Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government the member may wish to contact NHS Boards directly for information locally.

(a) The number of civil servants in Scottish Government core directorates who retired in recent years are as follows:

The Scottish Government is grateful for the bravery shown by the young people and their families who shared their experiences at the summit. It was extremely important to hear directly from those with lived experience on their views about possible solutions to address violence amongst young people.

We will publish a report of the summit that will highlight the key areas the participants raised.

A commitment has been made to hold a further meeting involving cross-party MSPs to discuss youth violence and the issues raised at the summit.

Over the last two years, we have invested more than £4 million to implement the actions set out in the Violence Prevention Framework, including tackling youth violence. This has included work to extend the support of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, to reach more individuals and communities across Scotland, extending the Medics Against Violence Hospital Navigator Programme in two Children’s Hospitals in Aberdeen and Glasgow and training teachers in schools to provide young people with key messages on violence.

The Scottish Government is also investing up to £20 million through our CashBack for Communities programme phase 6, which is funding 29 partners over 3 years to deliver early intervention and prevention projects targeted at working with and supporting young people at risk of being drawn into antisocial behaviour, offending or reoffending. This programme aims to reach a minimum of 33,976 children and young people between April 2023 and March 2026.

The Thistle facility in Glasgow acknowledges the challenges posed by external factors, such as the potential for organised crime groups to exploit vulnerable individuals. To address this Glasgow HSCP are working closely with Police Scotland who are dedicated to disrupting organized crime groups and ensuring a hostile environment for their operations.

Police Scotland maintain operational independence to police the facility and surrounding areas, safeguarding the wider community, facility operators and users.

In addition, local policing teams will act on reports of drug use or supply by deploying community police and response officers to patrol identified areas, deterring criminality and enhancing public safety. Police Scotland will also continue patrols to address illegal acts around the facility. Public support around this facility is vital and Police Scotland would encourage the reporting of any concerns to them or Crimestoppers to help address any issues.

The Scottish Government has provided £1.19m to Neighbourhood Watch Scotland since 2014.

A breakdown of funding per financial year is provided in the following table.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government and responsibility for such rests with the British Transport Police and Police Scotland respectively.

The Scottish Government does not provide legal advice on any matter.

We know that people who inject drugs are at higher risk of contracting blood borne viruses (BBVs), bacterial infections and injection site wounds.

The Scottish Government has committed to effectively eliminating hepatitis C (HCV) as a public health threat in Scotland and to driving improvement through focusing on intensifying case finding and treatment initiation, and ensuring that people who inject drugs have access to, and take up, i) optimal harm reduction services and ii) if deemed clinically ready, antiviral therapy to prevent the onward transmission of infection.

The Scottish Governments ‘Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus Action Plan’ also aims for everyone in Scotland to have good sexual health and wellbeing, with high quality, innovative, sexual health and BBV prevention, care and support available to those who need it, in a timely manner and irrespective of age, sex, gender, sexual identity or location. We have allocated multi-year funding to a range of projects alongside the action plan which will drive improvement in the areas identified.

In addition, the ‘HIV Transmission Elimination Delivery Plan’ sets out prioritised actions towards achieving our goal of zero people contracting HIV within Scotland by 2030. This aligns with wider global strategic aims, including UNAIDS’ goal “to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.” Alongside the plan we have funded a National Coordinator post to oversee coordination of this Delivery Plan and to work with locally identified HIVTE Champions at NHS Board level towards delivery of actions to support elimination.

Specifically in Glasgow, The WAND (Wound management, Assessment of injecting risk, Naloxone supply and Dry blood-spot test for BBV) model has been implemented in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. WAND has proved effective in engaging with people who inject drugs and who are not in contact with traditional services, reflecting the requirement of MAT Standard 4, and providing them with a unique level of support to address these issues. Other areas are also trailing the model.

Implementation and evaluation of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland 2021–2026 is managed by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC).

Consideration will be given to an evaluation of the delivery of this strategy as it continues into 2026. Recommendations and actions are continually reviewed by MSN CYPC and the 2023-24 MSN CYPC Annual Report has been published on the MSN CYPC website – www.msncypc.Inhs.scot.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes annual data on 16 to 25 year olds with cancer in Scotland in their incidence statistics. The latest report is available on the PHS website

PHS also publishes information on cancer in children (ages 0 to 14) and young people (ages 15 to 24) in Scotland

Children and young people with cancer in Scotland 9 May 2023 - Children and young people with cancer in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland