Chamber and committees

Overall responsibility and accountability for the management of NHS complaints lies with individual Boards’ Chief Executives, Executive Directors and appropriate senior management.

The NHS Model Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) has been in operation across Scotland since 1 April 2017. The CHP introduced nine complaints performance indicators, three qualitative and six quantitative. These performance indicators are set out in The Patient Rights (Feedback, Comments, Concerns and Complaints) (Scotland) Directions 2017.

NHS Boards have a legal duty to publish their feedback and complaints reports annually and to submit these to the Scottish Ministers, Public Health Scotland, the Patient Advice and Support Service, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and, where appropriate, the Scottish Prison Service. National complaints statistics are published annually by Public Health Scotland.

We are committed to openness and transparency in an NHS that welcomes all forms of feedback and uses it to inform continuous improvement. The current NHS Model Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) has been in operation across Scotland since 1 April 2017.

This revised procedure is intended to support a more consistently person-centred approach to complaints handling across NHS Scotland. It brings a much sharper focus to the early, local resolution of complaints, wherever that is appropriate.

The timescales for handling complaints, set out in the CHP, are in line with all public sector organisations’ complaints procedures in Scotland, with a distinct, five working day stage for early, local resolution, ahead of the 20-working day stage for complaint investigations. There are no plans to review the timescales.

The number of probationers local authorities bid for was greater than the number of probationers required to be allocated.

As at May 2023, local authorities bid for 3,818 probationers. The number of probationers allocated were 3,161.

The Scottish Government is clear that one life lost on our roads is one too many and along with partners is committed to eradicating fatal and serious collisions on our roads.

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 sets out a vision for Scotland to have the best road safety performance in the world by 2030 and an ambitious long term goal where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads by 2050. For the first time, a full range of mode and user specific targets for key priority groups such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and over-represented age groups have been created to focus our partners on key priority areas.

The framework is supported by annual delivery plans that includes a wide range of road safety initiatives from road safety partners. These initiatives are continuously monitored through our three tier governance structure, with progress and outcomes published within our annual reports on the Transport Scotland website.

In addition, our Road Safety Framework Fund gives road safety partners the opportunity to co-design and co-deliver road safety initiatives that support the delivery of the framework. A condition of the grant funding is that each project is independently evaluated to determine the impact it is having on road safety performance.

As of the morning of 1 August 2023 there were 2,275 people on remand. The following table shows the average (median) and longest (maximum) continuous time (expressed in days) spent on remand, by ethnic grouping.

The start date of this collection imposes an upper limit on the continuous time to date spent on remand of 1,225 days. Less than five individuals were at that limit, held under the Extradition Act 2003 (S8).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19812 on‎ 1 August 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

The Scottish Government has no plans to provide funding for additional air services from the mainland to Scottish islands. The only mechanism for the provision of subsidised air services is through the imposition of a Public Service Obligation (PSO). In line with legislative requirements, when considering the imposition of a PSO, the adequacy of other modes of transport and the ability of such modes to meet the transport needs under consideration is assessed.

Rail accessibility remains a matter reserved to the UK Government. For the current Rail Regulatory Control Period 6 (2019-2024) the Scottish Government nominated the following stations for the Department for Transport’s Access for All Programme:-

Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow, Uddingston, Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie.

Following the nominations, the UK Department for Transport Access for All Programme and mid-Tier Programmes for this Control Period provided funding for access improvements at Anderston, Anniesland, Croy, Dumfries, Johnstone, Port Glasgow and Uddingston. The UK Government has chosen not to provide funding for Springburn, Shettleston, Falkirk High, Falkirk Grahamston, and Inverurie stations.

Step free access has already been delivered at Anderston, Croy, and Johnstone with the remaining stations where the UK Government accepted the Scottish Government’s nominations due to be completed by the end of the rail funding period in 2024.

The following table shows the average (median) and longest continuous time (expressed in days) spent on remand before transition to the sentenced population or departure, in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Data for 2022-23 is not yet available.

Table 1: Average (median) and Longest (Maximum) Number of Days Spent of Remand

The intention is that fares policy will be reviewed through the Fair Fares Review and Islands Connectivity Plan. Decisions will be taken on implementation in due course.

Some work had commenced with the commercial operator to consider potential options to put in place a compliant RET scheme, although this work has not progressed as quickly as we would have hoped due to other priorities in supporting ferry services.

Applying RET fares on Scottish Government funded services to the Northern Isles routes has previously been considered as potential high risk of distorting the Pentland Firth market and open to challenge. Further discussion and agreement with commercial operators would be required for this to be a viable option.