I am pleased to announce, in line with the Scottish National Investment Bank Act 2020, six individuals have agreed to become members of the Ministerial Advisory Group. They have a broad range of knowledge and expertise relevant to providing Ministers with advice on the objects, conduct and performance of the Bank.

I will host the first meeting of the Group in due course.

Full details of the Group’s membership can be found at https://www.gov.scot/groups/scottish-national-investment-bank-ministerial-advisory-group.

Scottish Ministers have an initial 28-day period from when an application is notified to them to consider whether to call it in or clear it back to the authority. This can be extended should Ministers require more time to consider the matter. Ministers can also recall an appeal for their own determination and do so in exceptional circumstances.

When an application is called in or an appeal recalled, Ministers aim to issue decisions on cases within 2 – 3 months of receiving the independent Reporter’s report from the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division. These are targets, not statutory deadlines, and these timescales can sometimes increase where there are more complex issues involved.

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

SPS continue to work collaboratively with its partners and stakeholders to utilise new technologies such as DeDrone, X-ray body scanners and Rapiscan machines, to detect, deter and prevent illicit substances from entering our establishments. We recognise the profound impact that illicit articles entering our prisons have and we will continue to seek prosecution where possible.

We do also recognise the continued need to support to those in our care who misuse substances and those who are on their recovery journey.

Public Health Scotland published Estimated Prevalence of Opioid Dependence in Scotland 2014/15 to 2019/20 - Estimated Prevalence of Opioid Dependence in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland earlier this year, based on Bayesian analysis of linked healthcare data. However, those estimate do not include problematic use of other substances, nor do they provide information about the living and family circumstances of people experiencing problematic drug use.

The Scottish Government also published Child protection - Children's Social Work Statistics Scotland: 2021 to 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) which showed that there were 2,358 new registrations onto the Child Protection Register during 2022 where parental drug misuse or parental substance misuse was identified as a concern at the Case Conference. Similar to the Public Health Scotland source, however, this does not provide a full picture of problematic drug use in households.

Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Scottish Child Payment applications, payments and the number of children actively in receipt of the payment by local authority area.

As of 30 June 2024, the number of children aged 0-15 years actively benefitting from Scottish Child Payment in each local authority area relevant to the West Scotland parliamentary region were as follows:

• Argyll and Bute – 4,100;
• East Dunbartonshire – 3,770;
• East Renfrewshire – 3,575;
• Inverclyde – 5,375;
• North Ayrshire – 10,395;
• Renfrewshire – 10,545;
• West Dunbartonshire – 7,165.

This information along with other local authority areas can be found in the latest Scottish Child Payment Official Statistics publication:

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics.

The next edition of the Scottish Child Payment publication which will cover the period to the end of September 2024, is due to be published on 26 November 2024.

The rights that a worker has in tied accommodation will depend on the type of tenancy or occupancy agreement in place. If an employer gives an employee accommodation as part of the job and the employee has to live there to be able to do the job, they may have a Service Occupancy agreement. Rights will depend on what is written in the employment contract and will depend on the individual circumstances of the case. However, if an employee has a Private Residential Tenancy, then they will have the same rights as a private tenant.

The Scottish Government, including Social Security Scotland, have not incurred any additional costs in 2024-25 as a result of the Department for Work and Pensions administering a payment equivalent to Winter Fuel Payment to eligible Scottish clients in 2024.

The Stroke Engagement Forum met for the first time on 2 October 2024. The agenda included items on acute stroke care and research involvement and involved the sharing of local practices and approaches to shared challenges. The next meeting of the group will be in early 2025.

The membership of the Stroke Engagement Forum comprises stroke clinicians, stroke managers, Scottish Government officials and third sector representatives. Members are invited as a representative of their NHS Board or organisation. Members are expected to consult with their professional groups, networks and other stakeholders as appropriate. This forum is to facilitate operational improvement and the sharing of best practice. It is not a public forum and the Scottish Government will not be publishing the names of the attendees.

Stroke service delivery continues to be measured via the Scottish Stroke Care Audit and the Board reviews conducted as part of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme.

The key group responsible for co-ordinating the national cancer registries of all the UK nations, as well as the Republic of Ireland, is the UK and Ireland Association of Cancer Registries (UKIACR). Achieving consistency and comparability in the collection, analysis and reporting of cancer data are among the UKIACR’s Terms of Reference. The Director of the Scottish Cancer Registry represents Scotland on this group.

The UK and Ireland cancer registries all adhere, where possible, to the recommendations of the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR).

Public Health Scotland (PHS) records all tumours using the ICD-O3 classification and is therefore able to routinely report on blood cancers in many different ways. This includes a variety of benchmarks such as incidence rates, quality performance indicators and survival.