Chamber and committees

This is a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that everyone who needs it can access seamless, timely and high-quality palliative care.

We are currently developing a new National Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland. As part of this work, we are reviewing the information and evidence we have, and need, to develop the strategy. This includes gathering data on current and projected needs for palliative care at a population level, mapping governance, services and support across Scotland, and building on our understanding of people’s experiences of palliative and end of life care.

The outputs of this work will give us a clearer picture of the delivery and accessibility of palliative care across Scotland, and will inform a new strategy that reflects what really matters to people experiencing serious illness, dying and bereavement.

Following the Scottish Government’s 2020 consultation on the regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures (that pierce or penetrate the skin), officials are working on introducing secondary legislation to enable HIS to regulate independent healthcare services, including non-surgical cosmetic procedures, provided by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from premises other than registered pharmacies, and/or which are provided outwith the terms of NHS contracts.

In addition, officials are engaging with the UK Department of Health and Social Care in regard to their recent consultation and working with stakeholders including healthcare professionals, hair and beauty industry representatives and Environmental Health Officers to consider the potential scope of further regulation in Scotland.

As the Deputy First Minister set out in her Budget Statement on 19 December 2023, the financial position across Scottish Government is extremely challenging and work is ongoing to identify measures to address the continued challenges in 2024-25 and beyond.

Integration Joint Boards are responsible for the governance, planning, and resourcing of adult palliative care services, including hospices, using the integrated budget under their control. We will therefore continue to work with Integration Joint Boards and independent hospices to explore solutions and options for longer term sustainable planning and commissioning for the independent hospice sector.

The Scottish Government recognises that Social Isolation and Loneliness is a public health issue, which has been exacerbated because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue to be affected by the ongoing cost crisis.

The Social Isolation and Loneliness Strategy, and associated delivery plan, highlights a number of actions we are taking to tackle this public health issue, including funding support to 53 organisations across Scotland delivering community-led activity that responds to local needs. Priority groups targeted by the Fund are young people (aged 16-24), disabled people, people with a mental health condition, older people (aged 75+) and people living in areas of deprivation or on a low income.

Since 2021, we have invested £51m in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults, with 3,300 grants being made to local organisations across Scotland to tackle issues including social isolation. This complements action underway funding 53 community organisations who are delivering befriending services and providing opportunities for people to connect.

This Government continues to respond to these public health issues.

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 formal transfer of care from a midwife to a health visitor will usually happen between 10-14 days after birth. Scotland's Universal Health Visiting Pathway (UHVP) also directs health visitors to utilise the antenatal contact (between 32-34 weeks of pregnancy) to commence the transition process and to initiate a joint visit with a midwife where additional need is identified.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken specific analysis of the effectiveness of these practices. However, a Scottish Government commissioned evaluation of the full UHVP (2021) found evidence that some health visitors and parents viewed the antenatal contact as crucial in building trusting relationships with families and enabling early identification and response to health needs.

The Scottish Government routinely discusses a range of matters with the Bank, including its approach to governance, risk and procedures for managing conflicts of interest. The Bank’s investment decisions are overseen by an Investment Committee who rigorously and objectively assess each business case on its commercial merits.

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.