Chamber and committees

The Intermediate Property Rate (IPR) was introduced from 1 April 2020. The IPR applied to properties with a rateable value above £51,000, up to £95,000 until 31 March 2023, and to properties with a rateable value above £51,000 and up to £100,000 from 1 April 2023. In 2020-2021 and 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 the IPR was charged at 51.1p, in 2021-2022 this was 50.3p, and in 2024-2025 it will increase in line with inflation to 54.5p.

Table 1 shows the total estimated gross income since 2020-2021. This is the total gross bill (net of General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025) charged to properties with a rateable value between £51,001 and £95,000 up to 2022-2023, and between £51,001 and £100,000 from 2023-2024 onwards, as noted above. These figures are broken down by property class; property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property. The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors.

Figures are based on the Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 October in each financial year, for 2024-2025 this is based on the Valuation Roll of 1 October 2023. Figures are gross of all reliefs, except for the General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Table 1: Estimated gross IPR income (£) since 2020-2021 (after General Revaluation Transitional Relief in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025)

Decisions on the national designation of services are considered by NHS National Services Division as part of NHS National Services Scotland.

NHS National Services Division have encouraged the MRgFUS team in NHS Tayside to submit a formal application for national designation of the MRgFUS service in Dundee. They hope to receive this in 2024-25.

The Scottish Government aims to publish our new palliative and end of life care strategy for consultation in Spring 2024.

Under the new model of care, mothers in suspected extreme pre-term labour will be transferred to give birth in hospitals that have neonatal intensive care units. Those maternity units will have expanded capacity to receive those women.

It is recognised that it will not always be possible to transfer mothers before they give birth. In those cases, as has been established practice for many years, our specialist neonatal transfer service (ScotSTAR) will transfer those babies by air or by road in specialist ambulances equipped to care for neonates, accompanied by neonatal staff.

The Scottish Perinatal network has developed and published guidance for all Boards across Scotland to support identification and transfer of mothers in suspected extreme preterm labour. Experiences of testing the new model of neonatal intensive care showed that the vast majority of mothers in suspected pre-term labour were identified and transferred before giving birth.

Women from NHS Lanarkshire would normally be transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Glasgow. Should that unit be at capacity, it may it be necessary to transfer those women to Edinburgh, or to Aberdeen, and parents will be involved in those discussions.

Journey times from Wishaw to Aberdeen will vary depending on the time of day and urgency of the transfer.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-23794 on 29 December 2023. 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 .

As part of the next phase of the work Scottish Government have commissioned Consulting firm RSM-UK to undertake detailed modelling work to fully map the capacity requirements across the system to inform capacity building and implementation of the new model.

The Scottish Ambulance Service will be included as part of the modelling work. We expect that mothers in threatened extreme early labour, or those whose babies will need surgery, will be identified pre-birth and will birth in the maternity unit alongside the NICU. The Perinatal Network has been leading some work, and recently published guidance on transfer in these cases.

Where cot capacity has been reached then clinical judgement with parental involvement will determine the best receiving unit.

Neonatal cot capacity is managed on a network basis through a daily call attended by all Neonatal Units. The data provided is then collated and is used to identify any sustained or acute pressure on intensive care cots.

The availability of beds is not solely down to the availability of neonatal cots, but also maternal beds and the availability of specialists to support both mother and baby. This ensures that for any woman or baby who requires immediate delivery, suitable arrangements are made. The perinatal teams across Scotland, including ScotSTAR who coordinate such transfers work hard to negotiate and create space when required.

Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Neonatal cot capacity is managed on a network basis through a daily call attended by all Neonatal Units. The data provided is then collated and is used to identify any sustained or acute pressure on intensive care cots. The availability of beds is not solely down to the availability of neonatal cots, but also maternal beds and the availability of specialists to support both mother and baby. This ensures that for any woman or baby who requires immediate delivery, suitable arrangements are made.

The Scottish Government did not provide any funding directly to Relationships Scotland Borders in 2022.

Relationships Scotland operate a network of 21 Member Services across Scotland, including Relationships Scotland Borders.

In 2022, the Scottish Government provided Relationships Scotland with core funding via the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning & Empowering Communities third sector fund and with grant funding to provide child contact services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21151 on 19 September 2023. 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 .

Table 1 - deaths from thrombosis-related conditions, 2000-2022.

Figures provided go back to 2000 and not 1999 as requested, as this is the period for which the National Records of Scotland have consistent data.