Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has taken forward a range of measures to support the efficient delivery of Scotland’s Redress Scheme. The delivery of the scheme, in partnership with the independent decision making body Redress Scotland, is survivor led with feedback encouraged and acted upon.

Total numbers of applications to the Scottish Government are in line with modelling done prior to scheme launch. The comparatively higher level of applications submitted in the first few months reflects the large number of survivors who worked tirelessly to see the scheme open.

The scheme is open for five years and recognises the need for applicants to carefully consider their options, at their own pace. The scheme aims to empower applicants by providing information and support in order that they can decide if the scheme is right for them.

As of 31st October 2022, 1756 applications for redress have been received and 277 applications have been passed to Redress Scotland for consideration.

Of the 202 payment offers made, 178 applicants have accepted and payments totalling £8,570,168 have been made to survivors or their next of kin.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11902 on 24 November 2022. 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 .

A national oversight group responsible for a review of AHP Education and Workforce has recently concluded its work. The collaborative group involving a wide range of AHP stakeholders including professional bodies, HEIs and NHS Boards is due to report their recommendations to the Scottish Government. I will not pre-empt the recommendations of that group but look forward to receiving the suite of recommendations the group has put forward regarding the future of training and development of AHP staff.

The list of active groups and sub-groups within the Finance and Economy portfolio includes:

• Apprenticeship Approval Group (AAG)
• Business Support Partnership
• Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan - Implementation Steering Group
• Clyde Mission Strategy Group
• Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill steering Group
• Creative Industries Leadership Group
• Developing the Young Workforce Employers Forum
• Digital Collaborative Governance Group
• Economic Leadership Group
• European Structural and Investment Funds Programme Board
• European Structural and Investment Programme Monitoring Committee
• European Structural and Investment Programme Monitoring Committee Working Group
• European Structural and Information Technology Board
• Financial Services Growth and Development Board
• Flexible Workforce Development Fund Senior Strategic Group
• Foundation Apprenticeship Enhancement Group
• Green Freeports Programme Board
• Industry Leadership Chairs Group
• Innovation Strategy Steering Group
• Input-Output Expert Users Group (IOEUG)
• Lifetime Skills Offer Steering Group
• Life Sciences Scotland Group
• Ministerial Trade Board
• National Strategy for Economic Transformation Delivery Board
• National Strategy for Economic Transformation Portfolio Board
• National Strategy for Economic Transformation Skilled Workforce Programme Board
• Public Sector Network Steering Group
• Regional Economic Policy Advisory Group
• Retail Industry Leadership Group
• Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Group Board
• Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Standards And Frameworks Group
• Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Employer Engagement Group
• Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Employer Equalities Group
• Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Apprentice Engagement Group
• Scottish Business Growth Group
• Scottish Cities Alliance Chief Executive Officers Group
• Scottish Cities Alliance Delivery Group
• Scottish Cities Alliance Leadership Group
• Scottish City Region and Growth Deal Delivery Board
• Scottish Economic Statistics Consultation Group
• Scottish Government and Business Organisations Meeting
• Scottish Government Labour Market Evidence Programme
• Scottish Taskforce for Green and Sustainable Financial Services
• Skills Ministerial Group
• Strategic Leadership Group for Advanced Manufacturing
• Sub-Scotland Economic Statistics Group
• Tourism and Hospitality Industry Leadership Group
• Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo)
• Young Persons Guarantee Equalities Subgroup
• Young Persons Guarantee Employer Advisory Group
• Young Persons Guarantee Implementation Planning Group

Please note these groups will be kept under review.

Caledonian Sleeper is a subsidised Franchise. The Caledonian Sleeper Franchise is of significant social, economic and environmental value to the people of Scotland.

In accordance with Scottish Ministers franchising policy statement, appropriate assessment of a direct award to Serco Caledonian Sleepers Ltd. is being made and Ministers will inform Parliament when this assessment is concluded.

The National Audiology Review Group continues its independent review of services having most recently convened on 25 October. It will shortly be meeting with the Review’s Chair for an update on their progress and their developing recommendations.

The review is pursuing four workstreams encompassing the lived experience, governance, quality assurance and education and will fully report in the new year.

Following the publication of the review findings in December 2021, NHS Lothian has had extensive interactions with a range of professionals who work with children and young people to highlight the key findings in the report and this has included Speech and Language Therapists, Health Visitors, General Practice, Ear Nose and Throat clinicians, Community Paediatricians and teaching staff, with further communication to the Director of Education.

This has involved individual meetings with professionals as well as the development of a staff briefing document, which was widely circulated across key networks. As part of this process, those working with children who had any concerns about a child's hearing were encouraged to contact the Audiology department directly or to refer the child through the normal referral route (e.g. Health Visitor, Speech and Language, the GP, etc.).

