Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-19138

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many abdominal aortic aneurysm screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

The Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening programme is commissioned by National Services Scotland (NSS) and operates out of eight centres across Scotland. Scottish Government does not hold the information requested centrally as this is a matter for Regional Screening Centres. However, Public Health Scotland publish programme statistics on an annual basis and the latest report can be viewed at : https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-aaa-screening-programme-statistics/scottish-abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-aaa-screening-programme-statistics-year-ending-31-march-2022/

Question reference: S6W-19134

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have attended a breast screening programme appointment in each month since July 2021.

The breast screening programme is commissioned by NHS National Services Scotland (NHS NSS) and operates out of six centres across Scotland. Scottish Government do not hold the information requested centrally as this is a matter for Regional Screening Centres. However, Public Health Scotland publish programme statistics on an annual basis and the most recent publication can be accessed on the following link : https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-breast-screening-programme-statistics/scottish-breast-screening-programme-statistics-annual-update-to-31-march-2022/

Question reference: S6W-19137

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many diabetic retinopathy screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

Question reference: S6W-19113

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many service level agreements have been agreed between hospices and NHS boards in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

It is the responsibility of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to plan and commission adult palliative and end of life care services for their areas using the integrated budgets under their control. As such, service level agreements between hospices and health boards are matters for Integration Authorities, their health boards, and independent hospices. Prior to commencement of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, any service level agreements would have been matters for NHS Health Boards and independent hospices.

Question reference: S6W-19139

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many cervical cancer screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

NHS National Services Scotland provides national coordination for the Scottish Cervical Screening Programme, which is commissioned by Boards and delivered by primary care. Scottish Government does not hold the information requested centrally. However, Public Health Scotland publish programme statistics on an annual basis and the latest report can be viewed at : https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-cervical-screening-programme-statistics/scottish-cervical-screening-programme-statistics-annual-update-to-31-march-2022/

Question reference: S6W-19150

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to adopting a kitemark standard to encourage improved performance in the waste collections sector.

This is not currently being pursued. The Scottish Government is open to the adoption of standards where there is evidence of the potential to improve performance.

However, though a kitemark standard is aimed at enabling a consistent, accessible and high performing services, the 2012 Waste (Scotland) regulations along with the existing Recycling Charter and its associated Code of Practice act as the Scottish standard of good service provision for household waste collections.

Question reference: S6W-19144

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many newborn screenings have taken place in each month since July 2021.

Question reference: S6W-19126

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many carer breaks have been delivered to people in each year since the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force, also given as a proportion of people eligible for one, and broken down by local authority area.

The number of unpaid carers who receive short breaks or respite is reported in the accompanying tables of the Scottish Government Carers Census . This collection only covers unpaid carers who have a support plan and/or receive support from local services, rather than the total caring population. Table 1 below does not include data from 2018-19, as it is not comparable to subsequent years.

Table 1: Number and percentage of people who received short breaks or respite in 2019-20 to 2021-22 (all areas submitted) (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)

Year	Number of people provided with short breaks or respite	Percentage of people who received support who were provided with short breaks or respite
2019-20	4,450	29%
2020-21	5,360	29%
2021-22	11,570	37%

In order to help monitor the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, which took effect on 1st April 2018, a variety of information on unpaid carers and the support they are provided with is collected from local support services through the Scottish Government Carers Census.

Since the implementation of the Act was a significant change to practice, it has required changes to the data that is collected by Local Authorities and Carer Centres and the implementation of new systems to collect and record that data. As such, the Carers Census is likely an undercount of the true number of unpaid carers receiving support since data quality is still improving over time. Data for 2019-20 and 2020-21 were collected at the same time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and changes between 2020-21 and 2021-22 are likely to be more reflective of the greater completeness and improved data quality in 2021-22 rather than actual change.

In addition, data from the Scottish Health Survey suggests that for 2017-21, 4% of all unpaid carers aged 16 and over received short breaks or respite. This is equivalent to an estimated 27,000 carers. The Scottish Health Survey samples the wider population rather than only carers who have a support plan or who receive support from local services.

