Chamber and committees

The number of full-time equivalent civil servants is broken down by policy area and condition as follows:

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland and provide core funding to NHS boards. NHS boards have responsibility for deciding how to use this core funding to deliver services locally based on the needs of the people in their area.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31859 on 11 December 2024. 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 Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland. NHS boards have responsibility for deciding how to deliver services locally based on the needs of the people in their area. Detail on whether osteopathic services are offered to patients would have to be requested from NHS Boards.

Timely access to gynaecology services will remain a priority as we continue to develop our Women’s Health Plan

The Budget we set out on 4 December 2024 will throw the weight of the government behind performance improvements with almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. By March 2026, we expect no one to be waiting longer than 12 months for a new outpatient, inpatient treatment or day case treatment.

We have already invested £30 million to reduce waiting lists that built up throughout the pandemic. This funding is being targeted at a series of national and local plans to reduce backlogs by maximising the use of local and national resources across Scotland. As part of this, we have allocated additional funding to Gynaecology services which we expect to deliver around 3,500 new outpatient appointments.

NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is also playing a central role in identifying new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign. CfSD programmes have developed strong clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG), including one for Gynaecology, which promote multidisciplinary team working, and support local adoption of service improvement programmes.

Our actions will further enable NHS Scotland to maximise capacity, build greater resilience and deliver reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment.

Provisions in the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill will be informed by operation of the internationally recognised CWB economic development model.

Community Wealth Building provides a strategic framework that can be applied to local areas and regions to bind together action in areas such as Fair Work, Sustainable Procurement and supporting the creation and sustainability of democratic and inclusive business models.

The Scottish Government has now confirmed arrangements for an implementation process with regard to the independent report, “Developing Scotland's Economy: Increasing the Role of Inclusive and Democratic Business Models.”

A new group will be formed to examine how the recommendations in this report can be delivered. Consideration of supported businesses can be included in the work of the group.

The Lord President as head of the Scottish judiciary is responsible for the training of judicial office holders. Training is delivered by the judicial institute for Scotland.

In addition to funding to support the expansion of access to diabetes technology already announced in the financial year 2024-2025, the draft Budget for 2025-2026 contains funding to support continued policy development various for long term conditions. We will always give careful consideration as to whether additional policy development is required for any condition, including chronic kidney disease.

More broadly, the draft Budget delivers a record £21 billion investment in health and social care, including core funding to NHS boards to deliver services. NHS boards have responsibility for deciding how to use this core funding to deliver services locally based on the needs of the people in their area, including people living with chronic kidney disease.

The Retail Industry Leadership Group, co-chaired by myself and Polly Jones, Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs, Asda, is in the process of finalising a refreshed Terms of Reference (ToR) to better reflect the ongoing work of the Group. All members have had the opportunity to provide their views on this process, including a discussion on the ToR at an ILG meeting on 06 November 2024. The revised ToR, which now includes a redrafted line highlighting that the Group will promote the interests of businesses in all their sizes and formats, is expected to be published on the ILG gov.scot page in early 2025.

The priorities of the ILG will flex and take account of changing economic and policy circumstances, but will continue to develop actions in the Retail Strategy on:

(a) Fair Work -The Industry Leadership Group will take forward the action on Fair Work, working with members to produce a Fair Work document which will showcase good examples of Fair Work in the sector and contain useful resources for organisations, using the valuable insight gained from the Fair Work Working Group (FWWG).

(b) Just Transition - The ILG will work across industry to share expertise and promote best practice.

(c) Retail skills - An audit has been completed, and an action plan has been drafted, with priority areas identified. Discussions are currently taking place with Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Government Employability Division and other stakeholders, including Local Employability Partnerships, to implement and evaluate a pilot approach to developing a pipeline of trained, informed and motivated individuals to compete for available jobs in the retail sector.