Chamber and committees

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This information is not held centrally.

The requested information is not held centrally.

Any violence or aggression against NHSScotland staff is unacceptable and we have policies in place to provide and continuously improve a safe working environment. Details can be found at the following link:-http://www.staffgovernance.scot.nhs.uk/media/1399/gender-based-violence-employee-pin-policy.pdf

Researchers can apply to the Chief Scientist Office for funding. The CSO's Translational Clinical Studies Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research Committees each meet twice per year to consider funding applications. Details of the application process are published on the CSO website.

http://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/funding-2/

Applications looking at the underlying causes, diagnosis and treatment of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) are welcomed. In common with all other applications, these would go through the CSO's standard independent peer review process.

It is the role of the Scottish Government to provide policies, frameworks and resources to NHS Boards so they can deliver services that meet the needs of their local populations. The provision of healthcare services is the responsibility of local Boards, taking into account national guidance, local service needs and priorities for investment.

Scottish Government expects people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis to be able to access appropriate care and support via their local NHS Board.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-08980 on 10 May 2017. 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

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many on-call NHS services have been put out to private tender.

The Scottish Government funds NHS 24, a special health board, to provide the 111 service in Scotland. There is a private tender process for the 111 service in England and Wales. This does not exist in Scotland for Out of Hours Services.

Data detailing spending on additional support for learning is collected from local authorities via the Local Financial Returns (LFR). There are four years of data available on spending for additional support for learning, from 2012-13 to 2015-16.

As highlighted in the answer to question S5W-08627, there are issues around the quality of this data. Work is on-going to improve the consistency of the data that is returned. However, the lack of consistency in how local authorities have broken down the information to primary, secondary and special categories means that this data does not consistently represent the levels of spending in different categories of schools in local authorities.

Table 1 - which should not be used to make comparisons between years and between local authorities - shows the reported gross revenue expenditure on additional support for learning education (Primary) from 2012-13 to 2015-16

Source: Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 1) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government.

Table 2 - which should not be used to make comparisons between years and between local authorities - shows the reported gross revenue expenditure on additional support for learning education (Secondary) from 2012-13 to 2015-16

Source: Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 1) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government.

Table 3 - which should not be used to make comparisons between years and between local authorities - shows the reported gross revenue expenditure on additional support for learning education (Special) from 2012-13 to 2015-16

Source: Local Financial Returns – Education (LFR 1) statistical return provided by local authorities to the Scottish Government.

Prescribing of systemic antibacterials in primary care has reduced for the third year running and we continue to take forward plans to limit the threat of immunity to antibiotics and drug resistance in Scotland.

Scotland’s work on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is globally recognised. However, Antimicrobial Resistance is a global phenomenon and the UK is taking a cross-Government approach to tackling the problem.

As tackling AMR remains a priority and a constant challenge we are working with stakeholders through our Controlling Antimicrobial Resistance Scotland (CARS) group and Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG) in a bid to reduce inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics in all healthcare settings.

We are aware of several published studies on the cost-benefit analysis of the
C-Reactive Protein (CRP) test that have been conducted in other countries. In Scotland, whilst a pilot study of the test has been undertaken, a cost-benefit analysis has not yet been completed. However, discussions on cost-benefit of the test to NHS Scotland are currently taking place.

Since the Scottish Medicine Consortium’s establishment in 2002 the usual assessment time between receipt of the pharmaceutical company’s submission and the release of advice to NHS Scotland for the majority of medicines has been 14 weeks.

Where a pharmaceutical company requests a Patient and Clinical Engagement (PACE) meeting, offers a complex patient access scheme, or includes multiple clinical studies in their submission, there is a slightly longer timeline required for assessment.