Chamber and committees

The latest statistical release for Free Personal and Nursing Care is for the period 2022-23 and was published on 5 September 2023. Two published excel files accompany the publication, one of which provides data on people aged between 18-64, from the years 2018-19 to 2022-23. This can be found at: Supporting documents - Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The relevant information can be found in Tables 3a and 6a.

The Scottish Government continues to protect investment in digital within health services, as shown in the published budget. Planning remains underway to fully assess the impact on planned activity for 20242-5 that takes into account the considerable financial challenges facing the Scottish Government in the forthcoming financial year.

Rather than provide specific financial allocations to NHS Boards for the transformation of NHS IT Services, the Scottish Government provides funding to support investment programmes which are aligned to our Digital Health and Care Strategy. We will shortly publish our updated Delivery Plan for Digital Health & Care. This will confirm delivery priorities for the year ahead using the investment available.

Scottish Government collects information on whether any member of a household making a homelessness application to a local authority slept rough:

a) during the 3 months preceding and b) the night before the application.

This data is collected from all local authorities as part of the Homelessness in Scotland statistical data collection. Annual totals of rough sleeping reported by applicant households, broken by local authority, are published in the main tables supporting the main annual publication, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-2022-23/documents/

A document has been placed with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, bib number 64985, containing data related to the reporting of rough sleeping a) during the 3 months preceding and b) the night before the application, broken down by month of application and local authority, from April 2002 to September 2023.

Data is not available prior to April 2002 as this is when data collection began. The most recent data available goes up to September 2023.

The data collection defines rough sleeping as any member of the applicant household who has slept outside, in the open air (such as on the streets, or in doorways, parks or bus shelters) or slept in a building or other place not designed for habitation (such as barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations etc.).

Data is not gathered for any household rough sleeping who does not make a homelessness application to a local authority in Scotland.

As set out within Housing to 2040, we recognise the importance that good quality, accessible and adaptable housing has in allowing people to live independently with no barriers to participation in daily life, work and their community.

To make sure that we build in accessibility and adaptability to new homes and future proof them, we are carefully considering the public response to our recent consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland’s homes.

We want older people to have choice, dignity and freedom to access suitable homes, built or adapted to enable them to participate as full and equal citizens. Our Housing to 2040 strategy sets out a vision for housing in Scotland. This includes all aspects of housing, including independent living for older people.

As set out within Housing to 2040, we understand that accessible and adaptable housing is important in allowing people to live independently with no barriers to participation in daily life, work and community as well as future-proofing new homes to help avoid costly adaptations in future when needs may change.

This is why our aim is that all new homes should be accessible and adaptable to suit the lifelong and varying needs of Scotland’s people.

The Scottish Government works closely with local authorities in their role as strategic housing authorities. Local Councils are best placed to make decisions which reflect the particular nature and characteristics of their local area.

On 29 June 2023 we launched a consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland’s homes. The consultation closed on 21 December 2023. We are carefully considering the feedback received.

To support general practice services, we have significantly expanded the primary care multi-disciplinary team workforce, with over 4,700 staff working in services including physiotherapy, pharmacy and phlebotomy at March 2023.

We are supporting development of these teams through an annual investment of £190 million in the Primary Care Improvement Fund which is distributed on an NRAC basis.

While we have made significant progress, we know that implementation gaps remain. That is why we have introduced the Phased Investment Programme, working with a small number of areas to demonstrate what a model multidisciplinary team can look like in practice. This programme will strengthen the evidence base on the national context for the implementation of multidisciplinary teams and inform future long term Scottish Government investment.

In addition, we have submitted our annual evidence to the DDRB for its recommendations on a pay uplift for GPs and will consider them carefully.

It is for Integration Authorities to plan and resource hospice care, using the integrated budget under their control; and to plan palliative care services and costs now and in the future.

We are working with Integration Authorities and independent hospices to develop a national guidance framework to support improved and more consistent planning and resourcing of independent hospice care, and we will continue to explore solutions and options for longer term sustainable planning and commissioning for the sector.

I have met with a number of hospices and hospice leaders over the last few months, including the round table I convened in December 2023, to understand the financial position and challenges that hospices currently face and how they can contribute to palliative care in the future.

Childcare voucher schemes were part of UK-wide tax legislation on employer supported childcare. They were closed to new entrants in 2018 and as such, parents and carers who are taking up new employment are not able to access them. While some Scottish families may still be using them, they have largely been replaced by Tax Free Childcare. As the Scottish Government is not involved in the administration or regulation of childcare voucher schemes, we have not conducted an assessment of them.

We are aware of the wealth of evidence that shows that access to affordable and flexible childcare can improve standards of living and address child poverty through reducing pressures on family income and enabling parents and carers, particularly women, to participate in work, education or training. There is more information on this evidence base in ‘Best Start - strategic early learning and school age childcare plan 2022 to 2026: https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-start-strategic-early-learning-school-age-childcare-plan-scotland-2022-26/pages/10/

In the Plan, we have also set out our commitment to continue to engage with and seek to influence the UK Government to deliver better outcomes for children and families through childcare policy.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken such a review however, this will be taken into consideration as officials continue to explore next steps in potential further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures that pierce or penetrate the skin.

Scottish Government officials are working with beauty industry representatives, environmental health officers, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and healthcare professionals on this important issue and the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health is in continual contact with officials on this matter.