Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. The data we receive from Police Scotland for production of the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up in each financial year. We do not receive further details on the characteristics and circumstances of individual crimes, including the age of any victim(s).

The number of CT scans split by NHS board for financial years 1999-00 to 2019-20 is available in SPICe – Bib number 63296. Data for financial year 2020-21 is unavailable due to a limited data collection for the Cost Book publication for 2020-21. For CT scan figures for 2020-21 please contact the individual NHS boards directly.

Notes

1. The number of CT scans is only collected by Public Health Scotland for the 'Costs Book' publication as part of the SFR 5.11 Radiology Services data collection process. This data is submitted to PHS by NHS boards from their local systems for radiology. This information is not quality assured by PHS data management teams and there is no other national collection of CT scan examinations by PHS.

2. The data collection for radiology services changed in financial year 2008-09 from collecting attendances to examinations. This may have a small impact on comparing activity up to 2007-08 with activity from 2008-09 onwards. This should be considered when making year on year comparisons.

3. CT scan examinations for NHS Western Isles for the years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2019-20 have been provided directly by NHS Western Isles due to an issue with the cost book SFR 5.11 submission for NHS Western Isles in those years. The figures for the NHS board and NHSScotland for those years will differ to the published information where all radiology service examinations in NHS Western Isles were submitted under 'other'.

4. For more information on the Costs Book publication please see the following web pages:

? 2019/20 Costs Book page

? 2009/10 to 2018/19 Costs Book archive

? 1999/00 to 2008/09 Costs Book archive

The Scottish Government is committed to the establishment of a National Care Service (NCS), and that work is continuing on schedule. We have pledged to bring forward legislation to enable the creation of the NCS by the end of June 2022.

Scottish Ministers are still considering the wealth of information provided through the recent National Care Service consultation. We are committed to ensuring that the design and delivery of the NCS has human rights embedded throughout. We are continuing to engage with the real experts – people with lived experience of the service whether they are people accessing care and support, their families, care workers or providers – and will continue to do so in order to improve future services and make things better for everyone.

We will then be in a position to bring forward the detailed plans for improvement to be undertaken over the course of this Parliament, to end the postcode lottery of care provision ensuring quality, fairness and consistency of provision that meets individuals’ needs, regardless of where they live in Scotland.

This information is not held centrally. Teaching the Nation to Code is a computing programming training offer by the IT training company QA Consulting.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews its policies in relation to domestic abuse, with a clear example being the Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme which is currently subject to a formal evaluation being carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University in partnership with Police Scotland, and the development of a Multi-Agency Domestic Abuse Homicide Review model.

While the Scottish Government collects data on the number of children living in unsuitable accommodation, it does not ask for returns from local authorities on any wellbeing assessments undertaken. This information would have to be requested directly from local authorities.

We are aware of a number of support assessments undertaken by local authorities as part of their housing assessment to record people’s needs. It is important, as part of this process and alongside the support provided to households experiencing homelessness, that the specific needs of children in the household are identified and met and their rights upheld.

The number of recipients of Council Tax Reduction is calculated as a monthly snapshot, and results are published at local authority level on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/council-tax-reduction-local-authority-tables-and-charts/

Our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) was laid in the Scottish Parliament on 10 November, and at the same time published for consultation which closed on 31 March 2022. The draft NPF4 set out how our approach to planning and development will achieve a net zero, sustainable Scotland by 2045 and proposed a new policy which will ensure significant weight be given to the Global Climate Emergency in planning decisions. It also includes green energy policies which support renewable energy development other than in National Parks and National Scenic Areas, subject to an assessment of their impacts on a case by case basis. The draft NPF4 also proposes to designate a national development which would establish the need for a large increase in renewable energy generation and substantial reinforcement and expansion of grid infrastructure throughout Scotland.

We are pleased with the very wide interest shown in NPF4 from across society, befitting a document of its importance to our future. The Scottish Government is now taking some time to carefully consider the broad range of views shared with us before finalising NPF4 for Scottish Parliament approval.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government has long recognised the hugely damaging impact of stalking and acted to criminalise it via the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010.

In March 2022 we announced funding of £495,000 over the period 2022-25 from the new Victim Centred Approach Fund to enable Action Against Stalking to deliver expert support to victims and continue their work to improve the understanding of, and response to, stalking behaviours.

We are also providing up to £230,000 a year through the Scottish Legal Aid budget and £384,000 in 2022-23 from the Justice portfolio to the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre to offer free legal information and advice to women experiencing gender based violence, including stalking and harassment.