Chamber and committees

As part of our commitment for the decarbonisation of the Scottish Government vehicle fleet, our replacement policy since 2015 has been to consider the overall environmental impact of the fleet and actively reduce the emissions produced by replacing end of life petrol and diesel vehicles with zero or ultra-low emission alternatives where possible.

The total cost of gas and electric for Core Scottish Government buildings broken down by building type is:-

Number of hospital admissions of pedestrians injured is shown in the following table. The source is SMR01, Public Health Scotland, extract: January 2025.

The Scottish Government's use of official cars aligns with its environmental and sustainability targets through a focus on reducing emissions and promoting low-carbon transportation solutions. This includes key initiatives including the transition to low-emission and zero emission vehicles.

All our professional memberships are held by and apply to individuals so the Scottish Government as a body does not hold professional memberships.

The Scottish Government estate is always under review to allow us to plan for accessible, modern and secure, energy efficient buildings to meet our changing needs and net zero ambitions, as well as to ensure best value for taxpayers’ money.

Estate decisions are informed by key estate data, for example the condition, usage, carbon emissions, accessibility and capacity. We prioritise funding towards ensuring our buildings are fit-for-purpose, inclusive and accessible for all staff and stakeholders and contribute to our net zero ambitions.

The Scottish Government has adopted a professions model. All our jobs are now aligned to profession and related job family and job type. We are starting to apply related expectations into how we design jobs and recruit people for jobs. For some professions and job types this will include professional membership and accreditation requirements that either need to be achieved on entry or once in the job - e.g. Finance, Procurement. For a few professions, professional memberships are mandatory to be able to practice - e.g. Law. Our Heads of Profession oversee these expectations and standards.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any workforce shortages in community optometry. NHS Scotland commissioned and published a National Ophthalmic Workforce Review report in May 2023 which is available at: https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/media/pjwntap4/national-ophthalmic-workforce-review-may-2023.pdf

The Scottish Government is working with Higher Education Institutions to deliver a new UK-leading Master's optometry undergraduate degree. This will support all optometry graduates from 2029 to have the opportunity to qualify with Independent Prescribing.

Teams within General Practice, local community pharmacies and optometry practices frequently work together to support their patients. Other primary care providers can and do refer patients to community optometry services. Community optometry is the accepted first point of contact for any eye related issues.

NHS Board’s baseline revenue allocations are set out annually in the Scottish Budget, as published on the Scottish Government’s website. In addition, resource and capital spending limits are reported in Board’s annual accounts, which are published on their websites.

The Scottish Government allocates funding to territorial NHS Boards based on the NRAC formula. The NRAC formula takes into account factors in addition to population levels, including excess costs of delivering healthcare in remote and rural areas.

Since 2006-07, baseline funding for health and social care has increased by 120% in cash terms and 37% in real terms.

Since 2012-13, over £3.5 billion of additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC parity levels, ensuring all Boards remain within 0.6% of parity.

More information on the NRAC formula is available at: Resource Allocation Formula in Scotland - Finance - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)