Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has no plans to publish the six-month progress reports for the nine projects funded through the Chief Scientist Office long-term effects of COVID-19 research call.

Interim progress reports are not published as their purpose is to enable monitoring of the progress of the projects, as a check that the researchers have gained all the necessary research regulatory and governance approvals, to monitor grant spend, and to determine whether adjustments to projects are required to deal with unforeseen challenges that may have arisen. Interim reports are not a vehicle to publish research results as the projects have not completed and any results are likely to be incomplete. Publication could therefore potentially lead to misleading conclusions being drawn. It is important that conclusions are drawn from research studies once all the data are fully analysed and also preferably published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature following independent scrutiny.

The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Official statistical reports relating to the Scottish Ambulance Service can be found on the following link.

Public Health Scotland

Each Health Department in the UK and across Devolved Nations is made aware of all JCVI advice though their designated observers. The Scottish Government’s Senior Medical Officer (SMO) is a member, and attends JCVI and Sub-Committee meetings and receives all Committee papers and recommendations. Through the SMO and policy officials, Ministers are kept abreast of all JCVI recommendations. As Cabinet Secretary I have had regular discussions with my senior clinicians in relation to our response to Monkeypox, as well as raising it with Health Ministers across the UK.

It has been recommended that the spacing of cavity barriers (which stop the spread of fire through wall cavities behind the cladding) on the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences be reduced from 20 metre intervals to 10 metre intervals. NHS Lothian has been assured that the overall level of fire safety remains high and has not been significantly reduced by the spacing of the cavity barriers. Risk assessments have also been carried out to identify and mitigate any fire risks to patients, staff and visitors.

Discussions with IHSL, the consortium that built and owns the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, about altering the cavity barriers are ongoing. IHSL has been asked to produce detailed proposals for work on the cavity barriers. Those proposals will be reviewed by the health board and its advisers, so as to ensure they meet technical specifications and minimise disruption to the hospital and department.

The Scottish Government has issued guidance to Health Boards setting out our expectation that Ukrainian refugees in Scotland will have access to all primary health care services along with vaccinations including those for COVID-19.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) are working together with Health Boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of monkeypox vaccination to support the response to the current outbreak.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended offering the vaccine to people who are at higher risk of coming into contact with monkeypox to help reduce the spread.

There is currently a limited global supply of existing MVA vaccine which Scotland has secured its share of. Vaccination is underway and it is currently being offered to those at highest risk first.

Additional supplies are expected in September, and people will be offered a first dose in priority order as soon as it becomes available.

Procurement of the MVA vaccine is being managed by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on a 4 nations basis. Scotland has secured a limited supply of 3,000 doses so far and will have access to more stock once it becomes available.

UKSHA have procured a further 100,000 vaccines that will be arriving in September. Date of arrival and details on Scotland’s share are still to be confirmed.

The National Mission has been set out for the five years of this Parliament and with it comes a commitment to fund the MAT standards. I have previously given Parliament and delivery partners assurance that funding is to be used for Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships and front-line services to support local areas in meeting the MAT standards. Initial funding of £6 million was provided to Health Boards on 1 March 2022 following discussions with Integration Authorities on the appropriate amount required to deliver the initial set of objectives.

Funding requirements for meeting the MAT standards for 2022/2023 and beyond was agreed with ADPs between January and April 2022 as being over £10 million per year for the next 4 years, to supplement the initial £6 million. The formal notification letter for 2022-23 was sent out to Integration Authorities and Health Boards in June 2022. Health Boards will draw down additional funding for 2022-23 as and when the initial funding has been utilised.

The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Official statistical reports relating to the Scottish Ambulance Service can be found on the following link.

Public Health Scotland

All territorial health boards were invited to submit a gap analysis providing an assessment of care and support available to people with long COVID and areas identified for future development.

Returns were discussed during a meeting of the Strategic Network’s Service Planning Group on 14 April 2022, to enable Health Board representatives to reflect on priorities identified by other Health Boards, identify any services that could be delivered collaboratively, and make best use of the £3million funding across Scotland. The meeting also enabled NHS Board representatives to hear priority issues put forward by organisations representing people living with long COVID.

Boards were requested to use the insight from this process to develop and submit an application for funding, outlining initiatives they planned to undertake over 2022-23 supported by their Resource Allocation formula (NRAC) share of the available long COVID Support funding.

Thirteen applications were received by Health Boards by the Strategic Network by 28 April 2022 and were discussed during a meeting of the Network’s Strategic Oversight Board on 3 May 2022.

No applications had to be resubmitted due to rejection by the Strategic Network’s Oversight Board before funding allocations were confirmed, on 19 May 2022.