Chamber and committees

International students have a positive economic impact. We want to attract and retain international students in Scotland. While immigration is a reserved matter, the Scottish Government is committed to working closely with the UK Government to make a positive difference. Student sponsor licences are arranged between colleges and the Home Office directly. We have had multiple engagements with the UK Government regarding the Immigration System following the change of UK Government last July.

Transport Scotland doesn’t, as a matter of course, undertake assessments of traffic levels at Sheriffhall roundabout, or other locations on the strategic road network. Traffic data is captured on an ongoing basis for specific projects or studies.

Congestion and traffic levels were assessed as part of the transport appraisal that supported the first Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR), published in 2008, which led on to improvements to the junction being tabled under intervention 22.

Subsequently detailed consideration of traffic levels at this junction was undertaken in the SESplan A720 Cross Boundary Study, published in 2017, which recognised that the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass plays a fundamental role in providing strategic connectivity and supporting economic development within the region and noted that Sheriffhall roundabout is a well-known bottleneck for travellers using and crossing the A720.

Traffic counts were undertaken at the existing junction in 2014, 2017 and 2018 as part of the development of the A720 Sheriffhall Roundabout project. This information helped inform the projected traffic flows both with and without the proposed improvements as part of the scheme assessment process. In addition, traffic data from permanent automatic traffic counters maintained by Transport Scotland between 2008 and 2017 was also examined.

This data is not held centrally; aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is sent to Public Health Scotland from individual NHS Boards. This data reports on the following:

• number of referrals to CAMHS services;
• numbers waiting to start treatment;
• total waiting;
• numbers starting treatment;
• number of referrals that were not accepted

People who have started treatment, as well as those whose referral has not been accepted, will be removed from the waiting list, in line with the CAMHS Specification. The National CAMHS specification includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service.

CAMHS waiting times statistics are published quarterly by PHS: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times-quarter-ending-december-2024/

This data is not held centrally; aggregated data for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Waiting Times is sent to Public Health Scotland from each NHS Board. This data does not contain specific information about the number of young people accessing CAMHS who are international students.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of people presenting as homeless to (a) A&E and (b) GP surgeries.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The recording of reported dog attack data is an operational matter for Police Scotland. The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Police Scotland may hold information relevant to the subject matter for this PQ and the member may wish to ask for through a freedom of information request to Police Scotland: Freedom of Information - Police Scotland.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government but may be retrievable from individual Health Boards. All state primary schools are involved in the basic inspection. The sample size for schools and the detailed inspection should be available from Public Health Scotland, which manages the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP).

The Independent Working Group’s report on Antisocial Behaviour raises many important issues, including housing related matters and homelessness. The Scottish Government, Police Scotland and COSLA are considering the recommendations and Ministers provided a progress report to Parliament on key areas in April which will be followed by a comprehensive response in the Summer.

Directly comparable data is available from Financial Year 2014-2015 onwards corresponding to the introduction of the EDGE clinical research management system across the territorial NHS Boards and this data has been provided in the table below.

Patient recruitment figures by Financial Year are provided for 11/14 territorial NHS Boards. NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland patients are routinely treated as part of the NHS Grampian service and patients from these boards are included in the NHS Grampian recruitment figures below. A similar arrangement exists between NHS Western Isles and NHS Highland and is reflected in the recruitment figures below.

Accessed has been interpreted as patients who have been consented and recruited into a trial.

Drug trials has been interpreted as a Clinical Trial of an Investigative Medicinal Product as defined in the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trial) regulations 2004.