Chamber and committees

The latest data reported from Health Boards indicates that £320.06 was the average amount claimed through the Young Patients Family Fund in 2022-23. This data relates to all but one territorial Health Board, NHS Borders. The Scottish Government is working with NHS Borders to ensure 2022-23 data is recorded appropriately.

The Scottish Government Published the Stroke Improvement Plan in June 2023, which considers the recommendations made in the Progressive Stroke Pathway and sets out the Scottish Government Policy on Stroke. An update on the recommendations made in section 5 of the Progressive Stroke Pathway, produced by the National Advisory Committee for Stroke (NACS), is as follows.

Awareness raising:

• Priority two of The Stroke Improvement Plan, published June 14, 2023, commits the Scottish Government to establishing the current degree of public understanding of stroke symptoms and the action required, and whether certain at-risk groups require different messaging.
• The Stroke Improvement Plan also commits the Scottish Government to supporting the delivery of Face, Arms, Speech, Time (FAST) campaigns, ensuring this messaging reaches all at-risk groups.
• We will work with third sector organisations and health marketing colleagues to consider the most effective way of raising public awareness, including the less common symptoms of stroke

Pre-hospital assessment:

• The Stroke Improvement Plan commits Scottish Government to supporting Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) in exploring the feasibility of using video call technology prior to arrival of ambulance resource to diagnose hyperacute strokes more accurately.
• SAS is progressing the development of a quality improvement initiative for operational ambulance crews to receive clinical feedback regarding diagnostic accuracy and the application of FAST.
• Work being undertaken to re-align NHS24 and SAS clinical pathways for suspected stroke patients to ensure consistent levels of response in-line with Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) coding.
• In collaboration with NHS Tayside, SAS is progressing work to evaluate the use of the Los Angeles Motor Scale (LAMS) stroke screening tool.
• SAS is undertaking a comprehensive review of linked clinical data to understand link between clinical outcomes and priority dispatch coding, to ensure the most appropriate use of resources for patients most likely to benefit from thrombolysis and/or thrombectomy.

Appropriate referral:

• The appropriate referral of patients experiencing stroke events, including those with acute ongoing symptoms, resolved symptoms and stroke-like events remains the responsibility of clinicians managing their care.
• Through the National Thrombectomy Planning Board (NTPB) work is being undertaken to ensure there is a robust process for appropriate referrals of patients who may benefit from thrombectomy procedures in one of the three thrombectomy hubs across Scotland.

Driving advice and secondary prevention:

• Since the publication of the Progressive Stroke Pathway, the criteria by which NHS Boards’ stroke service provision is assessed in Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme reviews has been expanded.
• NHS Boards should be able to demonstrate that the provision of tailored driving and return to driving advice is embedded in their stroke service.
• The revised Scottish Stroke Improvement programme review criteria stipulate that NHS Boards should be able to demonstrate that TIA services ensure the provision of driving advice to all patients.
• The revised Scottish Stroke Improvement programme review criteria also stipulate that NHS Boards should demonstrate pathways in place for the commencement of appropriate secondary prevention in patients presenting with TIA or minor stroke.
• We will work with third sector organisations and health marketing colleagues to consider the most effective way of raising public awareness, including the less common symptoms of stroke

Ensuring healthcare professionals have the appropriate knowledge and understanding to provide care to the required standard remains the responsibility of local NHS Boards.

To monitor the provision of education within stroke services, the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme reviews ask NHS Boards to demonstrate how they are actively upskilling and maintaining the knowledge of their stroke workforce. The criteria for demonstrating the development of a skilled and knowledgeable stroke workforce have been expanded, based on recommendations made in the Progressive Stroke Pathway. The full criteria can be found in Annex A of the Stroke Improvement Plan at: Stroke Improvement Plan .

Data in relation to the Young Patients Family Fund is not routinely published however, latest information for 2022-23 shows that 8,415 claims were submitted under YPFF and that this equated to 3,740 young inpatients being claimed for.

This information was provided in answer to parliamentary question S6W-17130 on 17 May 2023 on and it continues to be the latest position with 13 of 14 territorial Health Boards having provided relevant information to the Scottish Government. NHS Borders are yet to provide a YPFF data return for 2022-23 and the Scottish Government is working with them to ensure 2022-23 data is recorded appropriately.

The draft route map to achieving a 20% reduction in car km by 2030, published in January 2022, outlines over 30 interventions across all parts of government to support people reduce their reliance on cars for a fairer, safer, and greener Scotland. The route map is designed to be as inclusive as possible for disabled people’s mobility and access needs, but it recognises that there will be some who cannot reduce their car use, or for whom it will be more challenging.