Information has been widely disseminated through professional staff groups working directly with children and their families, with clear mechanisms for children to be referred to the Audiology department where there are concerns about their hearing. A telephone helpline was established on 9 December 2021 and this continues to be in operation to make it easy for families to make direct contact with NHS Lothian about any audiology concerns. NHS Lothian also works closely with the National Deaf Children Society to support families.

As of July 2022, 202 families have been directly contacted by NHS Lothian and offered a retest. This work is based on the timeline associated with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) investigation and the sample size of the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) review, which covers the period 2009-2018. The number of children that have now had that retest is 47, with a further 31 with an appointment date. The number of children who were retested were found after retesting to have a (new) hearing impairment is 10. Families that have not responded to the initial letter have been sent a follow up letter highlighting the importance to make contact with the service.

The Ombudsman asked for an external audit across 2009-2018 and NHS Lothian commissioned BAA to design and conduct the audit. Nearly 23000 children had been seen in this timeframe. They proposed and audited children in 7 cohorts, which were stratified for those children who were higher risk.

Cohort 1 - Any complaints made to NHS Lothian or anonymous complaints to BAA

Cohort 2 - Any child on permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) register at NHS Lothian

Cohort 3 - Any child who had been seen by the paediatric audiology service at NHS Lothian and discharged but went on the be later diagnosed with permanent hearing loss

Cohort 4 - Any child seen for ABR testing at birth and following result discharged from the service

Cohort 5 - Any child seen three or more times by the service

Cohort 6 - Any child seen for behavioural testing once by the service with no further appointments

Cohort 7 - Any child seen twice by the service then discharged with no further appointments

Of the 1,007 that were able to be reviewed (for various reasons including failed to attend, 113 children could not be reviewed) there were 120 where there were no concerns reported; 542 were reported as having minor concerns; 190 moderate concerns, and 155 with reported significant concerns. BAA defined significant concerns as those where there may have been an impact on the child’s clinical outcome. In all other audited cases, (852 cases) no impact on clinical outcome was considered likely by BAA.

The method and cohorts for the review were set by BAA, not NHS Lothian, and were designed to look particularly at cases where the child had been discharged but then was referred back in or subsequently identified with a hearing loss. At NHS Lothian's request, BAA then undertook to look at more cases from younger children or more recent years, and all children entered onto the register of permanent childhood hearing impairment.

Of the 155 cases, all have been considered by NHS Lothian and action taken. The cases have been prioritised to manage the most urgent within two main groups, those with the possibility of their current active clinical care needing to be changed (92 cases) and those where there was a clinical governance failing (63) but where the treatment was believed to be correct now. The allocation of cases into these categories were shared and agreed with the BAA and the appropriate follow up action has been undertaken by the Health Board.

• Of the 92 cases – 44 were in categories of glue ear, tinnitus and hyperacusis or without follow up and these have been clinically reviewed rather than subject to automatic recall for clinical appointments.
• Of the remaining 48 cases, 36 have attended for review
• 16 children with hearing loss have been identified through the review process

For those 63 children in whom the management by the BAA team was now felt to be correct but in whom a serious concern in the pathway to that management was identified, contact has been made with families and meetings have been offered.

With regards to any review being made public, the first set of reports from the BAA were published and are publicly available on the NHS Lothian website and also the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) website. The further review by the BAA on ABR testing over the last 5 years is not yet complete. The information is currently being reviewed to ensure that the content is accurate and that information provided to patients and families is correct. Once this work is complete, it is expected that a summary report will be discussed at NHS public Lothian’s Board meeting, the papers and minutes of which are published on NHS Lothian’s website. With regards to press releases, the Scottish Government does not hold that information, it would need to be obtained directly from NHS Lothian.

The Scottish Government keeps the income eligibility thresholds for free school meals under review and we will consider the current thresholds ahead of the start of the 2023-24 academic year. The income eligibility thresholds were most recently reviewed and updated and amended ahead of the current academic term in August 2022. Further information on eligibility criteria is available through the following web link: School meals - mygov.scot .

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of retrofitting existing buildings, as noted in our Town Centre Action Plan review and Housing to 2040 Strategy. We are aware that current VAT rules may incentivise demolition over retrofitting. However, VAT policy is currently reserved to the UK Government. As such, we have called on the UK Government to address this issue, but to no avail. We called on the UK Government to issue changes in a letter of 19 March 2021, but this request was declined in a response received in May 2021.

Funding provided to NHS Boards for Childsmile programme delivery is set out in the following table.

In addition to direct programme allocations, funding is provided to NHS Boards through the annual Outcomes Framework allocation to deliver a range of core services, including for Childsmile. The total value of this allocation for each of the five years is also set out below: