Chamber and committees

The requested information is not held centrally as ISD do not collect vacancy data on support staff, including hospital porters.

Further notes:

• Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the Workforce Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce/ .

Through the Forestry Grant Scheme, the Scottish Government supports the public access improvements within woodlands and the management of woodlands within the Woods In and around Towns (WIAT) initiative area.

The Scottish Government provides enhanced support through the Forestry Grant Scheme for woodland creation in WIAT areas within the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN) area. Approvals for woodland creation in urban areas across Central Scotland were worth approximately £10 million during 2018-19, with similar funding expected for 2019-20.

In addition Forest Enterprise Scotland continues to manage in excess of 40 WIAT woodlands within the CSGN, with the sites receiving almost 1.5 million visits in 2017. This will require an annual management and maintenance investment of approximately £1.5 million.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21337 on 26 February 2019. 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 .

As part of the 2017-2020 National Dementia Strategy, we continue to take national action to support local partnerships to improve the quality of post-diagnostic support in line with the national LDP Standard, to train the workforce, innovative and improve the consistency of the service and access to it.

We recently commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to lead work on a new locality-based project to test the delivery of home-based post-diagnostic services to a high volume to clients with a high level of additional care needs. This will involve innovations in terms of service design, professional roles and technology. A test site will be selected in coming months.

In addition, we have extended by 12 months the projects in East Edinburgh, Nithsdale and Shetland to test the re-location of post-diagnostic services in primary care. We also continue to deliver post-diagnostic training as part of the national Promoting Excellence dementia skills and knowledge framework.

Integration Joint Boards are responsible for planning, commissioning and delivering dementia post-diagnostic services.

We are working across the wide range of public services to harness the broadest range of opportunities to improve the population's mental health. Our PfG announced an additional £250 million of investment in mental health over the next five years, to introduce a package of measures to improve services for children, young people and adults, and embed support for good mental health across our public services.

We expect NHS Boards to work with their Integration Authority, local government, third sector and other partners to deliver fit for purpose mental health services and support that meets the needs of their local population, including women in this age group.

As part of the 2017-2020 National Dementia Strategy, we continue to take national action to support local partnerships to improve the quality of post-diagnostic support, to train the workforce, innovative and improve the consistency of the service and access to it.

Many people are diagnosed in very old age with other chronic or terminal conditions and for some their dementia support – including in residential or acute settings– will be an addition to existing care packages and not reflected in the post-diagnostic figures. Others will not wish to take up the service straight away while they process their diagnosis. We are doing more work to understand the array of reasons individuals might not complete the service.

Integration Joint Boards are responsible for planning, commissioning and delivering dementia post-diagnostic services. The Scottish Budget delivers additional resource funding of almost £730 million (5.5%) for health and care services. Our budget includes £160 million of additional health and care investment in local authorities – which will support social care and mental health measures, including those delivered by Integrated Joint Boards.

The main purposes of ultrasound scans are to date pregnancy, chart the growth of the baby and provide antenatal screenings. Then at the more detailed scan at 20 weeks, to assess for any possible health problems. Gender scans are not carried out by the NHS as there is usually no clinical reason to find out the sex of the baby. At some scans the sonographer may be able to identify the sex of the baby, it is entirely at the Health Boards’ discretion whether they give out this information. We do not collect data on which Boards provide this information. There are no plans to change this policy at this time.

We are not aware of any cases where Boards have been subject to legal action regarding informing parents of the sex of their baby at ultrasound. Gender scans are not carried out by the NHS as there is generally no clinical reason to find out the sex of the baby. However, on some occasions it may be possible to give an indication of what the sex is and it is for Boards to decide whether to have a local policy on sharing this information. Any Boards that give this information will indicate to parents that the scan in not a conclusive test and may not be accurate.

Over the long term life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have increased. However, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of changing trends. The issues are complex and relate to an ageing population, inequalities, deprivation and poverty.

We remain focused on addressing the underlying causes that drive health inequalities. Our alcohol prevention framework and our diet and healthy weight strategy are among the measures designed to help tackle some of the key issues.

Over the long term life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have increased. However, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of changing trends. The issues are complex and relate to an ageing population, inequalities, deprivation and poverty.

We remain focused on addressing the underlying causes that drive health inequalities. Our alcohol prevention framework and our diet and healthy weight strategy are among the measures designed to help tackle some of the key issues.