Chamber and committees

As at 21 June 182 tenants have received, or are in the process of receiving, a loan from the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund, with a combined funding value of £503,148.96. There are a further 7 loan offers in process, with a combined value of £17,470.08

Within the loans paid / in the process of being paid there are 138 private rented sector tenants and 44 social rented sector tenants.

This partnership working is continuing to grow and develop and will form part of our NHS Recovery Plan due to be published shortly.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery, hosted by the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, has been established and commissioned by the Scottish Government to support NHS Boards to deliver wide-ranging and complex national programmes, such as the Scottish Access Collaborative and the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme.

As part of this, several Third Sector organisations and societies are involved in the delivery of programme workstreams, as well as co-production of patient pathways and self-guidance materials to support patient wellbeing. This involves a wide-range of Third Sector bodies, including Crohn’s & Colitis UK, Coeliac UK, Bowel Cancer UK, Pain Association, Pain Concern, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland Chronic Pain Reference Group, and Endometriosis UK plus many others.

Although the Scottish Government’s Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) does not have any options specifically for grey partridge, it does provide funding for options that benefit the habitats of grey partridge, namely:

• Beetlebanks,
• Creation of Hedgerows,
• Management or restoration of existing hedgerows,
• Forage Brassica Crops for Farmland Birds,
• Grass Strips in Arable Fields
• Retention of Winter Stubble for Wildlife and Water Quality
• Species Rich Grassland Creation and Management
• Species Rich Grassland Management only
• Stubbles followed by Green Manure in an Arable Rotation
• Unharvested Conservation Headlands for Wildlife
• Wild Bird Seed for Farmland Birds

The Scottish Government has committed to spending £66.16m towards these options from 2016 through to 2025. 1,838 businesses have these options in their AECS contracts, with over 29,000 Ha due to be managed throughout Scotland in 2021.

Further information about the scheme and how to apply can be found at Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (ruralpayments.org)

The Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Bill was introduced on 23 June 2021. It is published on the Scottish Parliament website .

528 applications have been approved and when the next payment is made in July, £534,359 will have been paid from the Scottish Government mesh fund. This includes fees paid to GPs for providing proof of complications.

The Scottish Government hold regular meetings with Community Pharmacy Scotland, the recognised representative body of community pharmacy contractors in Scotland as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and over the last 12 months, Scottish Government officials and Community Pharmacy Scotland representatives have met on a bi-weekly cycle to discuss a range of issues related to the community pharmacy network in Scotland.

In the last 12 months, Scottish Government officials have met with the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists on two occasions and the Pharmacists Defence Association on two occasions.

The Scottish Government does not hold any trend data for grey partridge across Scotland, due to low sample size in the Breeding Bird Survey annual monitoring scheme. The UK trend shows a 64% decline over the period 1995-2018. The more recent 10-year trend (2008-2018) is lower at a 34% decline.

When an application to the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund is received an initial affordability assessment is performed, based on estimates of income and expenditure provided by the applicant. Where affordability is not shown the application is not credit checked. Applicants can ask for an appeal of the affordability assessment.

As at 21 June there were 8 applications that failed the affordability check and a further 4 applicants that unsuccessfully appealed the affordability assessment.

There were 254 applications which failed to reach the minimum credit score and a further 142 applicants who unsuccessfully appealed the credit score check.

This information is not held centrally. It is the responsibility of territorial Health Boards to ensure there is adequate provision of NHS Pharmaceutical Care Services, working with community pharmacy contractors listed on the Boards Pharmaceutical List.

The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 set out the responsibilities for community pharmacy contractors to notify Health Boards when there are instances in which the contractor is unable to provide those NHS services.

As the NHS Recovery Plan develops, we will engage with key stakeholders to ensure all aspects of NHS Recovery are explored and incorporated.

We have recently established the Centre for Sustainable Delivery, hosted by the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, to support NHS Boards to deliver several complex national programmes, such as the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme.

Several Third Sector organisations and societies are involved in the delivery of programme workstreams, as well as co-production of patient pathways and self-guidance materials to support patient wellbeing. These include:

• Crohn’s & Colitis UK
• Coeliac UK
• Bowel Cancer UK
• Pain Association
• Pain Concern
• Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland Chronic Pain Reference Group
• Endometriosis UK
• FND Hope
• Cerebral Palsy Connect
• PSP Association
• Versus Arthritis
• Parkinson’s UK
• Research UK
• ENT UK