Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to sourcing innovative solutions to address key challenges that face our NHS, that have been trialled and validated to work across the health ecosystem in Scotland.

In order to encourage and contribute to the delivery of innovation in general across the Scottish public sector, the Scottish Government have worked closely with NHS National Services Scotland to develop a new, national, business led innovation service called Scotland Innovates. The new service provides a central portal for suppliers to submit innovative solutions for assessment across the entire public sector, including Health.

The Scottish Government recently launched the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) Pathway. This aims to provide a once for Scotland approach to the identification, assessment and accelerated adoption of innovative health technologies, including medical devices, that could have a transformative impact on recovery, reform and sustainability within health and social care in Scotland.

It is for NHS Boards to decide whether to procure health technologies. However, Boards receive support from the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) who provide evidence and advice on the use of new and existing health technologies when they are likely to have significant implications for people’s care.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

The requested breakdown of missing person investigations by NHS Health Board area is provided below. This is based on the same snapshot of data as used by Police Scotland to answer PQ S6W-11619. The information covers investigations of a person going missing from the NHS (for those cases that were reported to the police). The data is drawn from the Missing Person’s Database and is available on a consistent basis from April 2019 onwards. The figures relate to a count of investigations rather than a count of people going missing. As such, the same person may appear multiple times within any year if they have been reported missing on more than one occasion during that period.

It should also be noted that the data covers all NHS grounds and not just hospitals.

Missing Person Investigations by NHS Board, “Missing From The NHS”, Police Scotland

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12369 on‎ 2 December 2022. 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

Scotland Cycle Repair Scheme (SCRS) is delivering 30,000 cycle repairs or services to people in Scotland, focusing on those that need the support the most. Repairs and servicing are provided through a network of over 300 shops, retailers, community organisations and sole traders. The scheme has run since August 2020 and delivered a total of 64,945 repairs to date. The amount of repairs per year is as follows:

Through support provided in Financial Year 20-21: 31,562 bikes were repaired

Through support provided in Financial Year 21-22: 21,923 bikes were repaired

Through support provided in Financial Year 22-23: 11,460 bikes have been repaired so far

It is worth noting there is a time delay in reporting and this figure will be higher.

The Scottish Ambulance Service reports that in 2022, 46888 call-outs have alcohol mentioned as a possible factor by ambulance crews when completing an electronic patient record. The Scottish Ambulance Service does not specifically record alcohol-related incidents.

The timetable process is embedded and set out in both (a) Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service (CHFS) and (b) Northern Isles Ferry Service (NIFS) contracts and is monitored through the management of these contracts by my officials in Transport Scotland.

Both operators should engage directly with community groups on timetable issues.

Full details of active travel funding for the next five years has not yet been agreed and will form part of the annual Scottish Government’s Budget process. The Active Travel budget for 2022-23 increased by £35 million to £150 million and the Bute House Agreement committed to increase the proportion of Transport Scotland’s budget spent on Active Travel initiatives so that by 2024-25 at least £320 million or 10% of the total transport budget will be allocated to active travel.

The total number of bikes issued to date is 2857. The bikes include adapted and non-standard bikes to cater for a range of needs.

In addition, fleet bikes delivered by Sustrans Scotland to participating schools, but not given to any individual child, have been used 4448 times.

The following table provides the information on how much was spent on active travel in each of the past five financial years: