Chamber and committees

I discussed the subject of the HSE improvement notice at a meeting with the SFRS Chair and Chief Officer on 6 March. I received and welcome the reassurances provided that SFRS is committed to addressing the concerns raised through the formation of a working group to ensure robust management of actions planned to meet the requirements of the improvement notice. SFRS is engaging with HSE, local councillors, staff and unions on this subject.

The recently passed Scottish Budget for 2025-26 includes £412.2 million for SFRS, £47m of which is capital funding. In terms of capital funding this is a £4 million increase over 2025-26 which will allow SFRS to continue to invest in better facilities, property, fleet and equipment. Operational decisions on the allocation of resources are a matter for the SFRS board and Chief Officer.

The 85% funding floor is a key element of the needs-based distribution formula that is discussed and agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities each year.

To apply the 85% funding floor, the Scottish Government first calculates the total funding in the Local Government Finance settlement, per person, for each local authority and for Scotland as a whole. The total funding includes General Revenue Grant, Non-Domestic Rates, Specific Grants, and an Assumed Council Tax level of £911 at Band D.

Funding for all local authorities in Scotland is included in the calculation of the 85% Floor although the contribution of the three island councils and Argyll and Bute to the average calculation, is capped at 115%.

The capping adjustment has no effect on funding actually provided to those four authorities and it only applies for the purpose of calculating the average, in part to mitigate the risk that the Special Islands Needs Allowance (SINA) has a distortive impact on the calculation.

The weighted average including these adjusted figures is then calculated to obtain a new Scotland average. As the local authorities with more than 115% of the Scotland total are small, the capping adjustment does not have a significant impact on the calculated average.

If any local authorities’ per-head support is less than 85% of this adjusted average, additional funding is provided to lift that local authority up to the 85% floor.

Local Government Finance officials would be happy to meet with you to discuss the calculation in more detail, if required.

Women’s Health is a priority for this government which is why Scotland was the first country in the UK to publish a Women’s Health Plan in August 2021.

Women’s health encompasses a wide range of topics and conditions and the areas of focus for the next phase of the Women’s Health Plan are still to be determined.

Timely access to gynaecology services will be a priority, and early discussions indicate pelvic health and optimising future health as potential areas of focus.

We have also started work to bring together an updated evidence base and gather views from women and girls, and from our stakeholders. Future aims and priorities are being developed in collaboration with them and alongside the most up-to-date evidence base.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that anyone living with arthritis is able to access the best possible care and support. We expect health care professionals and NHS Boards to deliver high quality person-centred care to those living with arthritis in line with best practice guidance. The NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) clinical guidelines on management of arthritis are available on its website and can be found at: Arthritis | Topic | NICE.

We will work collaboratively with other partners, including the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD), to ensure there are appropriate pathways for women with arthritis.

The Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier One process is designed to provide an opportunity for clinicians, on a case by case basis for individual patients, to request the use of a licensed ultra-orphan medicine that is not recommended by the Scottish Medicine Consortium (SMC).

The PACS Tier Two process is designed to provide an opportunity for clinicians, on a case by case basis for individual patients, to request the use of a licensed medicine (other than an ultra-orphan medicine) that:

• is a medicine for an indication that has been considered and not recommended by the SMC for routine use in NHS Scotland; or
• is a medicine accepted for restricted use by the SMC but the intended use is out with the SMC restrictions; or
• is a medicine which has been submitted to the SMC and is awaiting/undergoing evaluation.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that anyone living with pain is able to access the best possible care and support. Through our commitment to deliver the actions outlined in our Pain Management Service Delivery Framework implementation plan we are seeking to amplify the voices of people who may face inequality on the basis of their sex. We will work collaboratively with other partners to ensure there are appropriate pathways for women with pain and painful conditions.

The Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) decisions are clinical decisions taken independently of Ministers and Parliament and remain a matter for Health Boards.

There is a requirement for Health Boards to maintain accurate and up to date information on PACS Tier Two requests and their outcomes. Health Boards are required to capture and share data as retrospective in confidence summary reports with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The data is retained for internal management purposes only and is not formally validated.

The Scottish Government does not routinely disclose the content or source of any legal advice it has received on any topic or whether it has received any legal advice.

The Scottish Government does not routinely disclose the content or source of any legal advice it has received on any topic or whether it has received any legal advice.

There is a requirement for Health Boards to maintain accurate and up to date information on PACS Tier Two requests and their outcomes. The Scottish Government does not hold validated data on the number of PACS applications that Health Boards have granted. This information would need to be requested from Health Boards directly.

Health Boards are required to capture and share data as retrospective “in confidence” summary reports with the Scottish Government on a quarterly basis. The data received by Scottish Government are retained for internal management purposes only and are not formally validated.

Notably, the majority of collated PACS Tier Two requests are for fewer than five medicines; and data for numbers fewer than five are deemed to be patient identifiable and cannot be published.