From April 2023 the Young Person’s Guarantee has been mainstreamed across Government, with activity across education, skills and employability supporting young people into opportunities. We do not hold data on the number of young people with additional support needs supported through the Young Person’s Guarantee.

Neither Scottish Government or Public Health Scotland (PHS) centrally hold all of the information requested.

Table 1 presents the latest available statistics on the total number of admissions for patients aged less than 16 years who had waited over a year for planned treatment as an inpatient or day case covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) from 2013 onwards. The data below are presented at NHSScotland level for all specialties, broken down by calendar year. Please note that this does not cover services that are exempt from the TTG, including obstetrics services, and organ, tissue or cell transplantation whether from a living or deceased donor. Spinal treatment by injection or surgical intervention was excluded from TTG until 1 April 2014 and designated national specialist services for surgical intervention of spinal scoliosis was excluded until 1 October 2014. These have been included in the TTG reporting from these dates.

Table 1 – Total number of admissions as an inpatient or day case for patients aged less than 16 years who had waited over a year (52 weeks), NHSScotland and all specialty level, by calendar year, from 2013 onwards

Ensuring individuals have access to Primary Care is a key component in tackling the Drug Crisis we face in Scotland, MAT Standard 7 specifies ‘All people have the option of MAT shared with Primary Care’

The Scottish Government provides funding to the Royal College of General Practitioners to deliver the Certificate in Management of Problem Drug Use. This supports primary care professionals within Scotland to provide care for people who experience problem drug use.

Those who have undertaken the course report improved knowledge of the MAT standards and how to appropriately incorporate these into clinical practice.

The Scottish Government also provides funding to Scottish Recovery Consortium to deliver the Humanising Healthcare Conversation Café project. This is a project which provides medical students across Scotland with the opportunity to engage with people with lived experience of substance use through guided roundtable discussions in medical schools across Scotland.

This information is not held centrally by either Scottish Government or Public Health Scotland (PHS).

PHS does not capture waiting list information on all NHS services and where they are captured, many are sourced from aggregate returns submitted to PHS by NHS boards. It is therefore not possible to identify the number of individuals that ‘have been on an NHS waiting list’. In addition, the aggregate data supplied by NHS boards does not provide patient-level information and as such, age breakdown is not available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-30050 on 1 October 2024. 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 National Qualifications Steering Group is organised and chaired by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). The group met on 27 September 2024 and agenda items included a review of the remit and workplan; investigating the drivers of attainment; assessment arrangements; and National Qualifications arrangements for 2024-2025.

Financial support is available for the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems through the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund, which provides support for the retrofit of Registered Social Landlords' existing housing stock, and targeted support is also available through our Warmer Homes Scotland and Area Based schemes.

All Health Boards should have appropriate arrangements in place to ensure co-ordination of care for patients across primary, community and hospital health care services. This includes patients with a terminal illness.

To date the Scottish Government has provided over £342,000, of which, £125,000 was provided this financial year, in funding to the Royal College of General Practitioners “Primary Care Secondary Care Interface” project. The project is considering ways to improve this co-ordination and interface working arrangements. The College is working with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and Health Boards on this project.

The Scottish Government published the General Practice Access Principles in November 2023. This report sets out a clear framework for the core principles of how GP services should be delivered – equitably, sensitively, reasonably and appropriately, making the most effective use of resources and systems currently available.

The Veterans Mental Health Advisory Group has been established to oversee the development of the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing pathway and the implementation of the principles laid out in the Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan. The Advisory Group is chaired by Dr Lynne Taylor, the Scottish Government’s Principal Psychology Advisor. It held its inaugural meeting in March 2024 and has met another three times since. The Advisory Group has agreed the preferred model of delivery for the Veterans Mental Health & Wellbeing Pathway and will discuss further details when it meets on 14 October. This preferred model of delivery will then be recommended to Scottish Ministers for approval.

Two sub-groups, the Operational Working Group and the Stakeholder Network, have been established to ensure there is continued stakeholder engagement, from a broad range of partners, as the plans for implementation are evolved by the Advisory Group. The main remit of the Operational Group is to consider the operational and local requirements for the delivery of the pathway as well as determining where there are gaps in service and where there are established, effective practices, across Scotland. The wider Stakeholder Network will assess the recommendations of the Advisory Group and Operational Working Group and provide feedback.

The Scottish Government remains committed to implementing the principles of the Veterans’ Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan and to ensuring that all veterans living in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, including safe, effective and person-centred healthcare. The work to develop the new mental health pathway will be progressed this financial year with the intention that tests of change will be actioned at the earliest opportunity. We do not anticipate any significant impact from current spending controls.

The Scottish Government does not give scallop effort quota to any fishing vessel within the Scottish fleet. Unlike many fish quotas, scallop effort is not allocated by the UK government to the devolved fisheries administrations, instead, a common effort regime is operated by all UK fisheries licensing authorities. Following a communication by the UK Government, to all devolved administrations, fishing licences are varied so that limits to the number of days at sea for vessels over 15 metres can fish for king or queen scallops in the waters of ICES area VII per quarter of the year are introduced. Unlike other fish quotas, the scallop limit cannot be transferred or leased between vessels.

The Scottish Government does not give scallop effort quota to any fishing vessel within the Scottish fleet. Unlike many fish quotas, scallop effort is not allocated by the UK government to the devolved fisheries administrations, instead, a common effort regime is operated by all UK fisheries licensing authorities. Following a communication by the UK Government, to all devolved administrations, fishing licences are varied so that limits to the number of days at sea for vessels over 15 metres can fish for king or queen scallops in the waters of ICES area VII per quarter of the year are introduced. Unlike other fish quotas, the scallop limit cannot be transferred or leased between vessels.