Chamber and committees

The commissioning of NHS national services is the responsibility of NHS National Services Division (NSD), a sub division of NHS Services Scotland (NSS).Eligible patients for magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) for essential tremor can be referred to NHS Tayside in conjunction with the University of Dundee.

At present, no new application has been received to designate MRgFUS as a national specialist service to NHS Tayside. NSD will continue to work with the MRgFUS team in NHS Tayside in the meantime.

The Public Sector Pay Strategy 2023-24 applies to staff in the Scottish Government and its associated departments, agencies, non-departmental public bodies and public corporations.

All organisations covered by our Pay Strategy are required to pay at least the real Living Wage rate to all their staff, including apprentices. Apprentices are employees and as such benefit from the same rights and protections offered to other employees through their employment. Skills Development Scotland will continue to encourage all employers outside our Public Sector Pay Strategy to pay apprentices at least the real Living Wage rate, including those aged 19 and under and those in their first year.

Public Health Scotland publish figures on how many 2C, 17C and 17J practices there are in each Health Board. The following information has been gathered from the GP Workforce and Practice List Sizes publication available at: General Practice - GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2012 - 2022 - General Practice - GP workforce and practice list sizes - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. We advise the member to contact the NHS Boards directly.

In 2021, the Scottish Government reached a joint agreement with local authorities to increase the national minimum school clothing grant to £120 for each eligible primary school pupil, and £150 for each eligible secondary school pupil. This was an increase from the national minimum grant of £100 per eligible pupil which was agreed with local authorities in 2018.

The Scottish Government provided funding to local authorities of £11.8m in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years to support eligible families to benefit from the minimum school clothing grant. In 2023-24, the Scottish Government has increased funding to £13m to support local authorities to maintain the school clothing grant in line with increased inflation costs.

It is for local authorities to determine their own eligibility criteria for school clothing grant and authorities have the option to set their grant level higher than the minimum if they wish.

Decisions about funding to local authorities in respect of the school clothing grant in future financial years will be made as part of wider considerations on the Scottish Budget, taking into account economic and other circumstances, including continued delivery of the Covid Recovery Strategy and its aim to increase support for low-income households.

The Scottish Government has continued the commitment to support SFRS service delivery and reform with a further uplift of £10m resource for 2023-24. In recognition of the pay and inflationary pressures faced by SFRS, we have provided SFRS with additional budget cover of up to £4.4m on top of the allocation set in the 2023-24 budget announcement.

The Scottish Government’s Fire and Rescue Framework for Scotland 2022 sets out that SFRS should ensure that the capability of its assets and staff, combined with technological improvements, enable it to respond to incidents with the right resources at the right time across communities in Scotland. The deployment of the appropriate level of resources to deal with an incident is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

For those people who have been prescribed lifesaving equipment at home, such as home hemodialysis, any reimbursement of energy costs would be the responsibility of the NHS Board. In relation to home oxygen concentrators, the energy costs are covered by a contract with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), part of NHS Scotland and delivered by Dolby Vivisol. As such, reimbursement of energy costs for running home oxygen concentrators are made to patients by Dolby Vivisol.

Our Fuel Insecurity Fund (FIF) was first established in late 2020, as part of the wider Winter Support Fund, delivered via trusted third sector partners, to help households struggling with their energy costs who were at risk of severely rationing, or self-disconnecting entirely because they could not afford their energy costs.

The First Minister, has confirmed the Scottish Government will now build on the doubling of the Fuel Insecurity Fund announced last year, to now triple it to £30 million for 2023-24. The Fund is a critical plank in our support to people who are struggling with their energy costs. It continues to provide a lifeline to households who are at risk of self-rationing or self-disconnecting their energy use.

This will be delivered in 2023-24 by third sector partner organisations, specifically the Fuel Bank Foundation (FBF), Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) and the Wise Group. Whilst core staff costs will be provided to Energy Action Scotland, as Scotland’s National Fuel Poverty charity.

FBF and ADS have to date from FIF funding, provided direct financial assistance, up to a limited ceiling, as a short-term crisis support to disabled people for help with their energy costs related to lifesaving medical equipment in their homes.

In light of the current impact of the cost crisis on disabled people, the former Minister for Equalities and Older People approved an immediate priorities plan and set up a Short Life Working Group to focus on progressing this work. The first meeting of this group took place in March 2023 and the group will meet four more times between now and May 2024. Although out of scope for the SLWG, further updates will be provided to them on the analysis of the energy costs and reimbursement of lifesaving equipment at home.

The Scottish Government moved swiftly to meet with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) after the Members debate on the FBU DECON Campaign on 19 January 2023. In addition to regular discussions with the SFRS Chair and Chief Officer, the former Minister for Community Safety met with the SFRS at their Headquarters on 21 February 2023 to discuss current actions that the SFRS are taking and also future plans to further protect firefighters from contaminants. Officials are also in close contact with the SFRS on an ongoing basis on these issues.

The Scottish Government recognises the important international platform offered by the Venice Biennale to promote the best contemporary art and architecture from Scotland on the world stage.

The decision by Creative Scotland and the other Scotland + Venice partners to pause their involvement in the Venice Biennale in 2024 allows for an important period of reflection and review.

The decision does not affect the delivery of the 2023 Scotland + Venice Architecture project, A Fragile Correspondence, which will take place in Venice from May – November, this year.

The Scotland + Venice partners will be undertaking sectoral engagement to explore new approaches to the project for the longer term while also looking to identify opportunities for artists and curators to experience the Biennale in 2024.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting the Scottish culture sector’s international interests and ambitions and is currently developing an International Culture Strategy to that end.

ScotRail currently has no plans to change its current policy on toilet charges at stations.