Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally as local authorities are responsible for paying the Scottish Recommended Allowance for Foster and Kinship Carers.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering the grade separation of Sheriffhall roundabout as part of its £300 million commitment to the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

The latest scheme cost estimate, current at Quarter 4 2018 prices, indicated a total cost of approximately £116.5 million, excluding non-recoverable VAT.

We continue to progress the proposed scheme through the statutory process so we can deliver improvements at this key junction as soon as possible. Following the Public Local Inquiry for the scheme, the Reporter’s conclusions and recommendations have been submitted to the Scottish Government and are currently under active consideration before a decision is made by Scottish Ministers whether to progress the scheme.

As with other road infrastructure projects, the estimated cost of the scheme will be updated following completion of the statutory authorisation process and in advance of procurement commencing.

Data on the amount local authorities spend on reading books is not collected centrally. The delivery of education is devolved to local authorities and funding is provided to local authorities via the “block grant”. Each local authority will have their own approaches to funding school reading materials, which will vary according to local needs and resources.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland and provide core funding to NHS boards. NHS boards have responsibility for deciding how to use this core funding to deliver services locally based on the needs of the people in their area.

The Scottish Government publishes annual statistics on support staff in schools, including school library staff. From 2010-2016, figures were published as part of the Teacher census supplementary statistics - gov.scot. From 2017 onwards, figures on school library staff are published as part of the School support staff statistics - gov.scot.

We do not hold statistics from earlier than 2010.

The ambitions set out in our Cancer Strategy 2023-2033 align with those of ‘The Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care - The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026’. This sets out Scottish Government’s commitment to improving services nationally for children and young people specifically. This is delivered by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC).

Children, young people and their guardians have the opportunity to engage and share their experiences of cancer services to inform improvements, and to support delivery of strategy ambitions, through the MSN’s National Youth Advisory and Parent and Family Forums.

Progress against all actions of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026 continue to be taken forward by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC).

The 2023-2024 MSN CYPC Annual Report, which includes detail on progress across all actions, will be published shortly on the MSN CYPC website – www.msncypc.nhs.scot

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-32247 on 18 December 2024. 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.

All public bodies sit within the Scottish Government budgeting boundary and public bodies underspend forms part of the overall Scottish Government financial position for each financial year. Individual public bodies may not spend their full allocated budget each year - they may return budget for reallocation elsewhere across the budgeting boundary through the Autumn Budget and Spring Budget Revision process; or they may not fully drawdown on their cash budgets in a financial year. Any reallocations of budget or underspends at year-end form part of the overall Scottish Government budget position. The Scottish Government does not maintain a record of the individual underspends by body for each year.

Details of the financial position for any individual body will be set out in their audited accounts for each year. Links to these are provided on the National public bodies directory (https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/).

The 2025-26 draft budget provides £139 million additional investment for health infrastructure, allowing some work to resume on delivering new acute facilities, including the Princes Alexandra Eye Pavilion.

NHS Lothian have been invited to progress the business case and design work, however, the exact timeline has not been established as to when construction will start or when the project will be completed.