Chamber and committees

After competitive tender, a contract was awarded to Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP to obtain expert independent advice on the implications of VAT on the NCS and associated Care Boards. This work is ongoing. We will engage with the wider sector and HMT prior to any decision being taken which would have a VAT impact.

The Scottish Government is refreshing the non-statutory guidance for Local Child Poverty Action Reports (LCPARs) to support local authorities and health boards to deliver focused reporting on their actions to support priority families. CRER and other stakeholders representing priority families have been consulted in drafting the guidance. This is part of our work with stakeholders to strengthen targeted action for priority groups. We welcome the opportunity to work with CRER to enable a greater focus on BME families in our national and local practice and reporting.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with other national partners, review LCPARs and engage with local authorities and health boards, offering feedback and sharing learning across areas. This process provides a further opportunity to support local focus on the six priority family groups.

The non-statutory guidance also highlights that the intersectional approach needed to support priority families is best served by person-centred, holistic action. We will continue to support local leads to engage directly with priority families in their areas who have direct experience of poverty to understand, design and deliver the tailored support needed.

This government welcomes CRER’s assessment of Local Child Poverty Action Reports (LCPARs) which recognises the vital role which local authorities, health boards and local partners play in our national mission to tackle child poverty.

Tackling child poverty is a national mission for this government and our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery plan, ‘Best Start, Bright Futures’ focuses on the six priority family types at highest risk of poverty, including minority ethnic families. We know we cannot tackle child poverty without a clear focus on supporting priority families, including minority ethnic families, to increase their income from employment and benefits, and reduce their living costs.

We are refreshing our non-statutory guidance for LCPARs to support local authorities and health boards to deliver focused reporting on their actions to support priority families. CRER and other stakeholders representing priority families have been consulted in drafting the guidance.

This is part of our wider programme of work supporting local action to tackle child poverty. Through our partnership with the Improvement Service and the peer support network for child poverty leads from each Local Authority and Health Board we will continue to encourage and support local action to tackle child poverty amongst priority groups.

The challenging funding landscape and difficult choices facing the Scottish Budget in coming years have only worsened since publication of the Resource Spending Review. As a result of inflation, the Scottish Government’s budget is now worth around £1.7 billion less than when it was published in December.

It is clear that Fair Work, including fair pay, is more important than ever in the context of the cost of living crisis, and we will use all the levers we can to support those most affected.

In the current economic climate, we recognise, most recently in the publication of the Emergency Budget Review, that there are a number of cost pressures on Scottish Government budget and associated contracts including inflation, energy costs and increases to the real Living Wage. We have undertaken a risk-assessment of our key current contracts and framework agreements and are working closely and sensitively with suppliers through this period to manage those contracts.

We understand the importance of fair and stable funding for the third sector and the benefit of this for longer term planning and development. As we continue to work through the impact of the recent and upcoming UK Government announcements on our ability to deliver the spending plans as set out in the Spending Review in May. We are also considering the appropriate level of detail and timing of financial information we can provide in the longer-term.

We awarded a contract through a competitive tender for independent VAT advice from Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP. This was through Public Contracts Scotland.

After competitive tender, a contract was awarded to Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP to obtain expert independent advice on the implications of VAT on the NCS and associated Care Boards. This work is ongoing. No decisions have been made at this point and a full understanding of the impact of all options will be considered.

After competitive tender, a contract was awarded to Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP to obtain expert independent advice on the implications of VAT on the NCS and associated Care Boards. This work is ongoing. We will engage with the wider sector and HMT prior to any decision being taken which would have a VAT impact.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-11493 on 26 October 2022 and S6T00915 on 25 October 2022.

The answer to Topical Question S6T-00915 can be found here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-25-10-2022?meeting=13939&iob=126317#16180

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 latest statistics on average number of available, staffed hospital beds, including for acute specialties, is published in ‘Table 4 - beds.xlsx’ within Public Health Scotland’s annual acute hospital activity and NHS beds publication (available under the ‘Data files’ heading on this Public Health Scotland web page: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/ ).

The Scottish Government is committed to the recruitment of a minimum of 1,500 additional clinical and non-clinical staff to support the operation of Scotland’s National Treatment Centres (NTCs).

NTC recruitment is the responsibility of NHS Boards. It is therefore for each of the NTC Host Boards to provide detail regarding their recruitment plans and progress.

The Scottish Government however has committed to publishing further information on the recruitment of staff to the NTCs as part of the NHS Scotland Workforce Statistics, from 2023.