Chamber and committees

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.

Neurology trainees are provided with training in immunology and virology. The curriculum for neurology training, published by the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board, includes Capabilities in Practice (CiPs) on managing inflammatory and infectious disorders.

These CiPs make clear expectations upon neurology trainees regarding:

• understanding of the underlying anatomy and pathophysiology of inflammatory and infectious diseases of the nervous system, including the treatments and their side effects
• ability to select, request and interpret relevant investigations including serology, genetic testing, imaging of the brain and spine, neurophysiology, tissue culture and histology in order to diagnose and manage such disorders
• ability to work with other relevant clinicians both in treating and monitoring patients and in referring them to other disciplines as appropriate.

There is robust educational Governance through NHS Education Scotland (NES) for neurology training in Scotland. NES does not consider it necessary to require neurologists to be experts in either immunology or virology, but to be able to clinically assess, investigate and manage people with neuroimmunological conditions and neuroinfectious disease using an evidence-based approach.

Evidence confirms that substance use can be a potential consequence for those of us who have experienced high levels of trauma and adversity in our lives.

The Scottish Government’s ambition, shared with COSLA, is for anyone who has been affected by trauma to be supported by the trauma-informed and responsive support, care and services they need. These are services built on safe, trusted relationships, which foster recovery, prevent re-traumatisation and help reduce the risk that individuals and/or their families might turn to substance use to cope.

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has invested over £12 million in the National Trauma Transformation Programme (NTTP). The NTTP aims to support all sectors of the workforce, to understand how to adapt the way they work to be trauma-informed. This includes understanding how substances can be a coping strategy for the impact of trauma and embedding the principles of choice, collaboration, empowerment, safety and trust to help improve the life outcomes of those affected.

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 number of pupils that have been recorded with a part-time timetable absence code for 1 or more openings (half-day sessions) in each local authority from 2018-19 is set out in the following table.

A Bill to update and modernise the Adults with Incapacity Act is expected to be introduced during the 2024-25 parliamentary year. A consultation on proposed amendments ran between July and October 2024, with analysis of the responses due to be published later this month.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The SPCB strongly advises that all Members and their staff, whether paid or voluntary, complete GDPR training. Each Member, as the data controller, is ultimately responsible for their staff's compliance with UK GDPR and the SPCB provide a variety of resources to help ensure Members are well placed to meet their responsibilities.

The current Acceptable Use of IT Policy does not explicitly apply to Members and their staff, though all Parliament IT account holders are bound by the SPCB's Use of Resources Policy which states that resources, including IT resources, are provided to support parliamentary duties and must not be used to any significant extent for any other purposes.  A revised Acceptable Use of IT policy which will apply to Members and their staff is currently being developed for approval by the SPCB.