Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect data on CAMHS appointment costs across NHS boards centrally.

Every presentation to CAMHS is treated differently depending on the individual needs of the young person. It may involve a multidisciplinary response involving a range of specialists. Therefore the cost per appointment will vary depending on the range of professionals involved and the needs of the child or young person.

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) NHS Scotland national service specification outlines provisions young people and their families can expect from the NHS.

On 30 October 2023, the Scottish Government announced the following 10 successful Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) Phase 3 projects:

1. Hazlehead Academy (Aberdeen City)

2. Mull Campus (Argyll and Bute)

3. Lochies ASN School (Clackmannanshire)

4. Lenzie Academy (East Dunbartonshire)

5. Carrongrange ASN School extension (Falkirk)

6. Forres Academy (Moray)

7. Chryston High School extension (North Lanarkshire)

8. Kirkwall ASN Centre (Orkney)

9. Brae Campus (Shetland)

10. Riverside and Letham Primary School (West Lothian)

Every local authority which has submitted a bid through the LEIP has been awarded funding for a project in Phases 1, 2 or 3.

The £2bn LEIP is being delivered in partnership with local authorities and will benefit tens of thousands of pupils across Scotland.

The proportion of schools in “good” or “satisfactory” condition in Scotland has increased from 61% in April 2007 to almost 91% in April 2023, and LEIP investment will build on this progress.

Open general export licences (OGELs) are reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government does not hold data or information on OGELs.

In a wider context, the First Minister has recently asked the Prime Minister for a ban on licencing of arms exports from the UK to Israel, which would also extend to any relevant products currently manufactured in Scotland.

The UK Government publishes statistics on strategic export licences at: Strategic export controls: licensing data annual reports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) However, these data sets do not identify where the licenced items are produced.

Please see below the funding that has been provided to Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) in each financial year since 2020-21. Please note for 2023-24, we have provided the total committed spend for the current financial year, which may change by April 2024.

We cannot confirm the amount of funding which will be provided to RCS for the financial year 2024-25 at this time. However, we can confirm that RCS will receive funding through the Children, Young People and Families Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities fund, through ‘100 days’ funding and the Delivering Equally Safe fund amongst others in 2024-25.

Please note that, in addition to funds provided to Rape Crisis Scotland, we also provide funding to local Rape Crisis Centres through the Delivering Equally Safe fund. Additionally, some of the funds provided to Rape Crisis Scotland are distributed by them to local Rape Crisis Centres.

Financial Year 2020-21 - £3,342,646

Financial Year 2021-22 - £5,654,322

Financial Year 2022-23 - £4,587,738

Financial Year 2023-24 - £4,557,276* (committed spend for financial year)

A full breakdown of the total number and value of contracts awarded to Thermo Fisher Scientific for the last five fiscal years covering all Scottish public bodies is provided in the following table.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken any targeted work to assess if the welfare of brachycephalic breeds has improved following the introduction of The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (the 2021 regulations), however this is something that we do intend to investigate further with local authorities and relevant stakeholders.

Meantime, the Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with local authorities on the enforcement of the 2021 regulations and work with key stakeholders to promote and encourage ethical and responsible breeding of dogs.

Cancer remains a national priority for the Scottish Government. This is reflected in the fact that more cancer patients have been treated on both the 62 and 31 day pathways in the latest quarter (Q3 2023) compared to the same time pre-pandemic. Specifically we are treating more cancer patients on time – within both standards – compared to pre-pandemic and 10 years ago (9.1% and 21.5% more, respectively, within the 31 day standard & 2.0% and 14.0% more, respectively, within the 62 day standard).

To support efforts to reduce cancer waiting times, £10 million of non-recurring Cancer Waiting Times funding has been made available in 2023/24 across NHS Scotland. The majority of funding is being directed to urology, colorectal and breast – the three most challenged tumour types.

The Scottish Government also published our ten year Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan ( Cancer Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 ) in June 2023.

Over the next 10 years, our strategic aim is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care. The Strategy and Plan take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care, and have people living with cancer, their families and carers at their very heart.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service outsource the provision of Audio Transcription Services and the provider offers a number of turnaround service levels depending on urgency of the requirement. The standard service used costs £91.23 per hour or £1.52 per minute of audio, plus VAT, and has a turnaround time of 15 days. The figure of £129.29 per hour is for a turnaround of 24 hours and would therefore only be used where a transcript is required urgently.

The Scottish Government has committed to explore and agree an approach to end charges for non-residential social care support within the lifetime of the Parliament.

The Scottish Government is engaging with ScotRail, British Transport Police, Network Rail and Transport Focus and I will advise Parliament when a decision is reached, as previously informed.