Chamber and committees

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS are pleased that His Majesties Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, recognised that HMP Dumfries is a well-run prison and performs well against their standards.

Prior to the inspection a CCTV replacement and upgrade programme was already agreed as part of the establishment maintenance programme.

A contractor has now been appointed and will replace and/or upgrade existing systems, introducing CCTV coverage into areas that do not currently have it such as D and E Halls and the respective exercise yards. This work is expected to begin in Autumn 2025 and is expected to take approximately 8 months to complete.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be reviewed as soon as this process is complete and will supersede existing SOPs that are in place to monitor exercise yards.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

SPS are pleased that His Majesties Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, recognised that HMP Dumfries is a well-run prison and performs well against their standards.

In 2022 work started on the new SPS development and learning strategy, now called "Learning for a Better Future”. The strategy will be implemented across all SPS sites on 1 August 2025 and aims to utilise an enhanced screening process, to support and identify the specific needs of learners, and allow establishments to design Annual Learning Plans (ALP) which deliver a range of qualifications and opportunities appropriate to their specific needs.

The strategy and individual ALPs will help to identify ways for establishments to enhance engagement and participation in learning opportunities both in and out with the traditional classroom setting.

Work is ongoing to establish whether Emergency Department (ED) opt-out testing for blood borne viruses would be acceptable, deliverable and cost-effective in areas of higher diagnosed prevalence, or across the whole of Scotland. Two of the pilot projects commenced later than originally planned, meaning that the evaluation process has not yet been completed. There has also been an extension to the Scottish Government-funded academic research on missed opportunities for blood borne virus testing, which will provide valuable information to inform future funding decisions.

An options appraisal is in development, which will be carefully considered alongside other potentially beneficial testing interventions.

The Scottish Government has provided specific funding (totalling around £145,000) for Emergency Department (ED) opt-out blood borne virus testing pilots in NHS Lothian, Grampian and Highland. At present, any other ED opt-out testing would be delivered by NHS Boards using the core funding they receive from the Scottish Government which includes baselined funding for sexual health improvement and blood borne virus elimination.

The recently approved 2025-26 Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for Health & Social Care next year, including £16.2 billion for NHS Boards.

NHS Boards and other local partners are responsible for prioritising funding to ensure that their local population receives the highest quality of care and treatment at the right time and in the right place.

I expect any body responsible for planning and delivering health services to the public in Scotland to operate within the relevant strategic and statutory frameworks. Scottish Government officials are engaging with Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership and NHS Grampian about their plans.

We are working with NHS Boards and partners to improve access to diagnosis and we have commissioned the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to support local health partners to develop, enhance and redesign existing local neurodevelopmental services. As part of this, NAIT is also working with NHS Boards to build a neurodevelopmentally informed workforce in Scotland.

Through our £1 million Adult Autism Support Fund (AASF), the Scottish Government funds SensationALL, which provides support to autistic adults in both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. Whilst this support does not include assessments, a diagnosis is not required to access the service, and the majority of service users have reported improved wellbeing as a consequence of this support.

The Scottish Government provided £400,000 to establish an adult ADHD and autism assessment service in Aberdeenshire between 2019-21.

NHS Boards and other local partners are responsible for prioritising funding to ensure that their local population receives the highest quality of care and treatment at the right time and in the right place. Accordingly, funding for adult ADHD and autism assessments in the Aberdeenshire Council area between 2021 and 2025 will have been derived from the overall budget allocated to NHS Grampian.

In 2021-22, NHS Grampian received £1,027.9 million from the Scottish Government. In 2022-23, NHS Grampian received £1,072.2 million from the Scottish Government, an uplift of 4 per cent on the previous year. In 2023-24, NHS Grampian received £1,129.9 million from the Scottish Government, an uplift of 5 per cent on the previous year. Finally, in 2024-25, NHS Grampian received £1,176.4 million from the Scottish Government, an uplift of 4% on the previous year.

Public Health Scotland publish data in relation to the number of GP practices currently operating in Scotland – the data can be accessed at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/healthcare-system/primary-care/general-practice/general-practice-data/general-practice-list-size-and-demographics-information/.

Scottish Government does not hold details on GP recruitment at a practice level. However, more general information on GP vacancies can be found in the 2024 General Practice Workforce Survey: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/media/2gdpo04l/generalpracticeworkforcesurvey2024_revised.html.

The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why the 2025-26 budget continues to allocate over £3bn a year to policies which tackle poverty and the cost of living, including providing free bus travel for all children and young people under 22.

There is range of support available to anyone experiencing financial difficulties. We continue to support free welfare, debt and income maximisation advice services across all areas of the county with funding of over £12m allocated in 2024-2025 and have a dedicated Cost of Living website, signposting to helpful information across a range of subjects including energy and bills, debt and money and health and wellbeing.

Recognising the specific impact of the cost of living crisis on island communities, since December 2022 the Islands Cost Crisis Emergency Fund has distributed over £3.4 million to support islanders facing cost of living pressures.

216 people were discharged to an interim care home bed placement through the 2023 interim care beds funding. The scheme was open between 10 January and 31 March 2023. The average cost per placement was £1108.22. This varied by placement in practice dependant on length of stay.

The Scottish Government publishes local authority analysis using a three-year pooled data set to ensure sufficient sample sizes. As set out in the Scottish House Condition Survey 2023 Key Findings Report (available at Scottish House Condition Survey: 2023 Key Findings - gov.scot) the lack of SHCS data for 2020 and the enforced changes for 2021 cause issues with the production of this analysis for two reasons.

Firstly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic the SHCS survey was suspended and there is no data for 2020. Secondly, the data from the 2021 external+ SHCS is not directly comparable with that for earlier years, due to methodological differences, and therefore it would not be appropriate to combine it with the data for 2019 (or earlier) to produce a multi-year analysis.

As we require three years of data to produce local authority analysis, we won’t be able to return to the usual approach for producing local authority estimates from the SHCS until the 2024 wave of the SHCS has been published in early 2026. We will then be able to produce local authority estimates from the SHCS based on a three-year average for 2022 to 2024.