Chamber and committees

Between 2018 and December 2022 the Scottish Government provided a £1.1m ‘Smart Pay Grant Fund’, matched with European Regional Development Fund investment, to provide all small to medium bus operators in Scotland access to funds to improve ticketing equipment on board buses to accept contactless payment. This was enabled on over 900 buses across Scotland to mean that around 98% of buses now have this convenient payment method for passengers.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government and Ministers do not intervene in operational matters.

The Scottish Government provides the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare, and it is for each individual NHS Board to decide how best to utilise funding, to meet local health needs. Over the last five years, the number of Allied Health Professionals (AHP’s) across Scotland have increased by 17.8% including a 20.6% increase in Physiotherapists as at June 2024.

This information is provided in Glasgow Prestwick Airport’s annual accounts.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport has published annual accounts for each year since the shareholding was acquired by Scottish Ministers. It is a statutory requirement that these are laid in Parliament.

Public Health Scotland publishes annual data on NHS eye examination on their website at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ophthalmic-workload-statistics/ophthalmic-workload-statistics-statistics-as-at-year-ending-31-march-2024/

Tables 6.1 and 6.2 provide data at Scotland, Health Board and Health and Social Care Partnership level outlining that, apart from the COVID-19 impacted years, increasing numbers of people are having a free NHS-funded eye examination.

In addition, the NHS Inform and Eyes.NHS.Scot websites have content relevant to the provision of NHS funded eye examinations in Scotland.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Embrace Autism report and work of the Embrace Autism programme, funded through the Scottish Government’s Autistic Adult Support Fund (AASF).

Through our AASF, the Scottish Government will continue to support organisations to deliver pre- and post-diagnostic support programmes designed and delivered by autistic people.

We have committed to multi-year funding of the AASF, which will avoid gaps in the provision of support programmes and will allow for funded organisations to better plan and deliver for the future. We will provide funding of £1 million per year.

Within the design of the AASF we prioritised the voice of lived experience, as the criteria we set out ensured organisations meaningfully involved autistic people in the development, design and delivery of their programmes.

The Autistic Adult Support Fund includes a range of national and local organisations providing different types of support. This includes in-person and virtual peer support groups, drop in sessions, one to one support and short term counselling.

I wrote to the Economy and Fair Work Committee on 25 June 2024 to confirm that a market testing exercise for Glasgow Prestwick Airport was underway. Scottish Ministers’ longstanding position is that the airport should be returned to the private sector at the appropriate time and opportunity. This must be to an organisation with the commitment and capability to operate businesses directly relevant to GPA.

Any decision to sell GPA must represent value for money for taxpayers and be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and its contribution to the local and Scottish economy.

Data on pain management outcomes for women with endometriosis is not held by Scottish Government.

Endometriosis is one of the key priorities in the Women’s Health Plan and will continue to be so. We are committed to ensuring those living with endometriosis are able to access the best possible care and support and that they benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We are committed to our ambition to improve the quality of life and wellbeing for people with chronic pain. The updated Implementation Plan for the Scottish Government’s Pain Management Service Delivery Framework, published in November 2023, has 18 actions to improve care and support for people living with chronic pain.

In November 2024, we launched our national chronic pain knowledge hub and learning toolkit, available to all NHS Scotland Health and Care staff to deepen their understanding of chronic pain.

In addition, we have also funded Endometriosis UK to produce a booklet and two webinars on self-management tips for managing endometriosis pain.

Endometriosis UK also operate a free, confidential helpline run by trained volunteers who have a personal experience of endometriosis and have expanded their helpline provision by launching a new nurse-led helpline on 28 January 2025 providing further sources of support.

Please find below information, broken down by financial year, the costs for social media managers within the Communications division for the last five financial years.

Scottish Government implements a number of measures to support rural NHS Boards’ digital infrastructure. These include:

• The Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)
• A Strategic Digital Fund -For a number of years the Scottish Government has provided additional non-recurring funding to support local strategic digital developments, with a particular emphasis on ensuring continued funding for Highlands and Islands Boards to protect rural services
• Access to the Scottish Government/COSLA Digital Maturity Assessment platform - a standardised management tool for digital transformation. This platform enables NHS Boards to document progress, analyse results, identify priorities, and align with local and national digital and data strategies.
• Recent analysis of data from the Scottish Government/COSLA Digital Maturity Assessment shows both progress in electronic records management and areas for development at organisational and system wide level.
• The Scottish Government and COSLA have also developed a range of resources to increase the digital capabilities of the leadership and workforce thereby improving the ability to identify digital transformation opportunities and implementation.
• A Records Management Code of Practice was published in August 2024.