Chamber and committees

For more detail on data relating to echocardiograms, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05550 on 21 January 2022. 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

Information on outpatient referrals can be found here ( Waiting times - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org) . Waiting times information is not broken down by diagnosis code.

In April 2021, we commissioned Public Health Scotland to develop the Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme, this includes the collection of data on Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implant, and Adult Cardiac Surgery in Scotland, both of which are relevant to the management and treatment of heart valve disease.

Further development of this audit programme and decisions around any future data to be collected will be undertaken in collaboration with clinicians and people with lived experience of heart disease in Scotland.

Every six years, when preparing Flood Risk Management Plans, SEPA assess measures for reducing flood risk against a range of criteria and consider the priority to be given to each measure. The availability of Scottish Government funding is not one of the criteria used to prioritise measures.

It is for individual local authorities to take forward the design and construction of schemes proposed in the Plans ensuring that the schemes meet the necessary statutory requirements for approval set out in Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. To support this work, the Scottish Government provides a minimum of £42million per annum through the General Capital Grant. An additional £150million has been committed over the next 5 years.

Unboxed is a festival of creativity and innovation with Green Spaces, Dark Skies one of the six cross-UK programmes funded directly by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports and administered via Festival UK Ltd.

Details of all planned activity across these cross-UK programmes and the relevant contacts for further queries are available using the URL UNBOXED | Creativity in the UK (unboxed2022.uk) .

The organisers of the Green Spaces, Dark Skies programme across the UK (Walk the Plank) are responsible for delivery of their programme in all Four Nations and the Scottish Government understand that they have already been in contact with NatureScot (Scotland's nature agency), the relevant National Park Agencies, Historic Environment Scotland, the RSPB and relevant local partners in each community to ensure the work will be responsive to the sensitivities at the selected sites, including no adverse impact on wildlife and bio-diversity.

The revised Affordable Housing Investment Benchmarks were introduced on 29 October 2021.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) treatment is available in Scotland for those who would clinically benefit from it.

The information requested on the amount spent on hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is not centrally held.

Organisations delivering services are responsible for implementing standards at a local level, and local quality frameworks and procedures will assist them in monitoring progress.

We are committed to exploring national governance arrangements as a part of the Independent Review of Audiology Services announced on 21 January 2022. This will include reviewing opportunities to improve data collection and a national peer review mechanism for monitoring progress in implementation of these standards across Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05839 on 21 January 2022. 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

The Hospitality Top Up Fund provides support to hospitality businesses that lost bookings during the festive trading period, including pubs, restaurants, cafes and nightclubs.

Bingo businesses are eligible for funding though the Hospitality and Leisure top-up fund which supports businesses impacted by the necessary public health restrictions introduced from 27 December 2021, including requirements for physical distancing and capacity limits.

Over the last five years the Scottish Government has spent £4,122,329 on public outdoor digital advertising in Scotland with public health campaigns and Covid-19 activity utilising the majority of this space. There has been a total of 181 weeks of advertising over the last five years, which are broken down as follows across the category of campaign:

Category - Number of Weeks Advertising is Active - Total Spend

Brand Scotland – 3 - £30,515

COP26 - 2.5 - £388,000

COP26 Travel - 2.5 - £79,289

Greener/Net Zero – 9 - £271,200

Health including Covid-19 – 112 - £2,996,724

Parental Support - 2 - £9,900

Safer including Road Safety – 33 - £250,622

Economy/Financial Support – 17 - £165,153

These figures do not include occasions when the Scottish Government has been offered the use of outdoor advertising space at no cost. For example, during the Coronavirus pandemic the Scottish Government has provided advertising materials to football clubs to be used on their pitch side advertising to support the promotion of important public health messages.

Outdoor advertising plays a pivotal role in ensuring that key public information can be effectively communicated to people in Scotland, especially when run in collaboration with other media such as television, digital and radio. Outdoor advertising can support the delivery of communications that need to target specific geographical locations. Digital outdoor advertising has the benefit over non-digital sites in that creative can have more visual impact than static poster sites, especially during non-daylight hours. There is also reduced lead time for production, which means messaging can be quickly updated or removed when required.