Chamber and committees

The existing Scottish Government Records Management Health and Social Care Code of Practice (Scotland) 2024 has guidance on managing health records of people who identify as transgender. This links to guidance from the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, the General Medical Council and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). It was recognised in 2020 that it was an area under development, and subsequently the Scottish Government's Chief Statistician issued guidance for public bodies on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. The Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2024 incorporates the Chief Statistician's guidance along with feedback from stakeholders, providing further guidance to NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government plans to launch a formal public consultation on a potential local authority cruise ship levy in Scotland in February this year.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33304 on 24 January 2025. 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/questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33304 on 24 January 2025. 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/questions-and-answers

The Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme publishes annual data on incidence, cardiac interventions and patient outcomes across Scotland. The most recent reports are available here; Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme report 2023/2024 - Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme (SCAP) - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

The Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 have a focus on reducing inequities in access to cancer care and cancer outcomes.

The Scottish Government is looking to improve our understanding of outcomes of people with cancer living in rural and island communities. Examples include an independent evaluation of their experiences accessing cancer services, and a research programme on rural healthcare funded by the Chief Scientist Office.

The Scottish Diabetes Survey (SDS) collates data extracted from SCI-Diabetes database submitted by all 14 NHS boards and provides an annual summary of key issues and trends in diabetes care and treatment across Scotland. A link to the survey can be found at: Publications | diabetes in scotland.

The Scottish Government draft budget 2025-26 has been informed by planning forecasts provided by the Thrombectomy Advisory Group (TAG). Clinicians and third sector organisations, as well as NHS planning colleagues, are represented on the TAG and the information provided by them helps to inform decisions taken by the National Thrombectomy Programme Board.

Work is ongoing to establish how the £16 million funding announced in the Scottish budget, subject to parliamentary scrutiny, will be best used to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from thrombectomy.

The Scottish Government remains committed to expanding the national thrombectomy service, and ensuring access to this treatment is as equitable as possible. The delivery of a national thrombectomy service has already received over £38m of investment.

Most NHS Boards now refer to thrombectomy Hub centres, increasing geographical access to thrombectomy procedures. We have also funded thrombectomy specialist nurse posts in spoke hospitals with high rates of ischaemic stroke to ensure people who would benefit from thrombectomy are promptly identified.

Through the National Thrombectomy Programme Board and Thrombectomy Advisory Group, planning is being undertaken to drive expansion of the thrombectomy service. Work is ongoing to establish how the £16 million funding announced in the Scottish budget, subject to parliamentary scrutiny, will be best used to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from thrombectomy.

The latest published data as at 31 March 2023 relating to (a) the total unitary charge payments associated with PFI and PPP contracts including NPD (Non-Profit Distributing) which were paid across the public sector in Scotland from 1997-98 to 2022-23 comprising both (i) expired and (ii) active contracts are contained within the following table.

The Scottish Government supports the Healthy Working Lives (HWL) initiative, hosted by Public Health Scotland, which offers a range of materials to support employers on all aspects of work-related health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work and workplace safety.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with Public Health Scotland and See Me, also delivers the Supporting a Mentally Healthy Workplace: National Learning Network for Employers. The network brings together employers of all sizes and across all sectors to share learning and experiences of supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. Over 800 individuals are now engaged with the network.

The Scottish Government also fund Paths for All, a Scottish charity which promotes everyday walking. Paths for All run two national challenges a year in the spring and autumn. The Step Count Challenge (SCC) is a walking challenge for Scottish workplaces, which aims to encourage business to support employees to walk more to improve mental and physical health. In 2023-24, 325 workplaces took part in the spring, autumn and bespoke challenges.

Across the Scottish Government, a range of staff have been or will be involved in independence work. We do not routinely record details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on research and compilation, as there is no business need to do this.

The Scottish Government has published the publication costs of the thirteen papers in the Building a New Scotland series, found at the following link: Building a New Scotland papers: costs - gov.scot

Preparatory work on additional material within the series has also been undertaken, adding £9,371.45. This brings the total spent on the publication of the BANS papers to £216,418.98.