Chamber and committees

The anticipated full year spend (12 months from opening, not the financial year) is £2.3 million. This funding is largely to cover the staffing of the facility. Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership have funded the building works and furnishings.

The information requested is not held by the Scottish Government. These are operational matters for Police Scotland and local authorities.

The Scottish Government has ongoing dialogue with a range of partners regarding implementation of the new safeguards on XL Bully dogs.

My officials are continuing to engage with Police Scotland, local authorities, Scottish SPCA and other key dog welfare stakeholders about the impact of enforcing and implementation of the new safeguards, including ongoing consideration of kennelling provision and demand.

The Scottish Government does not hold any data on the number of households that currently have at least one person with an alcohol addiction.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with the Scottish Funding Council to discuss a wide range of matters, including sectoral skills initiatives.

For example, skills officials recently met with SFC to discuss the co-led Tertiary Pathfinder Programme which, among others, includes the NESA Energy Transition Skills Pathway pilot project.

Data on supported inward investment projects secured and created in Scotland is tracked by Scottish Development International.

Supported inward investment projects (Foreign Direct Investment and Inward Investment from the Rest of the UK) over the last five years is as follows

The Scottish Government engages frequently with the Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) to discuss their work supporting Scotland’s college sector. Skills officials last met with ESP directly in August 2024.

The Scottish Funding Council funds ESP to act as the college sector lead for the transition to net zero, supporting institutions in developing their capability, capacity and curriculum pathways. SFC are represented on the ESP Advisory Board and maintain regular contact with ESP.

Equitable and consistent access to appropriate and timely diagnostic services and expertise are core requirements within the NICE NG47 guidelines cited within the recent Blood Cancer UK Action Plan.

We are aware of a gap analysis carried out by the Haematology and Transfusion Scotland and Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine networks on the genomic testing needed in Scotland, and we are working to address this as part of the overall implementation of the Genomics in Scotland strategy.

Work is also underway to better support integrated diagnostic reporting through the development of a national Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) in a programme of work led by a consortium of NHS Boards.

The reply to the 2024 PQ S6W-30359 was interpreted as seeking cost information for the Digital Waste Tracking project. The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system was a wholly separate project to the ongoing “Digital Waste Tracking” project. As such, edoc was not referred to in the response to PQ S6W-30359 on 16 October 2024.

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

As part of the Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023-26, Scottish Government committed to “Invest in improving the pathways of less survivable cancers, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer. This will shorten the time to staging and agreeing treatment options.”

Scottish Government invested in a pilot Scottish Care and Coordination Service for Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Cancers (SCOT HPB) as a potential way to achieve this action. Scottish Government commissioned the Scottish Cancer Network (SCN) to review the pilot to consider lessons learned and potential options for future delivery.

Following this and further expert engagement, we are considering how best to continue to improve patient pathways for those with Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary cancers in an equitable, evidenced and sustainable way.

The Scottish Government has received representations on the principle of making eligibility for business rates reliefs and licences to trade conditional on payment of the real Living Wage from a range of stakeholders, including retail representative bodies like the Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Grocers Federation and Association of Convenience Stores. Forums such as the New Deal for Business Non-Domestic Rates Subgroup, Retail Industry Leadership Group, Scottish Ratepayers Forum also provide a routine opportunity for stakeholders to make representations to Scottish Government.

The recently published Fair Work Convention Inquiry into the hospitality industry also made recommendations for the Scottish Government on fair work conditionality. The Scottish Government will undertake a programme of assessment and consider each of the recommendations carefully.