Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the quality of life and wellbeing of people with chronic pain. Involving people with lived experience remains a priority to help inform the improvement work we have set out in our Framework for pain management service delivery - implementation plan .

Our plan was developed with extensive engagement with people with chronic pain. The Scottish Government conducted a public consultation where four-fifths of respondents were individuals living with chronic pain. All of their views have informed the actions set out in the plan.

In summer 2022, we commissioned the Lines Between to establish a Pain Management Panel. The panel included a diverse cross-section of people with chronic pain across Scotland. The findings from this report, published in July 2022 , have helped inform the implementation of the plan.

We are continuing to engage with a range of diverse voices of those living with chronic pain across Scotland as we develop and deliver the plan. Officials attended the most recent Cross Party Group for Chronic Pain to request feedback and further engagement sessions with the group are planned. We have also invited our stakeholders, including people with lived experience, to a series of drop in sessions to give their input as we update our Implementation Plan.

We continue to invest heavily in our future consultant workforce and have been increasing the number of available training places in Radiology in line with recommendations made by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG).

In 2018 we committed to increasing the Clinical Radiology training establishment by 10 places per year over a five year period. That commitment was met in full last year, bringing the total number of extra places created in this specialty since 2014 to 68, with 10 additional Clinical Interventional Radiology training places also being created over the same period.

The SSoTTG is actively considering the need for further uplifts as part of its annual review of medical training establishments and will be making recommendations later this year for expansion taking place in 2024.

Of the 800 additional nurses, midwives and allied health professional recruited from overseas, as announced on 8 June 2023, 357 have started in their post with the remaining due to arrive in the coming weeks.

The consultation on the Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate and CO2 regulations for new cars and vans closed on 24 May 2023. The UK and devolved governments are currently analysing the responses to the consultation ahead of the publication of a response from all four nations this year.

The Home Energy Scotland funding schemes are delivered under contract by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) on behalf of Scottish Government. Although delivered by EST, decisions around the design of the schemes are the sole responsibility of Scottish Government.

The purpose of the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme is to decarbonise heat in homes through installation of zero emissions heating systems, and reduce heat demand through energy efficiency measures, in line with the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy.

Recently we have seen a substantial increase in the number of applications received to the scheme. Much of this rise has been driven by a surge in applications for solar PV and energy storage systems, the majority of which are not installed alongside a zero emissions heating system and therefore do not contribute directly to decarbonisation of heat in homes.

So we have reviewed funding to ensure that we are focusing finite public funding in the ways which best support the Heat in Buildings strategy aims.

Solar PV and energy storage systems will continue to be funded through the scheme, but only where installed alongside a certified renewable heating measure (such as a heat pump), or where there is already one in place. As such, funding is being targeted at measures which will have the biggest impact on reducing emissions from heating homes.

Measures and funding offered through the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan scheme are currently under review, but in the meantime, the conditions under which solar PV and energy storage are offered loan funding have been aligned with the HES Grant and Loan scheme.

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, and it is for individual Boards to determine how best to utilise this funding to meet the needs and priorities of their local populations, including stroke care. The 2023-24 Scottish Budget delivers record funding of £19 billion for Health and Social Care services.

On top of this baseline funding, the Scottish Government has provided specific funding to NHS Boards for the development of a thrombectomy service to treat ischaemic stroke: £833,000 in 2019-20, £2.4 million in 2020-21, £6.6 million in 2021-22 and £7.2 million in 2022-23.

In addition, funding to support the delivery of the Stroke Improvement Plan was £40,574 in 2018-19, £42,050 in 2019-20, £175,674 in 2020-21, £182,980 in 2021-22 and £174,489 in 2022-23. The 2023-24 budget has allocated £12.5 million in revenue spending for the further development of a national thrombectomy service and development of stroke policy.

Social Security Scotland has not been financially compromised or experienced any financial loss as a result of cyber attacks.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of eligibility and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant but only for Scotland. There are no estimates or forecasts of eligibility and take-up (the proportion of eligible children that receive payments) by area within Scotland. Their figures cannot be used to inform eligibility or take-up rates for East Kilbride specifically.

Social Security Scotland publish statistics for applications and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant by local authority areas (including South Lanarkshire) but not at constituency level and statistics for 2023-24 are not yet available.

However, internal Scottish Government analysis suggests around 5500 children in East Kilbride are eligible for Scottish Child Payment in 2023-24 and around 1000 for Best Start Grant. Of those, it is estimated around 4500 children will receive Scottish Child Payment and around 1000 children will receive Best Start Grant.

These figures have been rounded to the nearest five hundred to reflect the fact they are approximate estimates and use national level eligibility and take-up rates. We have not provided specific estimates for each Best Start Grant payment due to the uncertainty associated with such small numbers however the number of children eligible for Best Start Grant are expected to be roughly spread evenly across the three different payment types. Since Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment are paid automatically to eligible clients already receiving Scottish Child Payment but Pregnancy and Baby Payment is not, we would expect slightly fewer children to receive this payment than the other Best Start Grants. See Table 1:

Table 1: Estimated number of children in East Kilbride constituency forecast to be eligible for and receive Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant, 2023-24.

The Scottish Government has not made a decision to privatise charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network.

ChargePlace Scotland’s charging assets are owned by over 400 separate organisations across the public, private and third party sectors. These organisations are responsible for procurement, maintenance and commercial decisions relating to their own charge point assets.

The Scottish Government does not routinely monitor the number and type of privately run charge points at this time. This information is, however, monitored by the private sector – for instance, Zap-Map monitor and publish monthly statistics which includes the total number and type of privately-run electric vehicle charge points across the UK.

Transport Scotland is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charge point Strategy and Expansion Plans, to identify the opportunities to work with the private sector to grow Scotland’s network. These plans are identifying local and regional charge point needs, the investment requirements, as well as the best approaches to delivering collaborative investments with commercial charge point operators.

The funding formula for the Local Government Settlements for local authorities in the Highlands and Islands recognises their need in relation to transport and includes allocations for this. It is, however, for individual local authorities to decide how to allocate the total financial resources available to them.

We do recognise the challenge for local authorities that have responsibility for ferries and have provided more than £136m over the last 5 years to support the running of these services. Orkney and Shetland Ferry Replacement Task Forces are in progress to look at processes for ferry replacement and potential solutions.