Chamber and committees

In summer 2022, Scottish Government commissioned a social research company, The Lines Between, to recruit and engage a diverse cross-section of people with chronic pain across Scotland. The Lines Between were selected by means of a competitive Invitation to Tender (ITT) process, which is a formal, open and recognised SG process, for which their submission was the highest scoring entry. Recruitment of the panel was undertaken by The Lines Between and their recruitment partner Taylor McKenzie.

The total cost of the contract was £40,000 exclusive of VAT. The Scottish Government made no direct payments to Taylor McKenzie or the members of the Panel for this work.

The cost of formatting the report for publication on the Scottish Government website was £516.58.

The Pain Panel has carried out a second exercise on the chronic pain information held on the NHS Inform website. This report will be published shortly on the Scottish Government webpage

As introduced, Section 3 of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill requires Ministers to put and keep in place arrangements for the purpose of monitoring and improving the quality of the services that the NCS provides. Ministers intend to put in place arrangements for reporting on social care data nationally and locally.

In addition, Section 36 of the Bill as introduced, enables Scottish Ministers to set up a statutory scheme through regulations to permit data sharing for the efficient and effective provision of services by, or on behalf of, the NCS and the NHS. Section 37 of the Bill as introduced enables Scottish Ministers to produce information standards setting out how information is to be processed.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults is distributed through by Third Sector Interfaces (TSI) across all regions of Scotland, who deliver the Fund locally to grassroots community organisations, in partnership with others including Health and Social Care Partnerships, local councils and people with lived experience. This ensures that the Fund, is able to respond to local needs and circumstances, whilst adhering to national guidance. This will continue to be the case in 2023-24.

The share of the fund that each TSI receives is calculated by using the National Resource Allocation Formula (NRAC) to ensure a fair distribution of the fund.

Timing of local fund processes including award decisions will vary across regions, with each TSI led partnership agreeing their own process and timetable. Information on how to apply for this year’s funding will be accessible in due course on the TSI Scotland website . All TSIs will have distributed funding no later than 31 March 2024.

Section 3.5 of the Ministerial code sets out that when Parliament is meeting, Ministers should ensure that important announcements of Government policy are made, in the first instance, to the Parliament.

The Scottish Government has not used Facebook to recruit paid patient representatives for any health projects.

As Circularity Scotland is a private company, support arrangements they have with their members is a matter for them and it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to intervene in such commercial arrangements between private companies. We are grateful to all businesses for the investment they have made in preparing for the launch of the deposit return scheme and this investment will be important for the success of the scheme when it launches on 1 March.

The Scottish Government has clear standards for the quality of care across our health and social care services and the safety, protection and wellbeing of residents and staff in our care home sector is a priority. We have for each of the last three years provided NHS Highland with funding of £864,800 per year to support their enhanced oversight and support of local care homes to encourage quality improvement and sustainability, and we recently confirmed further funding for 2023-24.

Ultimately the commissioning and provisioning of care home services for local communities to meet needs rests with NHS Highland and the Highland Council. The Scottish Government is in regular contact with NHS Highland, the Highland Council, and providers of social care to understand the challenges they are facing which include the impact of care home closures across the system.

The average response time (in days) for the Office of the Public Guardian to process (a) Electronic Power of Attorney Registration (EPOAR) submissions and (b) postal power of attorney requests in 2022-23 now that the financial year is complete is as follows (the table also indicates average figures for previous years):

The Scottish Government recently advertised for an Optometric Advisor position. Following a competitive recruitment exercise no offer of appointment was made. The Government remains committed to filling this post as a priority and is currently exploring options to achieving this.

The Scottish Government does not hold records for all mobile phones purchased in the last 5 years as they are purchased by individual business areas and agencies to meet their requirements. However, our central mobile voice & data contract which will be used by the majority of staff, does not have provision to purchase pre-paid mobile phones.