Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14676 on 6 March 2023. 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 following table provides a breakdown of the number of homes in the South Scotland region delivered through the demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17, broken down by local authority area.

The homes provided through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

The following table provides a breakdown of the spend on the demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund in the South Scotland Region each year since its introduction in 2016-17, broken down by local authority area. The Rural and Island Housing Fund plays an important role in offering support to community organisations and others while complementing the significant delivery through our mainstream programme by Councils and Registered Social Landlords in rural and island areas .

The information requested is not collected or held centrally by the Scottish Government and would require to be obtained from Health Boards.

Spend for traditional marketing of the Near Me video consulting service was predominantly undertaken through local Health Boards responsible for ensuring the service is appropriately advertised. Wider communication and promotion of the service has been taken forward through programme costs as part of a collaborative approach to implementation.

However, the Scottish Government have invested in communications for Near Me including online resources, online content and website development, though again this was all managed by core programme staff costs and cross-sector collaboration. The programme utilised existing mechanisms such as tv interviews, press releases and First Minister daily briefings.

The Near Me website ( https://www.nearme.scot/ ) was developed in-house and is hosted by NHS National Services Scotland. £10,000 was spent to develop and update Near Me’s animated videos. These help promote the service and are used as a training resource for both staff and callers. Further spend of £700 was used for the translation of key support and guidance for the public into different languages. Cost was minimised as the work was undertaken in collaboration with the NHS in Wales. The development of an equalities impact assessment (eqia) and public engagement exercise which reached in excess of 5,000 people and 500 organisations were undertaken through core staff costs.

The programme has been working alongside key staff such as receptionists to support increased promotion of Near Me as a choice in how people can access an appointment.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Scottish Government have published the data requested from NearForm's Management Information on SPICe reference 63965.

There are 7 commissioners and ombudsmen. The following table with commissioners and ombudsmen contains year of establishment, funding and staff numbers.

In the case of Commissioners and Ombudsmen they are classed as Parliamentary Bodies and as such, are accountable directly to the Scottish Parliament with the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body conducting a sponsorship function.

There are 18 other significant public bodies. The following table for other significant public bodies contains year of establishment, funding and staff numbers.

From Scottish Government’s (SG) perspective, there are four organisations that aim to safeguard, maintain and improve the quality of care provision.

The specific details you have requested in relation to these organisations for the year 2022-23 are listed in the following table:

It is worth highlighting that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) and Scottish Police Authority (SPA) are not included in the above table because these organisations conduct reviews of health care in custody settings in partnership with the inspectorates above.

* HIS was established by the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, taking over the work of QIS and the regulatory functions in regard to independent healthcare provision. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) was established on 1 January 2003 as a special health board with a remit to improve the quality of healthcare in Scotland.