Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of prosecutions for livestock theft.

The Criminal Proceedings in Scotland database does not contain details on the type of item(s) stolen, therefore we are unable to identify how many thefts involve livestock.

The Scottish Government has made £100,000 available for 2022-23 for tests-of-change to improve care co-ordination for people living with rare diseases.

Our Bridge to a Scottish Genomics Strategy project focused on expanding our genomics capabilities to support the diagnosis and treatment of rare and inherited disease. This was a key programme for government commitment for 2017-18, and £4.2 million was made available to NHS National Services Division over 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. A further extension of the Bridge was agreed in 202-/22 with a further £2.3 million made available.While the work of the Bridge has concluded, we have announced a significant increase in the genomics budget for 2022-23, rising to £6.2 million. This funding will support the sustainability of the successes from the Bridge as well as expanding our genomics capabilities further into cancer.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government has made available over £600,000 since 2019-20 to Public Health Scotland for the development of the Congenital Anomalies and Rare Diseases Registration and Information Service for Scotland (CARDRISS). A further £169,000 will be provided for 2022-23. The registry will become operational in this financial year. Discussions are ongoing with Public Health Scotland in expanding the registry’s functionality to support our wider endeavours for rare disease.

While the above sets out discreet funding to support those with a rare disease, many of our wider health priorities will equally contribute and deliver improved care for those living with a rare disease.

As stated in the Business Ventilation Fund Guidance published on 23 November 2021, the deadline for works to be completed was 31 March 2022, as the budget for this fund was only available for financial year 2021-22.

The Scottish Government extended the deadline for submitting claims to 15 April 2022 to allow businesses to get works done and provide the paperwork required for claims to be made.

The Scottish Government will evaluate the impact of the Business Ventilation Fund and consider more widely how organisations can be supported to improve ventilation in their premises.

NHS boards are provided with monthly reports on the activity levels of practices providing NHS activity. We have set out through NHS Boards action plans for those practices with lower levels of activity with the intention of seeing substantial increases from them in the immediate future.

The current arrangements, which were implemented at the start of the pandemic, will remain in place. The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the provision of early medical abortion at home, and expects to make an announcement on this soon.

These are the directly funded clinical academic fellowships (CAF) and Senior Clinical Academic Fellowships (SCAF) awarded by the Chief Scientist Office since 2012.

Whilst there is no legal definition of elder abuse, the World Health Organisation has defined it as ‘a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person' ( Elder abuse (who.int) ). They note this can cover several types of violence, including but not limited to physical, sexual, psychological and financial abuse or neglect.

In general the Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on levels of elder abuse, as the Official Statistics on police recorded crime and criminal proceedings do not include details on whether the victim was an older person, or their relationship to the perpetrator. Police Scotland are in the process of introducing a new system to record crime, which once fully operational may allow for more detailed analysis within Scotland’s recorded crime statistics (including victim age for each type of crime committed). Going forward, statisticians will keep users of crime statistics informed of developments, as the new system rolls out during 2022 and 2023.

Some information on the age of victims and their relationship to perpetrators is available from topic based Official Statistics, including for example police recorded Domestic Abuse and Homicide. In 2020-21, victims of domestic abuse aged 60 and over had a rate of 12 incidents per 10,000 population (compared to 119 incidents for all ages). This has remained broadly stable over the past five years. Between 2016-17 and 2020-21 there were 36 victims of homicide in Scotland aged 60 or over. Of these, over two-thirds (69% or 25 victims) were known to the perpetrator (including partners or ex-partners, relatives and acquaintances). Furthermore the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) can provide estimates of some measures by age, however this only covers adults living in private households and excludes other settings such as care homes. In 2019/20, 6.9% of those aged 60 and over experienced crime in Scotland (including those not reported to the police), compared to 11.9% for all aged 16 plus. The victimisation rate for those aged over 60 has shown no change since 2014/15.

Some data is also available from the Care Inspectorate, which operates a complaints procedure for registered care services. For example in 2019/20 there were 35 upheld complaints about protection of people in care homes for older people. Further information on this process is provided in Care Inspectorate reports Complaints Annual Report 2019-20 final 12012021 (1).pdf (careinspectorate.com) and their published board papers (June 2021) Board_1706202_Final_Published.pdf (careinspectorate.com) .

The Scottish Budget for 2022-23 confirms funding of £4 million to deliver the Young Patients Family Fund.

While the Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally have responsibility for both service delivery and people’s care. NHS Boards are expected to ensure that patients, including those who require care and support for ME/CFS, have access to a range of professionals to provide the appropriate management of their condition.

We recently commissioned an independent organisation to engage with third sector and clinical stakeholders and people with lived experience, to discuss how we move forward in implementing the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) guideline recommendations on ME/CFS in Scotland, and in identifying priorities for service improvement. We are currently preparing to publish the final stakeholder consultation report and are considering its findings.

I was pleased to meet with #MEAction Scotland representatives in March 2022, to hear their views on improving the access to care and support for people affected by the condition.

The Scottish Government, through the Chief Scientist Office and NHS Research Scotland, has invested approximately £40 million per year in clinical research infrastructure since 2012. This funding supports Health Boards, researchers, clinicians and industry to improve the quality, efficiency, coordination and impact of clinical research, and provides state of the art facilities to conduct clinical trials.