Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will only make plans to introduce any changes to the eligible age range for the bowel screening programme in Scotland if this is recommended by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC).

The UK NSC advises Ministers and the NHS in the 4 UK countries on all aspects of screening. The Committee’s recommendations are based on the latest evidence and agreed criteria for appraising the viability, effectiveness and appropriateness of a screening programme.

The current age ranges for the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme are based on the 2018 recommendation that screening for bowel cancer using the faecal-immunochemical test should be offered every 2 years to men and women between the ages of 50 and 74 in the UK.

The Scottish Government continues to stress that it is important at any age to be aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer, and to report any concerns to a GP Practice so that these can be investigated.

The Demand and Capacity programme and core principals have been designed and delivered in partnership with unions - with representatives of GMB, Unite the Union and Unison all being members of the steering group which meets monthly.

A staff engagement and consultation process, also agreed in partnership with Unions at the outset, is being conducted in all regions.

SAS continue to hold regular discussions with staff side representatives, including weekly meetings with the Project Team on this review.

The Scottish Government does not create investment plans for specific healthcare facilities in particular health board areas. The creation and implementation of such plans is properly the role of the local health board, in this case NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The Scottish Government's NHS Capital Investment Group meets on a monthly basis to consider investment proposals submitted by health boards. The Scottish Government understands that Port Glasgow Health Centre is one of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's priorities for investment in community infrastructure. However, no proposals have been submitted to the Scottish Government to date. We will review any proposals which are submitted in due course. The member may wish to seek further information directly from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde as regards its plans for the delivery of healthcare facilities in Gourock and Port Glasgow.

There are currently 7 Boards receiving enhanced support and over the next 6-12 months we intend to extend our programme of enhanced improvement support to all Boards that need it. We have asked all Health Boards to provide trajectories outlining how they will meet the 90% waiting times standard and these trajectories are used to monitor performance and drive improvements.

The information requested is not collected or held centrally by the Scottish Government and would require to be obtained from Health Boards.

A number of Scottish local authorities do offer reuse collection points at Household Waste & Recycling centres for paint. However councils are unable to accept liquid paint for disposal, as liquid wastes are banned from landfill sites in Scotland. Zero Waste Scotland provide further detail on what to with used paint and paint cans here: What to do with used paint | Recycling | How to Waste Less .

This service provision supplements social enterprise and third sector initiatives running paint collection and redistribution reuse networks for waste paint.

However, as the RSC’s report highlights, across all paint re-use or reprocessing options in the UK there are key common challenges to overcome to ensure a sustainable circular economy and waste management provision model.

We are committed to increasing the amount and quality of recyclate collected and reprocessed in Scotland. We are working closely with local government on the development of our route map to deliver our waste, recycling and climate change targets to 2025 and beyond, and are giving due consideration to further steps we can take to drive waste reduction and ensure circular economy approach across a range of waste streams.

Scottish Government officials are continually engaging with NHS Boards and Health and Social Partnerships (HSCPs) to identify particular areas of concern. Aberdeenshire HSCP, which has operational responsibility for delivering services at Chalmers Hospital in Banff, advises that it is working closely with the staff group to develop a sustainable model of service delivery for the Banff community.

We have announced a substantial new investment of over £300 million in hospital and community care to support the NHS and social care system. The new funding will support a range of measures to maximise capacity in hospitals and primary care, reduce delayed discharges and ensure those in the community who need support receive effective and responsive care. NHS Grampian is receiving a share of direct workforce investments introduced through this plan including the recruitment of 1,000 additional healthcare support staff to support patients in hospitals and in community health teams.

Over and above this funding we have provided NHS Grampian with £1.1 million to support two new specialist programmes – Interface Care and Discharge without Delay – which will speed up the hospital discharge process or provide an alternative to hospital care altogether. This work is currently underway and we are working collaboratively with the Board to ensure robust actions are in place which support the reduction of long delays and improve patient care.

In addition, Grampian has received a £944K share of a further £10 million which has been allocated to Health Boards to support the delivery of timeous and optimal care. This will support Health Boards to put in place a range of measures including ensuring appropriate levels of staffing are in place across the system to facilitate efficient and effective patient care.

The Scottish Government works closely with CyberScotland Partners including Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help protect the public from cyber threats.

The NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA), which works to fight and prevent fraud affecting the NHS have put together guidance and advice to help anyone who may be a target of scams which can be found here .

We encourage anyone who identifies a suspicious email to forward it to [email protected] and to report any suspicious scam websites using the NCSC Scam Website Reporting Service which can be found here . Any victims of online or offline scams should report these to Police Scotland by calling 101. For general advice/support, contact Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000.

The Scottish Government works closely with CyberScotland Partners including Police Scotland and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help protect the public from cyber threats.

The Scottish Government supports the publication of a regular technical and non-technical CyberScotland Bulletin which references content from Police Scotland, NCSC, the Scottish Business Resilience Centre, Neighbourhood Watch Scotland and other partners. CyberScotland provides a single online portal for organisations, businesses and individuals seeking information, guidance and support on cyber resilience issues which can be found here .

I welcome the report from Royal Society of Chemistry on making Polymers in Liquid Formulations (PLFs) more sustainable, helping to embed circular economy in to this area.

The Scottish Government is committed to building a fully circular economy as part of our work to tackle the climate emergency.

To make the most of this opportunity, we are working with industry, including construction and demolition sectors, local government, environmental groups and wider stakeholders to develop a Route Map to deliver our waste and recycling targets to 2025 and beyond. Through the Route Map and the forthcoming Circular Economy Bill we will consider how best to take forward waste reduction and ensure circular economy approach across a range of waste streams.