The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. The funding and commissioning of specialist and general palliative and end of life care services, including workforce planning and allocating resources for staffing, is a matter for Integration Joint Boards. A wide range of specialist and generalist staff in hospitals, care homes, primary care, social care, hospices and the third sector, will be involved in providing palliative care to people and their families.

An underlying principle of the new National Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Scotland being developed will be equitable and timely access to palliative care as needed, by each person of any age, living with any illness, in all places.

The Strategy Steering Group has established a number of working groups to address priorities, including a Workforce, Education, Training and Resources Working Group, to support the workforce and ensure care is delivered by a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency workforce that is trained, skilled, valued and supported.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

On 7 August 2023 the prison population was 7859. A breakdown is provided below in relation to the accommodation the individuals were located in:

• 4800 people were accommodated alone in a cell intended to accommodate one person;
• 165 people were accommodated alone in a cell that is designed to be double occupancy;
• 1098 people were accommodated in a cell, or dormitory, intended for more than one person; and
• 1796 people were accommodated with another person in a cell intended for one person.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are responsible for managing all training provided to doctors in Scotland. NES ensure that all doctors receive high quality training in line with curricula that is set by the relevant Medical Royal College so that they are able to demonstrate that they have met all GMC curricular requirements, in order to practise independently as a GP in the UK.

The General Practice Specialty Training (GPST) programme lasts for 3 years with trainees typically spending 18 months in General Practice and 18 months in secondary care i.e. hospital settings.

All GP practices receive funding for protected time consisting of one session a month (usually within practice time) to allow GPs to maintain and develop their training and skills, and those of their practice teams.

Training currently provided to GPs on the diagnosis and treatment of UTIs include:

1. Educational activities during the first year of training under most GP Speciality Trainees (GPSTs), such as: tutorials, case based discussions, post consultation prescribing checks and referral reviews that are undertaken by their GP educational supervisors.

2. Management of UTI’s (uncomplicated lower UTI’s in females) in primary care also occurs through the Scottish Pharmacy First initiative. https://www.nss.nhs.scot/publications/pharmacy-first-scotland-urinary-tract-infection-uti/ .

3. The RCGP ‘Being a General Practitioner’ Curriculum Guide ( https://www.rcgp.org.uk/mrcgp-exams/gp-curriculum/clinical-topic-guides#kidney ) section on Kidney and Urology includes: Urinary tract infections in children and in adults including lower urinary tract infection, pyelonephritis and persistent/recurrent infection There are questions based on this clinical topic guide within the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) and Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA- OSCE style exam) which form essential components of the MRCGP exam.

4. SIGN 160: “Management of suspected bacterial lower urinary tract infection in adult women. A national clinical guideline. September 2020” is a readily available resource for all GPs in Scotland.

5. All GP practices receive an annual prescribing report which focusses on antibiotic prescribing and review of current guidelines on management of UTI’s in primary care. Each Health board has its own guidance - see below:

https://www.clinicalguidelines.scot.nhs.uk/nhsggc-guidelines/nhsggc-guidelines/emergency-medicine/diagnosis-treatment-and-management-of-uti-in-children-rhc-glasgow/

https://handbook.ggcmedicines.org.uk/guidelines/infections/urinary-tract-infections-utis/

6. Evaluation of the impact of Scottish Reduction in Antimicrobial Prescribing (ScRAP) programme on GP Practice management of patients with suspected UTI – is an example of initiatives regularly offered to GP practices to review their antibiotic prescribing. GPs through annual appraisal have to demonstrate annual QI initiatives and many include antibiotic prescribing in UTI’s and compliance with local and national guidelines.

7. Common reference sources used by GPs (GP notebook, NICE CKS guidelines, BNF, BMJ best practice) all have comprehensive sections on management of UTI in adults and children.

I refer the member to the question S6W-20677 on 13 September 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

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table details the average occupancy, the design capacity and the average occupancy rate of each prison for July 2023:

Barnett consequentials are not ring-fenced for a particular purpose or allocated on an individual basis, rather the totality of funds available to the Scottish Government are considered for allocation in the Scottish Budget and subsequent revisions. The 2023-24 Scottish Budget document, which was laid before parliament on 15 December 2022 provided detail of all commitments funded from within that overall Budget envelope.

In-year changes to budgets, including allocation of any additional Barnett consequentials that have accrued since the Budget was laid will be set out in forthcoming Budget Revisions documents.

The Scottish Government responded to:

(a) 2843 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2019

(b) 2864 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2020

(c) 3609 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2021

(d) 4031 Freedom of Information requests within the statutory time limit in 2022

A full breakdown of the total number and value of contracts awarded to consulting companies covering the last five fiscal years for the Scottish Government only, is provided in the following table.

Operational decisions on the number and location of appliances to keep communities safe are entirely a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) Board and Chief Officer.

SFRS has made changes to the number and location of fire appliances in Fife based on robust data and a comprehensive assessment of risk.