Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-23794 on 29 December 2023. 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 .

As part of the next phase of the work Scottish Government have commissioned Consulting firm RSM-UK to undertake detailed modelling work to fully map the capacity requirements across the system to inform capacity building and implementation of the new model.

The Scottish Ambulance Service will be included as part of the modelling work. We expect that mothers in threatened extreme early labour, or those whose babies will need surgery, will be identified pre-birth and will birth in the maternity unit alongside the NICU. The Perinatal Network has been leading some work, and recently published guidance on transfer in these cases.

The Princes Trust and NHS Scotland Partnership’s programmes aim to support young people to achieve the outcome that is right for them. Often this is not directly into NHS employment as many of the young people require longer term support to achieve this outcome. Positive destinations include employment, further education, training or volunteering.

The Get Started programme is a personal and social development opportunity which is targeted at those young people who are furthest away from entering the labour market. In 2022-23, of the 56 young people supported, 37 participants moved on to a positive destination.

The Get Into programme is a short course that further develops young people’s skills and familiarises them with employment in the NHS. In 22-23, 44 young people were supported by the Get Into Programme with 29 moving on to a positive destination, of whom 13 gained employment with the NHS.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the retention of Princes Trust participants in NHS employment.

Decisions on the national designation of services are considered by NHS National Services Division as part of NHS National Services Scotland.

NHS National Services Division have encouraged the MRgFUS team in NHS Tayside to submit a formal application for national designation of the MRgFUS service in Dundee. They hope to receive this in 2024-25.

The Scottish Government aims to publish our new palliative and end of life care strategy for consultation in Spring 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20618 on 19 September 2023. 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 .

Table 1 presents the total expected gross income from properties liable for the Higher Property Rate (HPR) at 55.9p, after the application of the General Revaluation Transitional Relief (TR), in 2024-2025. This reflects the total gross bill for properties with a rateable value above £100,000. This is broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.

This table is based on the non-domestic valuation roll as at 1 October 2023.

Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Table 1: Estimated gross income (£) from HPR after revaluation transitional relief in 2024-2025 by property class

The Scottish and UK Governments have committed over £3 billion to the City Region Deals programme and its associated investments. Information on the individual projects funded through the growth deals are outlined in their associated deal agreements.

The Intermediate Property Rate (IPR) was introduced from 1 April 2020. The IPR applied to properties with a rateable value above £51,000, up to £95,000 until 31 March 2023, and to properties with a rateable value above £51,000 and up to £100,000 from 1 April 2023. In 2020-2021 and 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 the IPR was charged at 51.1p, in 2021-2022 this was 50.3p, and in 2024-2025 it will increase in line with inflation to 54.5p.

Table 1 shows the total estimated gross income since 2020-2021. This is the total gross bill (net of General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025) charged to properties with a rateable value between £51,001 and £95,000 up to 2022-2023, and between £51,001 and £100,000 from 2023-2024 onwards, as noted above. These figures are broken down by property class; property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors.

Figures are based on the Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 October in each financial year, for 2024-2025 this is based on the Valuation Roll of 1 October 2023. Figures are gross of all reliefs, except for the General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Table 1: Estimated gross IPR income (£) since 2020-2021 (after General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025)

In summer 2023 we engaged with stakeholders including clinicians, third-sector organisations and people with lived experience of chronic pain. Feedback received was used to inform the development of the updated Pain Management Service Delivery Framework – Implementation Plan.

Annex A – response to feedback in the Plan highlights common areas of feedback we received throughout our engagement period and outlines our response to this.

The recent quarterly increase in the rate of neonatal mortality is concerning.

We have asked Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to look into the increase in neonatal mortality reported in 2021-2022, and although this report has been slightly delayed, we expect HIS to report early in 2024.

Whilst this report will not examine the cases included in the most recent rise, we expect that the findings of that report will help us understand why neonatal mortality may be increasing, and we will look to act on those findings.