Chamber and committees

We are working closely with NHS Boards to support a range of local initiatives designed to meet the basic and practical needs of junior doctors, and their teams. This includes access to quiet spaces to support health and wellbeing, the installation of lockers and further support to facilitate out of hours catering.

The Scottish Government is determined to deliver the recommendations of the Expert Working Group’s report on junior doctor wellbeing and have begun introducing further improvements to working conditions. We have met the key recommendation of limiting consecutive days of long shifts, with 100% compliance achieved in December 2022. We will continue to work with NHS Boards and employers to monitor and ensure this continues in the long-term.

In February 2023 we invited Boards to consider the purchase of small hot food appliances for all Doctors in Training in Secondary Care. We encouraged Boards to liaise with their local BMA rep around the specifics of the ask and are currently in the process of allocating budget to cover the purchase of appliances.

Social Security Scotland received 91,225 new applications for Scottish Child Payment between 14 November and 31 December 2022. This does not include applications from existing clients looking to add additional children to their current award.

The majority of people who applied or added additional children to their existing award during this period have now received a decision. People who made new applications and received an award decision received their payment by the end of February. For people who were adding additional children, payments will follow their existing payment cycle.

Where someone applied for Scottish Child Payment before 31 December 2022 and has not received a decision, this is because additional information or evidence is required to process their application. Social Security Scotland has been in contact with everyone in this situation.

Drinks importers that buy products from supplier outside of Scotland have the same requirement as drinks producers to register with the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme to meet their legal obligations. Circularity Scotland as the scheme administrator is rightfully leading on engagement with businesses, including drinks importers, to help them register with the scheme.

Circularity Scotland is delivering major inward investment to Scotland and protecting and creating jobs in recycling and logistics. Circularity Scotland has recently announced 140 new jobs for the scheme at a recycling plant in Motherwell, 70 jobs have already been announced for Aberdeen and further announcements will follow for sites in other locations including Skye, Inverness, Thurso, Dundee, Grangemouth and Oban, bringing a total of 500 new jobs to Scotland.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews its plans for public awareness campaigns and raising awareness of conditions such as thrombosis. We do not intend to run a public awareness campaign for deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, venous thromboembolism, and thrombosis at this time.

NHSinform.scot provides clear and accessible information on thrombosis related conditions, including, symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and prevention.

In February 2021, we published the refresh of our Diabetes Improvement Plan (DIP), which sets out our aims and priorities to deliver safe, effective and person-centred healthcare, treatment and support for people living with diabetes. Implementation of the Plan is governed by the Scottish Diabetes Group and a number of project groups.  

The Scottish Diabetes Group (SDG) and Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) meet regularly to discuss concerns and share good practice. The Chair of the SDG also hosts an advisory group to discuss issues relating to endocrinology services. NHS Ayrshire & Arran have representation on these national meetings and we will continue to support the diabetes teams to improve their services.  

Wider support for service improvements comes from the NHS Recovery Plan, published in August 2021. This Plan is backed by over £1 billion of funding and will support an increase in both inpatient and outpatient activity to ensure adequate provision of services and tackle backlogs in care from the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The Scottish Government has spent £37,698 including VAT on administration costs for the Home Energy Efficiency Equity Loan pilot over the current contractual period of 2019 – 2023. The reduction in costs for 2022-2023 reflects the end of the pilot in March 2022 resulting in the closure of the scheme to new applicants.

A Call for Evidence in August 2021 sought feedback on the pilot. The pilot’s findings will inform the Green Heat Finance Taskforce’s deliberations on future finance mechanisms to support the greening of Scotland’s buildings.

Scottish Government officials met with representatives from Scottish Power Renewables on 15 February 2023 to discuss the use of diesel generators at Arecleoch and Glen App wind farms.

The rules and regulations that govern the resilience of the GB electricity grid are a matter entirely reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has no responsibility in relation to the operational management of wind farm sites.

The Scottish Government has spent £292,985 (inc vat) on administering the SME Loan and Grant Scheme over the period 2019-20 – 2022-23 as set out in the following table. This scheme has provided significant financial support to SMEs in Scotland to decarbonise, improve their energy efficiency, cut energy bills and become more economically competitive over the Scheme’s lifespan.

Public Health Scotland collect Management Information on the number of adults receiving Hospital at Home. However, no data is collected on children receiving this service or on patients receiving a Hospice at home services, although some of the patients receiving hospital at home may be receiving end of life care.

The following table shows the total number of adults (16+) who have been supported through Hospital at Home services by calendar year and Health Board, and shows a 60% increase in patients treated since 2015. A patient could have one or more admission to Hospital at Home services within the year. However, individual episodes are not counted, and the same patient is not counted more than once within the same year.