Chamber and committees

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) announced a ‘.. review of how best to significantly increase the number of social enterprises, employee-owned businesses and co-operatives in Scotland, supporting regional regeneration and the wealth of local communities’ .

The review is ongoing and is led by an independent stakeholder group. It is anticipated that the work will complete, with findings and recommendations published, in Spring 2024.

The Scottish Government has made no payments to P&O Ferries since 17 March 2022.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) support the development and delivery of healthcare education and training for the NHS, health and social care sector and other public bodies. This includes the development of best practice guidelines as appropriate.

With regards to GP receptionists, NES published the Core Competency Framework for General Practice Administration Staff and Practice Managers in September 2023, which includes an accompanying learning needs analysis tools and training packages.

Transport Scotland is still engaged in positive dialogue with the housing developer to agree a way forward for access through Ferrymuir Gait. An exact timescale for concluding this matter cannot be provided. However, Transport Scotland is pressing the developer to ensure that the previously communicated timescale of Spring 2024 is achieved.

The Primary Care Multi-Disciplinary team may include local physiotherapy services, community mental health services and community links worker services. These services can often be seen safely and effectively without a prior GP referral.

Through our Phased Investment Programme, which will strengthen the evidence base on the national context for implementation of primary care multidisciplinary teams, we will consider any existing barriers to effective multidisciplinary team working, including any barriers regarding patient pathways to services.

The Scottish Government does not hold details of the Scottish Maritime Cluster Limited's current membership.

The Cluster's contact details, and information about their membership, can be found on their webpage: www.scottishmaritimecluster.com

Scottish Government statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Code of Practice states that statistics producers should routinely review the relevance and usefulness of statistics, including the timeliness of the statistics and data.

The Code of Practice also requires statistics producers to maintain and refresh their understanding of the use and potential use of statistics, and that they regularly engage with users. This is to ensure that statistics support the public good, which includes the development and evaluation of public policy.

The application of the Code of Practice in Scottish Government is overseen by the Chief Statistician, with decisions about particular collections and publications made on a case-by-case by the responsible statisticians.

The Scottish Government has no plans to create specific funding commitments for the research priorities identified in the report of the JLA PSP on ME/CFS

Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

The CSO's Translational Clinical Studies (TCS) Committee and Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research (HIPS) Committee each meet twice per year to consider funding applications. Details of the application process are published on the CSO website.

https://www.cso.sc ot.nhs.uk/grant-funding/response-mode-funding-schemes/

Applications on the underlying causes, diagnosis, treatment and management of ME/CFS are welcomed. Any such applications would go through CSO's standard independent expert review process to allow funding decisions to be made.

Through UK-wide funding agreements, researchers based in Scotland are able to access research funding programmes administered by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR). Within their individual remits, these programmes can consider applications for research in ME/CFS. CSO is working with the health research community in Scotland to ensure awareness of these opportunities and to maximise the number of high quality applications from Scotland to the NIHR research funding programmes going forward.

Figures provided by Ofcom.org.uk, show that, as of September 2023, 98% of premises in the Clydebank and Milngavie constituency could access fixed line superfast broadband.

This is, in part, thanks to publicly-funded digital programmes which have connected around one million properties across Scotland to fibre broadband to date, with the vast majority receiving superfast speeds. This includes the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme, which delivered over 10,000 connections in the constituency of Clydebank and Milngavie.

Our Scottish Government commitment to deliver 100% superfast broadband across Scotland is delivered through the three strands of activity that make up the Reaching 100% (R100) programme – the three R100 contracts (North, Central and South), our demand-led R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) and the ongoing expansion of commercial coverage including newly emerging technologies such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connections.

As a result, all homes and businesses should now be able to access superfast broadband.

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly.