Chamber and committees

Consumer Scotland already has a statutory role and actively engages in the scrutiny arrangements underpinning the delivery of Scottish Water’s investment programme to ensure that Ministers’ objectives are being delivered. As a member of key strategic stakeholder groups Consumer Scotland advocates on behalf of customers on key industry policy issues, including on questions of affordability. Scottish Water’s Board must consider questions of affordability in finalising its Scheme of Charges; there are currently no plans to give Scottish Water additional functions in relation to charge setting.

Under the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 Ministers can only give the Water Industry Commission Scotland directions of a general or specific character as to the financial management or administration of the Commission

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-11009 on‎ 30 September 2022. 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

The regulatory framework for the Water Industry requires the Scottish Ministers to issue to Scottish Water and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) a statement of policy regarding Scottish Water’s charges under a charges scheme in respect of each regulatory period, and a parallel statement setting out Ministers’ Objectives. Following that, the WICS deliver a Final Determination setting out the level of finance required to allow Scottish Water to meet those Objectives. In line with Ministerial Directions, Scottish Water’s board are bound to consider matters of affordability and will take those into account in setting charge levels. WICS has no power to require Scottish Water to raise a minimum amount of revenue or to set minimum levels of charges

The Scottish Government is committed to the recruitment of a minimum of 1,500 additional staff to support the operation of Scotland’s National Treatment Centres (NTCs) and is supporting a range of activity to achieve this.

The recruitment data we are currently collating is management information and not suitable for publication. However, we are committed to exploring how this data can be published at a future date following with the opening of Centres in Fife and Forth Valley in early 2023.

£10 million of funding has been directed to support Cancer Waiting Times improvements in our NHS across 2022-23. Significant funds are going towards up-skilling nurses and investing in diagnostic tests to support extended working days/weekend working to increase capacity.

Meanwhile, work is underway to develop Scotland’s new cancer strategy, expected to publish Spring 2023. A recent public consultation received over 250 responses, including from blood cancer charities. A series of workshops are planned throughout September to help gain further insight and hear directly from those with lived experience to inform the focus of this strategy.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collects and analyses data relating to the provision of further and higher education in Scotland. Table 1 below highlights data from SFC showing both the recommended and actual intakes to pre-registration nursing and midwifery programmes, broken down by year from 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Nursing and Midwifery at the Open University in Scotland (OUiS) were funded through the SFC for the first time in 2021-22. As such figures for the SFC Early Statistics Collection are only available in 2021-22 and have been provided separately in Table 2.

Table 1

NHS Boards received notification on the 11 August of their share of the £50 million investment which has been allocated in its entirety to support NHS Health Boards to improve A&E waits through a new National Collaborative for Urgent and Unscheduled Care.

Each board’s share of the £50 million fund is listed below:

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting and growing our nursing and midwifery workforce. That is why student nurses and midwives entering Scottish Government funded degree programmes will increase by 8.7% in 2022-23, to a total recommended target intake of 4837 nursing and midwifery students.

Universities are continuing their recruitment for programmes commencing in the 2022-23 academic year. Final data on the number of placed applicants on nursing and midwifery programmes commencing in the 2022-23 academic year will not be available until January 2023.

Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) – formerly known as Early Cancer Diagnostic Centres (ECDC) – are fast-track diagnostic pathways taking patients from referral to diagnosis, not treatment.

Scotland’s first three RCDS are early adopters to help inform wider roll-out of an optimal model for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer.

All three Services are using a nationally agreed minimum data-set, capturing consistent data from age, gender, symptoms at presentation etc. A sub-section of this data will be published by the three Boards in 2022.

Meanwhile, work is underway with Public Health Scotland to scope and progress national data collection as more sites are expected to be established.