Chamber and committees

The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”) obliges Integration Authorities to publish an annual performance report setting out an assessment of performance in planning and carrying out the integration functions for which they are responsible. The content of these reports is prescribed in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Content of Performance Reports) Regulations 2014 which states that the reports must include an assessment of performance in relation to the national health and wellbeing outcomes.

Under the 2014 Act, the Health Board and the local authority must provide such information as the Integration Authority might reasonably require for the purposes of preparing a performance report to the Integration Joint Board or the authority as appropriate to the model of integration chosen.

The most recent instance of Scottish Ministers declining to consent to a first grant of temporary release of a life sentence prisoner was in January 2018, where the Minister indicated that on the basis of the information presented in regard to the individual, they were not willing to give consent.

It would not be appropriate to publish information regarding the circumstances of an individual prisoner.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17450 on 11 May 2023. 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 .

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund has received various applications from local authorities and registered social landlords (RSLs) since its inception in 2020.

To date the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund has received 65 applications since 2020 for capital funding, of which 55 applications have been awarded funding. 10 applications have been rejected, invited to resubmit following feedback or have been referred to alternative funding sources.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund also funds a stream of pre-capital projects for development funding and has received 20 applications for development funding, with 12 applications being funded, and 8 being rejected, invited to resubmit or referred to alternative funding sources.

The Scottish Government has worked collaboratively with partners, patients and third sector organisations in recent months to develop a ten year cancer strategy for Scotland.

Due to publish Spring 2023, the strategy will take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways, from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. It aims to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible, care across Scotland, including those affected by brain cancer.

A new earlier diagnosis vision will feature within the strategy and will include similar actions to those outlined in The Brain Tumour Charity’s report. This includes continuing to deliver our Detect Cancer Earlier Programme, working with primary care clinicians to ensure they have direct access to diagnostic tests and quality education sources; optimal cancer diagnostic pathways are designed and implemented across NHS Scotland; and public campaigns educate and empower those with possible symptoms to act early.

We continue to invest in our Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme, of which public education and empowerment is a key work-stream. We launched a new campaign – Be the Early Bird – in March 2023 to empower those with possible symptoms to act early.

We will continue to work with the Scottish Cancer Coalition, as well as the primary care community, to raise awareness of possible symptoms. Work is also underway to redesign DCE’s website (getcheckedearly.org) – this will reflect brain tumour content moving forward, including signposting to The Brain Tumour Charity.

The recent Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) includes funding of £4.2 billion for Operations, Maintenance and Renewals for the rail network in Scotland. The budget for railway enhancements is not included in the SoFA. This aligns with the Department for Transport SoFA for Control Period 7 (April 2024 – March 2029), which did not include enhancements funds.

Scottish Government Officials will attend the Sustainable Aquaculture Summit on 16 and 17 May 2023, including participating in a scheduled panel discussion at the event: ‘ Delivering the Scottish Governments Vision for the blue economy ’.

Integration Authorities (IAs) are required to prepare and publish an annual performance report to demonstrate performance against the national health and wellbeing outcomes. In order to demonstrate performance, IAs use the core suite of integration indicators which includes a measure of the proportion of care services graded ‘good’ (4) or better in Care Inspectorate inspections.

All social care services, including those provided by local authorities, are regulated and inspected by the Care Inspectorate. The results of these inspections are published on the Care Inspectorate’s website.

Social care providers also provide a range of information which is used to collate publications of official statistics by the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS). Scottish Government official statistics are available via the following link Health and social care analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This includes Free Personal and Nursing Care, Social Care Eligibility and Waiting Times, and Carers Census statistics. PHS official statistics releases include: Insights in Social Care, the Scottish Care Home Census, Delayed Discharges and Care at Home Demand ( Publications - Public Health Scotland ).

The Scottish Government welcomes the continued and significant benefit that horseracing brings to the Scottish economy, providing investment, tourism, and jobs in communities across Scotland. The annual review recently produced by Scottish Racing, clearly demonstrates this and the forecasted growth in the industry is hugely encouraging.

The Scottish Government was pleased to be able to support Scotland’s racecourses who were impacted so severely by Covid-19 and we look forward to working with Scottish Racing going forward to maximise the benefits the industry brings.