Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has provided £168k funding since 2021 to Scottish Agritourism to assist with supporting the delivery of Scotland’s Agritourism Growth Strategy, broken down as follows

2022-23 – £35,000

2023-24 – £35,000

2024-25 – £98,000

The NRAC formula is an objective measure of the need for health care services across Scotland.

Under the existing formula the additional cost of providing health services in remote and rural areas is factored within one of the key components in determining funding allocations, with the formula giving greater weights to areas where there is evidence of unavoidable excess costs of supplying healthcare services.

The Scottish Government have committed to continually review the funding formula. This process is managed by the Technical Advisory Group for Resource Allocation (TAGRA) and supports vital work to reduce health inequalities; ensuring that we continue to allocate funding according to the relative need for healthcare in each Board area. Work is underway to review this, however, funding formulas are inherently complex and the review will take time.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

NHS Boards are responsible for managing their contracts with GP practices, whether General Medical Services contracts (referred to in the question as “17J contracts”) or Primary Medical Services agreements.

Such data as exists on practice closures, mergers or other changes of contractual status does not record whether or not practices “chose” to change.

The duty to carry out Island Communities Impact Assessments came into force on 23 December 2020. All ICIAs and decisions not to carry out an ICIA are published by the Scottish Government and are readily available to access online.

The following table provides the number of practices which have held General Medical Services contracts (sometimes called 17J practices due to the relevant clause in the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978) in NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland, and NHS Grampian for each year since 2018.

Table 1 - Practices with General Medical Services contracts

As set out in the Agricultural Route Map, the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) is expected to continue until at least 2026 to deliver elements of Tier 3 of the new framework until the Elective Support is implemented from 2027.

The Route Map is a living document that sets out the phased transition from legacy Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support to our new four-tier framework.

We have committed to keep the Route Map updated and will continue to provide more clarity as and when it becomes available following continued co-development with rural partners.

Local authorities, as statutory housing authorities, working with The Empty Homes Partnership continue to tackle empty homes as a priority, bringing more homes back to use as warm, safe and secure permanent housing. Our investment of £3.7 million investment in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership is making a real difference with almost 11,000 homes returned to use since 2010.

Social landlords (local authorities and housing associations) are responsible for the allocation of social housing. They must develop and publish allocation policies, within a broad legal framework for social housing allocations. Our Social housing allocations in Scotland: practice guide was published in 2019 and provides practical assistance to staff with responsibility for reviewing, monitoring and updating allocation policies and procedures to ensure they comply with current legislation.

The Scottish Government remain committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 of which at least 10% will be in rural and island areas.

Up to £25 million is also being made available from our affordable housing supply programme budget over the period 2023-2028 in the form of the demand led Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund. The funding is available to support local authorities and registered social landlords to purchase existing suitable properties in rural and island areas for key workers where there is identified need.

We continue to work closely with partners to deliver the right homes in the right places and it is for local authorities through their Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans to identify the type, location, size and tenure of homes required in their areas.

The Scottish Government does not hold a central assessment of Third Sector healthcare provision. We do however recognise the role of the Third sector in areas such as palliative care and published the draft Palliative Care Strategy – Palliative Care Matters for All – for public consultation on 2 October 2024. The consultation will close on 10 January 2025, and the responses will inform the development of the final Strategy, which we aim to publish in 2025.

The Scottish Government’s approach to the planning and delivery of affordable housing is focussed on providing the right homes in the right places.

We remain committed to delivering 110,000 permanent affordable homes by 2032 with at least 70% for social rent and at least 10% in rural and island areas.

We continue to work closely with partners to deliver the right homes in the right places and it is for local authorities through their Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans to identify the type, location, size and tenure of homes required in their areas.