Chamber and committees

This is a matter for ScotRail as the train operating company. The Member may wish to contact ScotRail directly for these details.

The publicly available data on NHS workers who have received the flu vaccine is available via Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) surveillance website PHS Vaccination Surveillance.

This is detailed as 'All Healthcare Workers' and uptake currently sits at 35.6% as of 26 January 2025.

The uptake for NHS, care home and childcare staff are not further categorised, therefore that data is not available.

PHS’s vaccination surveillance dashboard is updated monthly.

I refer the member to answer to question S6W-34926 on 4 March 2025. Our Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland (RCAP) sets out our vision for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people affected by respiratory conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung disease.

There is also a significant respiratory work programme managed by the Respiratory Speciality Delivery Group within NHS Golden Jubilee. They have pathways under development for severe asthma, COPD and sleep apnoea. ILD will continue to be considered within any new respiratory programmes.

Our new Prescribing Guideline set out our ambitions for better access to respiratory care and we also have national workstreams focusing on access to pulmonary rehabilitation and smoking cessation.

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

NHS Education Scotland (NES) are responsible for the publication of GP data in Scotland.

The most recent data from 30 September 2024 that was published on 3 December 2024 includes a breakdown of GP numbers by Health Board and can be found here. NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The Respiratory Care Action Plan has another year left in its current lifespan. We will continue to implement the commitments in the Plan over the coming year, alongside our work to explore a new long term conditions strategy to ensure equitable and sustainable access to the services that all people with long term conditions need, while still allowing for targeted action on condition-specific care and support where appropriate. We will take the progress of this work into account as we consider the best way to continue work to improve care and support for people with respiratory conditions in the future.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan has another year left in its current lifespan. We will consider how best to report on its impact as it continues into 2026.

The health and wellbeing of those who live and work in our prisons is a key priority for the SPS.

By working closely with partners such as Police Scotland we remain vigilant to the continuously evolving nature of drug use, ensuring that our technology and tactical measures remain current, adaptable, and capable of detecting and preventing drugs from entering our prisons.

We continue to advise staff on safety and risk assessment processes in conducting their duties to minimise the impact and risk of exposure to any unknown hazardous substance. At this time, we do not have any plans to introduce respiratory protective equipment (RPE) to prisons.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

Our police officers are the best paid in the UK, at the minimum and maximum of each rank, and I welcome the outcome of the police pay arbitration process, which means that police officers in Scotland will receive an uplift of 4.75%, backdated to 1 April 2024, in their March salaries.

This recognises the hard work and valuable contribution that police officers make, and reflects this Government’s continued commitment to investing in policing.

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

The SPS Public Protection Unit (PPU) review risks on a regular basis and based on intelligence analysis carried both locally and nationally, there are no current plans to implement a phased removal of wet shave razors from adult male prisons.

The Scottish Government understands from current training providers that 215 individuals have completed the online and practical course. We do not hold information on the number of land managers who are planning to complete the training.