Chamber and committees

The following table shows the number of cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme as of the end of the day on 12 September 2022, broken down to local authority level.

This data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The table includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application.

The Scottish Government is committed to continue working closely with local authorities in tackling the global climate emergency. Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. As long as they act lawfully, it is up to each local authority how it manages its day-to-day business and decision making processes. This includes decision making around which carbon accounting tools to use.

The award of public contracts is regulated by law. Any future awarding of Scottish Government contracts for carbon accounting tools would be subject to open and genuine competition, including adequate publication of the contract opportunity, in line with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

It is not possible to provide this information due to the complexity of monitoring the number of individual incidents of people accessing drug and alcohol services and relevant spend per individual, across the time period requested.

Data on numbers accessing drug treatment are published in the Scottish Drugs Misuse Database (SDMD) and dates back to 2006-07.

In April 2021 a new Drug and Alcohol Information System (DAISy) went live. This database will provide more detailed information on the numbers accessing treatment. The first report from DAISy will be published in January 2023. This will provide latest data on numbers receiving treatment through drug and alcohol services.

Details on specific funding on treatment is also not available at the national level. Funding provided for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships supports a wide range of activity alongside treatment services including prevention, outreach and harm reduction services. We intend to provide detail of the funding provided to ADPs in the first National Mission annual report which is due later this year.

The following tables 1 to 4 show breast screening uptake from January 2019 to June 2022 for each of the breast screening centres. Uptake is defined as the proportion of eligible patients invited who receive a technically adequate and complete screen. 2019 data is provided as a baseline. Note that table 2 reflects a period when the programme was paused due to COVID-19.

It is important to note that the data provided was collected and used for management purposes for monitoring the recovery of the program and has not been subject to quality checks for official publication. Public Health Scotland publish breast screening programme statistics every year; the last publication was in April 2022 and the next publication is due in April 2023.

Table 1 – Breast screening uptake (% of eligible participants) by screening centre, January to December 2019

The Scottish Government’s funding agreement with CoSLA enables local authorities to pay sustainable rates to providers in the private, third and childminding sectors who meet the National Standard, and enter into a contract with a local authority to provide funded early learning and childcare (ELC).

Last year’s Financial Sustainability Health Check reported that payments for the delivery of funded ELC account for around 33% to 45% of income for private providers. Providers are responsible for setting fees that are not associated with the provision of funded ELC.

The Scottish Government and local government recognise the need to strengthen the process for setting sustainable rates, and are progressing the programme of actions from the Health Check .

This includes publishing jointly with COSLA, on 26 May 2022, updated guidance to support local authorities to set sustainable rates. The guidance emphasises the importance of ongoing consultation and dialogue between local authorities and their local ELC providers.

The Scottish Government is committed to collecting annual data on the sustainable rates set by local authorities, and will publish an update this autumn.

The Scottish Government is aware that the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) publishes an engagement plan for every Registered Social Landlord which is publicly available on their website. Their engagement plan for Reidvale Housing Association covering the period up to 31 March 2023 states that they are engaging with the Association on its strategic options appraisal.

As an independent Regulator it is for the SHR to make decisions about how they regulate. Their Regulatory Framework sets out how they perform their functions and regulate social landlords.

Paper £20 and £50 notes will be withdrawn from circulation on 30 September. This change will have an impact on individuals and businesses within Scotland.

The decision to withdraw these notes in Scotland coincides with the withdrawal of Bank of England £20 and £50 paper notes from circulation on the same date. In advance of 30 September deadline the Bank of England have issued multiple news releases to inform individuals and businesses that paper £20 and £50 notes will not be accepted beyond this date. This mirrors the approach of the previous decision to withdraw the legal tender status of paper £5 and £10 notes across the UK in 2018.

Additionally, a press release has been issued on 1 September by the Committee of Scottish Bankers on behalf of Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank to inform Scottish customers of the upcoming 30 th of September deadline.

It is important to note that 30 September is only the deadline for which paper £20 and £50 notes can be used to purchase goods and services in shops. Beyond this date paper notes can still be deposited into bank accounts at banks and post offices. Notes can also be exchanged for the corresponding polymer note at certain banks and post offices in Scotland, and Bank of England paper notes can be exchanged directly with the Bank of England via post.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how much it estimates it would cost to retrofit every street light to include an electric vehicle charging point. Costs will be influenced by a range of factors including the location of and type of lamppost, the electric vehicle charge point technology itself as well as any associated installation and civils works. Retrofitting would also need to factor in the variable on-going cost of operation and maintenance.

Scottish Government officials are meeting with NHS Education Scotland on 27 September to explore primary care cancer education. This follows the recent cessation of Cancer Research UK’s Clinical Engagement Team that played a key role in delivering cancer education across NHS Scotland in recent years.

The Scottish Government is taking appropriate steps to ensure we have the necessary staffing in place to support our NHS services. Over the lifetime of this parliament we are committed to investing more than £11 million in further domestic and international recruitment to support NHS staffing levels.

Student nurses and midwives entering funded degree programmes will increase in 2022-23 to a total recommended intake of 4,837. This will be the tenth successive increase, doubling the number of students who were funded in the last decade.

To ensure appropriate shift cover where there is increased demand the majority [54.9%] of temporary staffing cost comes from the NHS Staff Bank. Bank staff are NHS staff, on NHS contracts at NHS rates of pay.

The usage of bank and agency staff was vital during the height of the pandemic, the most pressured time our NHS has ever seen. The use of short term staff in an organisation as large and complex as the NHS is inevitable and is not related to one specific issue.

Their use helps ensure service continuity during times of planned and unplanned staffing gaps including sickness absence and leave. Boards receive monthly agency spend reports and each Board has identified an Executive Lead to take overall responsibility for this area.