Chamber and committees

The Technical Advisory Group for Resource Allocation (TAGRA) oversees the maintenance and development of the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula. The formula is an objective measure of the need for health care services across Scotland and aims to provide a transparent and fair mechanism for dividing resources for hospital and community health services and GP prescribing between the 14 territorial Health Boards.

The Scottish Government have committed to continually review the funding formula to support vital work to reduce health inequalities and ensuring we continue to allocate funding according to the relative need for healthcare in each Board area.

The funding formulas are inherently complex, and the review will take time, however TAGRA members continue to meet to review the appropriateness of the current formula.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31488 on 5 December 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

The Scottish Government accepted the recommendations of the Independent Review of Audiology Services in principle on 14 December 2023.

Audiology is being considered as a clinical priority area, and improvement work is being progressed through a task and finish group under the governance of the National Planning and Delivery Board led by the Chief Operating Officer for NHS Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31488 on 5 December 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

We are currently expecting additional costs of around £600 million in 2024-25 for final pay deals settling above the public sector pay metric published in May.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The data is calculated from the published schedules of the most recently available Housing Land Audit for each local authority (in most cases this is the 2023 audit). This is public information, available on local authority websites.

We are carrying out further analysis of the dataset to inform current work with stakeholders on stalled sites and will provide updates on the work as it progresses.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-31576 on 4 December 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

There have been no recent discussions between Scottish Government and VisitScotland regarding the impact of large-scale energy projects on tourism.

In 2008, Scottish Government published “Economic impacts of wind farms on Scottish tourism: research findings”.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/economic-research-findings-economic-impacts-wind-farms-scottish-tourism/

The draft Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) Strategic Approach paper said that we would take forward detailed consideration of a number of fares proposals.

The consultation and engagement report and our initial responses were published on 3 September and are available at Islands Connectivity Plan | Transport Scotland.

These outputs will support the finalisation of the ICP which will set out our plans for taking forward ferry fares policy. Further updates will be provided in due course.