Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is fully committed to delivering a world class health service for the people of Scotland in a sustainable model that remains fully aligned with the founding principles of the NHS. This will deliver high quality, safe, effective and person-centred care to all patients as they access services. Our Progress Update on the NHS Recovery Plan outlines the actions that are underway as services remobilise from the pandemic. We regularly work with Healthcare Improvement Scotland Community Engagement through their Citizen’s Panel work to understand more clearly views across Scotland regarding their health service.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12950 on 21 December 2022. 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
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It is important to note that the vast majority of Group A Streptococcal (GAS) infections result in mild illnesses that can be easily treated, and that complications are very rare.

Public Health Scotland (PHS), in line with standard public health procedures, are leading on the response to the earlier than usual rise in GAS cases. An incident management process is in place, and PHS are working closely with the other health agencies of the UK to ensure we have a clear picture of the situation.

PHS have also issued an alert to ensure health services act swiftly to identify and treat suspected cases, and guidance has been provided to nurseries and schools on the need for good hygiene measures, and steps to manage outbreaks to minimise transmission.

PHS are working with the UK Health Security Agency to develop guidance to manage clinical cases of GAS and iGAS to ensure consistency across the 4 nations.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has issued a Medicine Supply Alert Notice providing advice on the supply of Antibiotics for the treatment of GAS. In addition, the Scottish Antimicrobial Prescribing Group (SAPG) has issued interim guidance to support antibiotic management of GAS infection in children age 18 and under.

PHS have provided information through the media and online advising parents to seek advice from a health professional if their child is displaying symptoms of scarlet fever.

Further information on Group A Streptococcus and Scarlet Fever, including when to seek medical help, is available on NHS Inform .

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration, in response to changing circumstances and challenges to support their local towns. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable funding for regeneration activity.

The Scottish Government has a strong framework with clear priorities and actions to help facilitate and deliver change working collaboratively with partners. This includes the Town Centre Action Plan 2, the Retail Strategy, and subject to parliamentary approval, and subsequent adoption by the Scottish Ministers, the National Planning Framework 4. These recognise the critical importance of planning with and for communities and in diversifying the offer within our city and town centres, to help them thrive, improve their resilience and anticipate continuing societal, environmental and economic change. Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation contains bold and ambitious actions - within the powers currently available to us – and is a route to a strong, inclusive economy with good, secure and well-paid jobs and growing businesses.

The Government has committed in the recent budget to continue to deliver the Place-Based Investment Programme, which aims to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action and community wealth building. This included £1,740,00 in 2022-23 as a direct capital grant to South Lanarkshire Council.

We have always prioritised a fair and progressive approach to Income Tax policy, one which protects those on lower incomes, while raising additional revenue for the Scottish Budget. This year, we have enhanced the progressivity of the tax system by asking those who can, to contribute more.

We have carefully balanced the need to raise revenue, with the impact on households and the wider economy at this challenging economic time. Our policy changes will allow us to continue honouring the unique social contract between government and people in Scotland and maintain our vital public services through this challenging time. We estimate that the Income Tax policy announced for 2023-24 alone will add £519 million to the Scottish Budget, that’s additional money to spend on public services: supporting individuals, households and the economy

The Scottish Government believes that the best way to reduce drug-related crime and drug-related death is to get people into appropriate treatment and support services at every point of the criminal justice system.

The majority of single possession of drug cases reported in Scotland are dealt with by way of an alternative to prosecution that do not result in a criminal conviction and may include a fine, a warning, or where appropriate, a diversion from prosecution.

The Scottish Government only holds information on an annual basis from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2021. Information for 2021-22 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2021-22 Statistical Bulletin which is due to be published in 2023.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration. They are best placed to develop the right partnerships to deliver regeneration and to identify suitable funding for regeneration activity.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authorities and communities to tackle persistent vacant and derelict land and we launched the low carbon Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP) in 2021 to support place based approaches to delivering regeneration and sustainable inclusive growth, as part of a ‘just transition’ to net-zero.

The VDLIP complements our existing investment in support of place based regeneration across Scotland, including the Place Based Investment Programme. We are keen for South Lanarkshire Council to work with its communities and other partners to develop suitable project proposals and apply to the VDLIP.

We are also providing support for town centre regeneration through the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP), which aims to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration and community wealth building. The PBIP includes the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund which is providing funding for The Hamilton Hub which is transforming the formerly vacant Vogue cinema in Hamilton town centre.

Additionally South Lanarkshire Council are in receipt of an allocation of the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund. This is a ring-fenced element of the local government finance settlement which is allocated to five eligible Scottish local authorities where there is the greatest amount of long-term vacant and derelict land alongside deprivation. Each eligible local authority is responsible for developing proposals based on its local regeneration priorities in the area, and they must ensure that their proposals meet the aims and objectives of the fund.

Finally we are seeking to promote the reuse of vacant and derelict land and buildings across Scotland through revised Draft National Planning Framework 4 – which was laid in Parliament on 8 November 2022 for the Parliament to consider and approve. This sets out the priority given to the reuse of brownfield land, including vacant and derelict land and buildings, and seeks to proactively enable its reuse and limit greenfield expansion.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12970 on 20 December 2022. 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

The Control of Entry arrangement are set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. It is the responsibility of the NHS Boards to put in place a Pharmacy Practice Committee and require NHS Boards to undertake a formal 60-day consultation with local communities who may be affected when an application is made to open a community pharmacy.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Minister are entirely independent on the Control of Entry process. The Scottish Government do not undertake any assessment on the consultations carried out in considering applications for the opening of a community pharmacy. The role of the National Appeal Panel is to consider appeals against decisions made by Pharmacy Practice Committees.

We are committed to tackling disrepair in housing and driving a culture in which good maintenance is given a high priority.

Social landlords are required to have a clear complaints process and where a tenant is dissatisfied with the response of their housing provider, they are able to escalate their complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is responsible for monitoring social landlords’ progress towards the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS), which they are required to meet, as part of the SHR’s role to monitor and report on social landlords’ achievement of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. SHR wrote to all Social Landlords on 1 December 2022 on the importance of having appropriate, proactive systems to identify and deal with any reported cases of mould and damp timeously and effectively.

For private landlords, they are obliged to meet the Repairing Standard and Tolerable Standard. If, after a landlord has been notified of a problem, it is not attended to satisfactorily, then tenants have the right to refer the matter to the Housing and Property Chamber First Tier Tribunal for Scotland, who can require landlords to take remedial action. Local authorities also have powers to inspect properties in relation to the repairing standard and rights to make an application to the Tribunal in respect of this were introduced through the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

In the New Deal for Tenants consultation, published in December 2021, we asked for opinions on how best to ensure that landlords undertake repairs in a timely fashion. We are carefully considering what measures are necessary to ensure that private rented homes are in good condition and that tenants’ concerns are quickly resolved.

We have also committed to developing a new cross tenure Housing Standard for Scotland during this Parliamentary term.