Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working with a variety of stakeholders, including parents’ groups, to agree which items will be included in the boxes. The Scottish baby boxes will be based on the model first developed in Finland, and will provide a range of baby clothing, equipment and simple, consistent information for new parents. The box will also double as a cot for new born babies, should parents wish to use it in this way.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

At the point when car parking charges were abolished from December 2008, NHS Scotland hospitals (with the exception of three private finance initiative (PFI) run car parks) were estimated to collect £3.6 million of income each year from car parking charges. From 2009 onwards, NHS Boards have not received any income from car parking charges and it is estimated that this policy has saved patients and staff over £27 million.

Prior to 2008, the Scottish Government did not collect details on how much income was raised through car parking charges.

The net book value of properties and land disposed of by NHS Boards since 2004-05 is detailed in the following table:

 Prior to 2004-05, disposals of NHS land and property were disclosed in NHS Trust accounts.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Information Services Division of National Services Scotland produce practice population size reports every quarter. These can be accessed at the following web site:http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/General-Practice/Workforce-and-Practice-Populations/Practices-and-Their-Populations/

NHS boards have various means of supporting independently contracted practices which request assistance. We expect health boards to work with practices as constructively and as flexibly as is appropriate to ensure that all patients have access to GP services.

NHS Lothian has made the Scottish Government aware of concerns around particular recruitment issues in Lothian which will be taken into account as the 2017 General Medical Services contract negotiations go forward.

The Scottish Government has had no discussions with the Royal College of General Practitioners following the recent reports, however the Scottish Government has ensured opportunities for engagement, particularly as part of a wider debate on the future of general practice, and are grateful for the contribution that the Royal College of General Practitioners has already made and look forward to continuing to engage with them, as well as with other stakeholders who share our common desire to further improve the quality of primary care services for the benefit of patients.

Over three years, the Scottish Government is investing £85 million, as part of the Primary Care Fund. As part of this, £2.5 million will be invested in work to explore with key stakeholders the issues surrounding GP recruitment and retention which can be particularly challenging in remote and rural areas. This will support a range of initiatives over the next two years including the development of a locum pool of retired GPs in Lothian.

The costs associated with hosting events is a matter for Edinburgh City Council, however, I can confirm that the Scottish Government is providing Edinburgh City Council with total funding in 2016-17 amounting to £786.3 million, which includes £11 million additional funding that Edinburgh receives through the new funding floor mechanism and £3.9 million in recognition of its position as capital city.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. This is because we file our information according to the subject matter, not by reference to organisations with whom we have corresponded, and to retrieve that information would require a search of all of the Scottish Government’s records.