The number of short breaks or respite provided as a proportion of those eligible is provided in Table 2. Data for 2018-19 is not included as it is not comparable to subsequent years. These proportions are not based on the figures shown in Table 1, as those figures relate to all carers recorded as receiving a short break or respite rather than only those with recorded needs and eligibility.

The first column shows the percentage of people who received a short break or respite who were recorded as needing one, regardless of eligibility
The second column shows the percentage of people who received a short break or respite who were recorded as needing one and met local eligibility criteria.

Table 2: Percentage of people who were assessed as needing a short break or respite who received one, 2019-20 to 2021-22 (Source: Carers Census, Scottish Government)

Year	Percentage of people who were assessed as needing a short break or respite and received one	Percentage of people who were assessed as needing, and were eligible for, a short break or respite and received one
2019-20	86%	88%
2020-21	83%	86%
2021-22	76%	79%

Unpaid carers are considered to be eligible to receive a short break if they are a) assessed as needing one and b) meet local eligibility criteria. However, many carer centres do not operate using eligibility criteria and will provide the support needed to the carers that they are in contact with. As such, information on whether a carer is eligible for support is poorly returned in the Carers Census. In 2021-22, information on eligibility was missing for over 60% of records.

In addition, there were a number of carers in the Carers Census data who were recorded as receiving a short break or respite but who weren’t recorded as needing one. This could be due to a number of reasons such as differences in data recording or changes in the carers’ circumstances.

Local level breakdowns are not provided as, despite the increase in the number of organisations returning data through the Carers Census, there are still some gaps in coverage across Scotland. The differences in approach to carer support between local areas also make direct local comparisons inadvisable; as do the differences in data recording. For instance, some areas are only able to return information for carers who have a support plan in place while others are able to return information on all the carers they support.

Question reference: S6W-19158

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of sextortion have been recorded by Police Scotland in each year since 2017.

The National Statistics on recorded crime do not include a specific code for crimes of ‘sextortion’ (i.e. extortion involving the threat of sharing sexual information about the victim). There are however two types of crime that include activity that could be considered to constitute ‘sextortion’.

Table 1 shows the estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online, from 2019-20 to 2022-23. This is based on an annual review of crime records (commenced in 2019-20) which aims to estimate how many cyber-crimes are recorded in Scotland. It should be noted the figures below are based on a sample of police records (rather than all police records), so should be seen as providing a broad estimate of the volume of this type of crime, rather than an exact count.

Whilst not all online threats and extortion will necessarily have a ‘sextortion’ based element, it is very likely a high proportion (and certainly the majority) of the cases shown below do. Where ‘sextortion’ related crimes are recorded under this heading, it will be where the perpetrator has made demands for money or other valuables.

Table 1 - Estimated volume of threats and extortion committed online: 2019-20 to 2022-23

	Estimated volume committed online
Crime type	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Threats and extortion	290	730	1,260	1,830

Source: Recorded Crime National Statistics, Police recorded cyber-crime in Scotland

The second type of crime in the National Statistics that may also be considered to show an element of ‘sextortion’ is Threatening to disclose an intimate image. Table 2 below shows the number of these crimes recorded since the associated Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act was implemented on 3 July 2017. Where a crime of Threatening to disclose an intimate image is recorded, the motive is something other than financial gain, for example a demand of a physical sexual nature may be made, or some other attempt to exert control over the victim.

Table 2 – Count of crimes of Threatening to disclose an intimate image: 2017-18 to 2022-23

Crime type	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Threatening to disclose an intimate image	193	255	275	337	382	302

Source: Recorded Crime National Statistics, Scotland

Question reference: S6W-19109

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to roll out the No-one Dies Alone initiative to train and support people to act as companions for people at the end of life.

No-one Dies Alone is one way to provide emotional support and companionship to people at the end of life, especially those who may be more isolated. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of this support and an overarching aim of the new Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy that we are developing is that Scotland is a place where people and communities can come together to support each other, take action, and talk openly about planning ahead, serious illness, dying, death, and bereavement.

The Scottish Government does not have plans to roll out the No-one Dies Alone initiative but does support the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care to develop and promote public health initiatives such as No-on Dies Alone, to support communities and volunteers to care for those who are near the end of life.

Chamber and committees