Just transition considerations run through the route map and reducing the volume of private vehicles on the road can have a number of wider benefits, including helping to create space and improve journey times for those where travel is more car-dependent, such as blue badge holders, buses, the emergency services and freight. Supported by the Transport Just Transition Discussion Paper , published in June 2023, engagement is being undertaken over the Summer, including with disabled people, to co-design the forthcoming draft Transport Just Transition Plan, embedding evidence of protected groups in order to tackle existing inequalities.

I further refer the member to the answer to questions S6O-02079 on 29 March 2023 and S6W-20314 on 28 August 2023.

The answer to the Oral question can be found on the official report and the link can be accessed here: Meeting of the Parliament: 29/03/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

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

Latest information from the Annual Population Survey (April 2022 to Mar 2023) shows that there are 28,300 people in Scotland who are unemployed for 12 months or more and therefore are long term unemployed.

Through No One Left Behind, we are transforming the employability system to be more responsive in meeting the needs of people and adapting to rapidly changing labour markets. The number of people starting support through No One Left Behind has continued to increase year on year, from 2,818 in year 1 (April 2019 – March 2020) to 17,667 in year 4 (April 2022 – March 2023).

From 1 April 2024, following the end of referrals to Fair Start Scotland in March 2024, employability support for disabled people and those at risk of long-term unemployment will also be provided through No One Left Behind. This is a key step to simplify the employability system in line with ambitions set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation to eradicate structural barriers to labour market participation. Learning and evaluation continues to underpin our ambitions. The Implementation Evaluation of No One Left Behind and the Young Person’s Guarantee was published on 10 August, which offers valuable insight on how we continue to build upon the strengths of local delivery and good practice.

The Scottish Government recognises that social prescribing can be an effective method of improving an individual’s physical, mental and social health. It plays an important role in helping us achieve our commitment to prevention, holistic care and Realistic Medicine. Our Primary Care Community Link Worker programme has been in place since 2014 and a 2017 commitment to create 250 Community Link Worker posts in general practice has been achieved.

Due to the wide range of activity which is described as social prescribing, there are many Scottish Government policies and resources which play a role in supporting its delivery. For example, we recognise the important role played by local organisations in supporting the health and wellbeing of their communities and we are working with the community and voluntary sector to look at how we can enhance the capacity of the sector to help those organisations address the challenges they face. The ongoing development by the ALLIANCE of the ALISS online database helps to provide information on community resources and our Green Health Partnership programme led by NatureScot helps to promote the connection between health and the natural environment.

The Scottish Government has invested significantly in social prescribing through Community Link Workers within general practice. Funding for Community Link Workers in general practice is included within the Primary Care Improvement Fund. Health and Social Care Partnerships decide how to use their Primary Care Improvement Fund allocation to develop local Multi-Disciplinary Teams which incorporate link worker roles.

The Scottish Government also provides funding to Voluntary Health Scotland to manage the Scottish Community Link Worker Network. The aim of the network is to create a space for community link workers in primary care settings in Scotland to come together to share learning and to develop, network and support each other in order to improve outcomes for their patients and communities. Funding is also provided to the Scottish Social Prescribing Network to support those who are undertaking link worker/social prescribing roles in other local schemes.

The £28 million fund has been launched for England and Wales only. The Scottish Government is not expecting any new Barnett consequential funding. We remain committed to preventing and tackling hate crime, including religiously motivated hate crime. The Scottish Government’s recently published Hate Crime Strategy makes a number of commitments including continued investment in raising awareness, improved support for victims and increased efforts in prevention.

We continue to work with Police Scotland and others to safeguard all communities and potentially vulnerable people and sites. We would encourage organisations with concerns about their security or the safety of their members to contact Police Scotland.

The Hate Crime Security Fund was established as a one-off fund in response to the March 2019 Christchurch terror attacks. This met a government commitment to provide a £500,000 fund for security measures for Places of Worship in Scotland, announced on 27 January 2020.

The Scottish Government continues to invest in raising awareness, encouraging reporting and prevention in order to tackle hate crime in Scotland. There are no plans to launch another security funding scheme for places of worship in Scotland.

We continue to work with Police Scotland and others to safeguard all communities and potentially vulnerable people and sites. We would encourage organisations with concerns about their security or the safety of their members to contact Police Scotland.