Chamber and committees

The National Digital Platform is not a single system but a range of products and tools that are becoming available over time, with development led by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). Its main purpose is to provide the underpinning technologies that make available appropriate health and care information whenever and wherever it is needed. Core components such as a secure cloud environment, user authentication and access controls, data repositories and integration capabilities are now largely in place. The platform is currently being used to support our Covid 19 response, for example by holding the national Vaccination Record and hosting the Protect Scotland App. A number of products are in development that will use and enhance platform capability, including the OpenEyes Electronic Patient Record (EPR) for eyecare services in Scotland, the ReSPECT emergency anticipatory care planning tool and the development of Cancer Treatment Summaries.

NES also lead on overall workforce development for digital health & care, and are ensuring that all staff will be suitably digitally skilled, with training and support in place for the introduction of any new tools and services.

Scottish Ministers issued an appeal to businesses on 22 March 2020 for support in accessing critical health supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitiser, test kits, ventilators and related oxygen equipment. Offers were initially collected through a dedicated Scottish Government mailbox and then via an online portal managed by National Services Scotland (NSS). The NSS portal was closed to new offers on 19 June 2020 due to the stabilisation of health supply chains. At this date, normal procurement processes were resumed.

The total number of offers processed via the Scottish Government mailbox was 2,846 and the total processed via the NHS portal was 2,048. It should be noted that these figures contain duplicate offers which were made via both the mailbox and NHS portal.

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. We do not receive further details on the characteristics and circumstances of individual crimes, therefore we are unable to identify how many crimes of vandalism were in relation to graffiti using spray paint. Time series information on the total number of crimes of vandalism recorded by the police is available from the Recorded Crime in Scotland National Statistics (a link to the latest publication is found here: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2019-2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).

The Scottish Government has awarded 578 contracts to external suppliers during the period of the pandemic. This figure is taken from the Scottish Government's contract register for the dates 15 March 2020 to the present‎ (9 February 2021). Of these awards, 55 are thought to relate to the pandemic.

Under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004, it is a criminal offence to sell an aerosol paint container to anyone under the age of 16. We believe that the current legislation protects young people and helps to prevent graffiti, while ensuring those wishing to buy spray paint for legitimate purposes can do so. The Scottish Government therefore has no plans to change the legislation at this time.

Statistics which cover suicide figures in Scotland during the pandemic period from 2020 to 2021 are not yet available. National Records of Scotland expect to publish the 2020 figures in June 2021.

The most recent published National Statistics for Recorded Crime in Scotland shows that in the period 2019-20, there were 45,074 recorded cases in the “vandalism etc” category, which includes sub categories malicious mischief, vandalism, culpable and reckless conduct (not with firearms), reckless conduct with firearms, culpable and reckless conduct involving aircraft, a 1 per cent decrease on the previous year, and a continuation of the overall longer trend which has seen a 42 per cent decrease in the number of vandalism crimes recorded since 2010-11. 1,615 people were prosecuted specifically for vandalism in 2018-19. Conviction for spraying graffiti is embedded in this figure.

However, we recognise that the impact of COVID-19 restrictions may have changed the profile of incidents of graffiti in Scotland and are supporting the charity Nil by Mouth to undertake an audit of the levels and types of graffiti that local authorities have been experiencing so that we can build a more up-to-date picture of the issues caused by graffiti in Scotland since the beginning of lockdown. This work began recently and will be carried out over the next few months.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Scottish Health Service Costs are published annually by Public Health Scotland.

Publication of data for 2019-20, which includes Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services spending, has been further delayed and is expected to be published on 23 February 2021.

The Scottish Government has discussions with NHS Lothian regularly regarding its capital investment plans, including its plans for the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion.

We are committed to continuous improvement in the diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions which is why set out in our Programme for Government a Respiratory Action Plan to deliver these key priorities.

The final Respiratory Care Action Plan will be published later this year and following publication, an implementation plan will be developed with input from a National Advisory Board and key delivery partners. As we develop and finalise these plans we will have a clearer understanding of funding required to deliver the commitments and priorities set out in the Respiratory Care Action Plan.