Chamber and committees

Following the closure of ILF UK scheme in 2015, Scottish Ministers have protected the independent living fund in Scotland. In contrast this resource was transferred to local authorities in England and Wales whilst the public body ILF Scotland was created to administer and assess payments to Scottish recipients. The Scottish Government has continued to make additional improvements to ILF Scotland’s policies with reductions to the inherited charging policy. Furthermore significant investment has been provided to set up the Transition Fund, which is unique to Scotland and supports young disabled people to live a more fulfilling and independent life.

We have established an independent review of adult social care with a human-rights based approach to consider what changes are required to achieve the highest standards of support for the independence and wellbeing of people who receive adult social care support. The review will take account of all aspects of adult social care and is due to report by January 2021.

ILF Scotland colleagues are meeting with the Chair of the Review on 30 October to share their learning from and experience of working with disabled people and thoughts on how the ILF model could be further improved in the future.

Planning officials have met with a cross-section of representative bodies regarding the consultation on amendments to housing planning policy, including representatives of the housebuilding, construction and renewables sectors.

This is a formal written consultation and so it would not be appropriate to meet with selected stakeholders for them to reiterate and expand on their detailed written response.

We received 244 responses to the consultation and will give careful consideration to all of them. We will take into account the views and evidence provided before deciding the next steps.

The Scottish Government continuously assesses the value for money of its operations and programmes of delivery. This is done through the monitoring of the allocation of resources (both human and financial) and the delivery of its core functions and services. This is demonstrated through: its organisational governance arrangements 1 ; publications of its consolidated accounts 2 ; the monitoring of the impact of the work of Government in terms of the core functions it delivers; and monitoring the achievement of the National Outcomes set out in the National Performance Framework 3 . The governance arrangements apply for Executive Agencies as well as Directorates in their requirement to demonstrate the value for money of their operations.

1 Link to organisational governance arrangements - https://www.gov.scot/publications/good-governance-scottish-government/#:~:text=Good%20Governance%20in%20the%20Scottish%20Government%20Governance%20is,goods%20or%20services%2C%20manage%20people%2C%20or%20control%20budgets. )

2 Link to Scottish Government consolidated accounts - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-consolidated-accounts-year-ended-31-march-2019/

3 Link to Measuring Progress Against National Outcomes - https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/measuring-progress

The responsibility for purchasing PPE and making sure it is fit for purpose and complies with the required standards lies with each public body that procures it.

Within the NHS, any issues with PPE products are reported through a central complaints facility where each issue is investigated for its root cause and corrective action taken if required. When an issue is raised the supplier and the complainant remain involved until a satisfactory resolution is reached.

We do not hold the information centrally about how local authorities have dealt with any PPE that did not meet the required standard, so these should be addressed to the local authority in question.

As PPE technology develops, the Scottish Government is supporting innovation and improvement in this sphere by the formation of a PPE Innovation and Reuse working group. This will be a collaboration, involving Scottish Enterprise, NHS National Services Scotland, National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and the Scottish Government. There will be clinical input to ensure compliance with infection control measures as well as consultation with unions as appropriate.

Products procured by NHS Scotland are checked to ensure compliance to appropriate technical standards:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads
/attachment_data/file/913041/essential-technical-specifications-ppe-and-medical-devices.pdf
‎

In addition to these checks, products are assessed before going into active service by representative groups such as infection control nurses or health and safety staff to ensure the product is fit for purpose and performs to the standard required.

Local authorities are independent public bodies and responsible for running their own tendering exercises. It is therefore their responsibility to ensure that any PPE they acquire is fit for purpose and complies with appropriate standards. As employers they must comply with relevant health and safety legislation, and questions about the standards of PPE acquired or used by local authorities should be addressed to individual local authorities specifically.

The latest guidance and advice on PPE designed to protect NHS and local authority staff is published by Health Protection Scotland: https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/guidance/

This includes guidance on the use of PPE in various settings https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/a-to-z-of-topics/covid-19/infection-prevention-and-control-ipc-guidance-in-healthcare-settings/ and technical specifications for different types of PPE, which guides NSS procurement and also the production of PPE by Scottish and UK firms:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads
/attachment_data/file/913041/essential-technical-specifications-ppe-and-medical-devices.pdf

The Scottish Government is not normally involved in the direct recruitment of frontline staff within NHS Scotland Boards, however NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are currently escalated to Level 4 meaning that Scottish Government has in place advanced monitoring and oversight. The Oversight Board are aware that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, as part of a proposed service redesign to maximise the capacity and capability of the Infection Prevention and Control Team, were appropriately planning to reconfigure the service.

As part of the proposed service redesign the vacant Lead Nurse post at Gartnavel Royal Hospital would be re-profiled and the funding utilised to recruit three additional new Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) support workers. As part of the new model, there will continue to be an Infection Control Nurse (ICN) on site at Gartnavel and the site also will continue to have access to a Greater Glasgow and Clyde Lead IPCN.

However, due to the service pressures from the COVID-19 response, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have since confirmed that the proposed service redesign is currently paused. The current Lead IPC Nurse role at the Gartnavel Royal Hospital has since been backfilled by a GGC Nurse Consultant for Infection Control, and there has not been any reduction in IPC services at this site

We are closely monitoring the emerging evidence about the longer-term physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19 and recognise that rehabilitation, clinical input and research are all critical to understanding and supporting recovery.

That is why on 5 October the Chief Scientist Office launched a further call for Scottish-led research into this important issue. This is in addition to the £5m we recently awarded to 15 Scottish research institutions to better understand the effects of COVID-19 and inform treatment and management of the virus. We have published a Framework for supporting people through Recovery and Rehabilitation during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic, which puts in place clear principles, priorities and objectives to support planning to meet increasing demand and to provide high quality person-centred rehabilitation in different settings.

Our NHS is following best practice for treatment options to support the management of COVID-19, which suggests using the knowledge and expertise already within our NHS to deliver care tailored to individual need across a wide range of specialisms.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S5W-32195 on 20 October 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx