Chamber and committees

With regard to funding, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12704 on 12 December 2022 on the Parliament website, the search facility for which can be found on https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers Given that there are currently no open sources of Scottish Government funding, it will not be able to provide funding to Hourglass at this current time.

Hourglass Scotland are valued members of the Older people's Strategic Action Forum (OPSAF). We will ask our fund manager Inspiring Scotland to work with Hourglass to help them identify alternative funding options, such as those detailed in the answer to S6W- 12704.

The majority of this budget relates to Corporate Running Costs (CRC) which supports staffing and other costs of central functions, with this allocated out across all portfolios, as set out in annual budgets. The remainder of the spend is fully allocated in support of staffing costs within two Health and Social Care Directorates – Health Finance, Corporate Governance and Value and Directorate of Chief Operating Officer. Final confirmation of spend will be included as part of the Scottish Government provisional outturn.

The original published budget for Digital Health and Care was £112.9 million, not £108.729 million. See https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2022-23/pages/5/ . Since the budget was published in December 2021 there has been a Scottish Government wide Emergency Budget Review and the agreed corporate savings from this exercise have resulted in a budget of £99.6 million being allocated to Digital Health and Care in 2022-23.

This budget provides funding for the delivery of ‘ Care in the Digital Age’ , with individual activities as set out in the accompanying Delivery Plan . Funds that are allocated are based on need, and final confirmation of spend will be included as part of the Scottish Government provisional outturn.

Primary care budgets provide additional funding to support core enabling programmes for primary care such as mental health, health inequalities and rural healthcare. Funds that are allocated are based on need, and final confirmation of spend will be included as part of the Scottish Government provisional outturn.

This budget covers the purchase of pandemic influenza vaccine on behalf of NHS Scotland as part of the UK four Nation agreement. Funds that are allocated are based on need with the majority of spend occurring later in the financial year. Final confirmation of spend will be included as part of the Scottish Government provisional outturn.

This budget provides funding for local Primary Care Improvement Plans and core primary care support. Funds that are allocated are based on need, and final confirmation of spend will be included as part of the Scottish Government provisional outturn.

The majority ofthis budget is directly allocated to Health Boards to support international recruitment and domestic recruitment. All of this budget is earmarked for allocation by financial year end, with £4.5 million of this funding already allocated thus far. A further £0.3m supports other initiatives including refugee doctors and nurses, marketing of NHS Scotland, and employability programmes.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12413 on 9 December 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 Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office invests through NHS Research Scotland in research infrastructure in Health Boards that allows them to host and participate in clinical research studies and trials. Health Boards make individual decisions about participating in the trials that are offered to them, subject to the trials that are already being supported within each Health Board, and the research expertise and capacity available to take on additional trials. Scottish Health Boards are continuing to participate in a number of trials of medicines for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 disease, providing opportunities for their patient populations to enrol in these studies, although none currently include Evusheld. Should a trial sponsor organisation approach Scottish Health Boards about participating in a trial of Evusheld, participation would be considered by Health Boards with participation subject to the research expertise and capacity available.

The breakdown of the information requested is not held centrally the collation of this information would incur disproportionate costs.