Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains firmly committed to expanding access to hepatitis C testing across all NHS Board areas, as part of our blood borne virus (BBV) elimination efforts. The latest surveillance report from Public Health Scotland shows that the number of individuals tested for hepatitis C (HCV) antibodies in 2023 has exceeded pre-pandemic levels in nearly all settings. While this progress is encouraging, we recognise the need to further improve uptake in key services, particularly within prisons and drug and alcohol services.

All NHS Boards and other relevant services are encouraged to adopt approaches to HCV testing which are appropriate to their local contexts. These include testing in primary care, drug and alcohol services, custodial settings, community pharmacies and through outreach initiatives. This year, for the first time, the Scottish Government has set targets for hepatitis C testing in prisons and drug and alcohol services to encourage uptake.

The introduction of additional HCV testing targets will complement the rollout of Emergency Department Opt-Out Testing for BBVs, beginning with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lothian and Grampian. These measures will help identify undiagnosed people, facilitate earlier access to care and support progress towards our BBV elimination goals.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities are responsible for paying foster carers’ allowances. Prior to the introduction of the Scottish Recommended Allowance in August 2023, the Scottish Government had no role in setting allowance rates.

Each Health Board is responsible for the provision of community pharmacy services, including at weekends. Through Health Board Pharmaceutical Care Plans, community pharmacies provide a range of additional national services and locally enhanced services, including Palliative Care Service, Opioid Substitution Therapies, a National Oncology Service and access to Emergency Hormonal Contraception, providing access both in and out of hours.

The provision on community pharmaceutical care is the responsibility of territorial health boards. Each Health Board has in place a Pharmaceutical Care Service Plan which outlines how the Health Board deliver pharmaceutical services to its population, focusing on improving access, enhancing patient care, and meeting community needs through a mix of community pharmacies and integrated care. These plans help identify areas where services need improvement, ensure appropriate pharmacy access, and align with national health goals by integrating pharmacists into multidisciplinary teams.

Local authorities are responsible for developing and delivering flood protection schemes, and the Scottish Government provides funding to support them to do so.

Local authorities provide Scottish Government with annual updates to projected spend profiles for flood protection schemes. The most recent update on the estimated cost of the Musselburgh Flood Protection Scheme was provided to Scottish Government by East Lothian Council was £106 million and provided in October 2024.

Since 2008, the Scottish Government has funded local authorities through the general capital grant to invest in flood protection and resilience measures. That funding is outlined in the following table.

The majority of funding available to councils is provided by means of a block grant from the Scottish Government. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on flooding protection, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. Local authorities are responsible for paying foster carers’ allowances and may choose to pay above the Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA).

It is not possible to determine the number of prescription items dispensed by community pharmacies at weekends, since 1999, using existing data.

The annual Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis publication, managed by Public Health Scotland, provides information on the total number and cost of NHS prescriptions items dispensed in the community in Scotland. The most recent publication shows that 117 million items were dispensed in primary care settings for the financial year 2024-25. The most recent publication can be found online at Dispenser Payments and Prescription Cost Analysis - Prescribing data - System monitoring, accountability and quality of care - Healthcare system - Public Health Scotland.

Statistics on teachers by main subject taught, including modern languages, are available in the teacher census supplementary statistics, available on the Scottish Government website here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/

We are investing £200 million across the health and social care system to increase capacity and reduce backlogs. For chronic pain services, this investment will support Health Boards to create additional appointments and strengthen the flow of patients through the system, helping more people to be seen more quickly.

We want to deliver better and more sustainable care for people with chronic pain and we have outlined the action we will take to achieve this vision in our Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery Implementation Plan.

Through our Implementation Plan we are continuing to work with partners to improve how pain services are planned and delivered. We are also working to deliver a more sustainable and knowledgeable workforce by developing specialist training routes and new resources to enhance pain education and skills amongst NHS staff.