Chamber and committees

The exact data requested is not held. The Cancer Waiting Times data does not report on average waits, however median waits are reported. The information below is for urological cancers and is provided both for 62-day and 31-day standard. The 62-day standard refers to ‘urgent’ referrals only and waiting times are from ‘urgent’ referral to the start of their first treatment for a newly diagnosed cancer. The 31-day standard is for ‘all’ referrals and waiting times are from the decision to treat to the start of their first treatment for a newly diagnosed cancer. Please note: the waiting times for 62-day and 31-day standards are not comparable as both standards refer to different cohorts of patients.

The Median length of wait between referral to first treatment (62-day standard) for urology cancers in 2017 was 49 days, 47 days in 2018, 45 days in 2019, 39 days in 2020 and 44 days in 2021.

The Median length of wait between decision to treat and first treatment (31-day standard) for urology cancers in 2017 was 12 days, 13 days in 2018, 11 days in 2019, 8 days in 2020 and 11 in 2021.

To note the median values for the year 2021 are based on the data that has already been published i.e. data for the months of January- September 2021.

The member is referred to the answers to S6W-05473 on 24 January 2022 and S6W-06312 on 21 February 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

The Scottish Government has set up a Commission to undertake a review of learning in Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture sectors, to provide opportunities and qualifications through early years, school, college, university and work-based learning - including apprenticeships - for more people, and specifically more women and young people, to work with and on the land, particularly in green skills.

This review will provide recommendations on how to attract more people into these sectors. The Commission will provide independent, evidence-based advice and recommendations to Scottish Ministers by December 2022.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland (2019-21) sets out our strategic approach to support the skills needs of the rural economy by addressing skills shortages, talent retention and attraction, and demographic challenges through enhanced work-based learning pathways and by increasing access to education and skills provision in rural areas.

The Scottish Government also provides funding support to Lantra Scotland. Lantra is the Sector Skills Council for Scotland’s land-based, aquaculture and environmental conservation sectors, aiming to ensure that these sectors can meet their skills needs and have the right people and promotion of learning opportunities for new entrants. Lantra promote the land-based sector as a rewarding career choice, and help to ensure that learning and training provision address industry requirements and skills gaps.

Lantra’s "#NoTwoDaysTheSame in Land-based and Aquaculture" provides the opportunity for school students to find out about the wide range of careers available in the land-based and aquaculture sectors and how young people can get there. It is delivered in partnership with Developing Young Workforce Live.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06217 on 16 February 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

Information on the number of diagnostic procedures performed in NHS Scotland is available on the Public Health Scotland website and can be found in the Acute Hospitals and Finance Cost Books . However, the activity data published for radiology in the Finance Cost Books is reported with elective and emergency totals combined, which does not allow us to report on elective diagnostics activity disaggregated. Further, the Acute Hospitals publication only publishes activity data on particular endoscopy tests, therefore it cannot give us a complete picture for endoscopy activity. Data on the ongoing waits of diagnostic procedures can be found in the PHS Diagnostics publication .

We have provided £29 million to support an increase in diagnostic procedures by 78,000 during the current year and expect diagnostic capacity to increase by at least 90,000 procedures per year by the end of the NHS Recovery Plan in 2025/26. This equates to 29,000 additional CT scans, 24,000 MRI scans and 25,000 additional endoscopy procedures by the end of the Plan.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the test phase of this programme. In this government’s first 100 days, we established ten pilot schemes to test how best to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models which will then be independently evaluated to help inform a national rollout. Of the mentioned council areas, Shetland is currently covered by one of the ten pilots. The pilot team in Shetland have procured their first 25 bikes, and are now preparing their distribution.

There is an existing ScotRail Stakeholder Advisory Panel on which passenger representatives sit, that will continue with the new company, and whose chair will attend the ScotRail Trains Limited Board in the same manner as they do presently.

Passenger Focus, the passenger representative body for all forms of transport in Scotland and the UK sit on the ScotRail Stakeholder Advisory Panel, along with other stakeholder representatives including various Chamber of Commerce representatives, Inclusion Scotland, representative from the Academic sector, Transport Focus and representation from Community Rail Partnerships in Scotland. The Chair of the ScotRail Stakeholder Advisory Panel, CBI’s Scotland Director, will sit on the ScotRail Trains Limited Board and provide the collective stakeholder input to Board decisions.

The Scottish Government is also launching a National Conversation to encourage passengers, rail staff and other stakeholders to play their part in shaping the future of rail passengers services in Scotland.

The information requested on what the total cost is for each NHS board of staff who are on long-term sick leave is not centrally available.

NHS Education for Scotland publish annual data on bank and agency spend for Medical & Dental and Nursing & Midwifery staff. It should be noted that there are a variety of reasons Boards may choose to deploy bank and agency staff and this does not directly represent spending associated with sickness absence.

The data can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The information requested on how many staff there are in each NHS Board who are on long-term sick leave is not centrally available.

Sickness absence rates by NHS Board can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at:

NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

This information is not held centrally.