes to driver availability and just recently was able to add additional services. With the positive progress made on pay negotiations with ASLEF, I have tasked ScotRail with reintroducing the previous timetable as soon as possible.