Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26394 on 22 March 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 latest published data shows that North Ayrshire Council have paid a total of £187.2 million in unitary charge payments since 2007-08 for its North Ayrshire Schools PFI contract and that the total projected payments from 2023-24 onwards until contract expiry are estimated at £253.6 million.

It also shows that North Ayrshire Council have paid a total of £20.5 million in unitary charge payments since 2017-18 for its Largs Campus contract, which formed part of the NPD/hub Programme and the total projected payments from 2023-24 onwards until contract expiry are estimated at £91.5 million.

The Scottish Government is aware of the pressures facing businesses due to inflation, energy costs and the cost crisis. While Scottish Ministers are sympathetic to calls to replicate the non-domestic rates relief available to businesses in England in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, doing so would have meant that the Scottish Government could not provide the NHS, schools, or emergency services with the funding they require.

The Scottish Government estimates that over 60% of properties in the hospitality sector across Scotland will be eligible for 100% relief from Non-Domestic Rates in 2024-25 (including from the Small Business Bonus Scheme, the new islands and specified remote areas hospitality relief, and others).

The Scottish Government have recently corresponded with the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on this question. See Electronic patient record | Scottish Parliament Website . To support our ambitions set out in the 2021 Strategy - Digital Healthcare Scotland % (digihealthcare.scot) we will be publishing our Delivery Plan for 2024-25 in late April 2024.

The Scottish Government is preparing an update for publication on progress on the Family Justice Modernisation Strategy (the FJMS). I will write to the Member as soon as this is available.

I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26002 on 18 March 2024, which provides an update on implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act). 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/questions-and-answers .

On further reforms in family justice, I assume the member’s reference to “custodial arrangements for children” is to child contact and residence arrangements. Making further progress on implementing the FJMS and the 2020 Act is our priority in relation to child contact and residence. The Scottish Government does not plan any further primary legislation on child contact and residence at this time.

The first Project Gigabit funding to be deployed anywhere in the United Kingdom was secured by the Scottish Government in 2021.

A total of £31.2 million of Project Gigabit funding has already been committed for investment in Scotland through the Scottish Government’s own £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) programme to enhance and extend the R100 contract coverage footprint. The R100 contracts are now predominantly full fibre, delivering gigabit capable infrastructure across rural Scotland at pace.

The Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) have been working closely to prepare the next phase of Project Gigabit activity in Scotland, with the first local and regional procurements outside of England expected to launch in Scotland imminently.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many primary care appointments were cancelled in the last two years, broken down by NHS board.

All patients who access NHS Pharmacy First Scotland do so by self-referral. In some cases though they will have been advised to attend a community pharmacy by NHS24 or another healthcare service.

Public Health Scotland has published data on the number of patients who used NHS Pharmacy First Scotland during its first full year of operation, 2021/22. Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, twenty-three percent of the Scottish population (1,242,801 people) accessed Pharmacy First Scotland services at least once. This data is not published as a breakdown by Health Board. More information can be found at NHS Pharmacy First Scotland - NHS Pharmacy First Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

The figures for 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 (up to September 2023) will be published on 16 April and will be available at the same link.

The Scottish Government welcomes the research published by the University of Aberdeen. We recognise that this data covers the time period between 2007 and 2017 and that there will have been continued service innovation in recent years including, for example, the roll out of Near Me.

However it is clear that improvements are needed. Our strategic aim, as reflected in the Cancer Strategy for Scotland (2023-33), is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care. One of our 11 ambitions in the strategy is Tackling Inequalities.

A Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the cancer strategy and plan was published in August 2023. A planned external evaluation will focus on inequalities, particularly social deprivation and geographies.

We are committed to understanding patients’ experiences, gaining opportunities for improvement and sharing good practice examples to ensure equitable cancer care. The first mail out of our latest Cancer Patient Experience Survey was sent on 14th February helping us work towards this aim.

The Deputy First Minister has confirmed in a letter on 6 March to COSLA that £62.7 million of additional funding will be provided in 2024-25 and local authorities will have full autonomy to allocate the funding based on local needs and priorities. While all new funding has to be discussed and agreed through the formal financial governance process including the Settlement and Distribution Group (SDG) and COSLA Leaders, Aberdeenshire Council's provisional share of the additional £62.7 million is estimated to be around £2.9 million.

In addition, Aberdeenshire Council will receive around £8 million following the Council’s decision to freeze Council Tax and all Councils will receive their fair share of the currently undistributed sum of £201.1 million following agreement with COSLA.