Chamber and committees

Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities, separate from the Scottish Government. As such, the information requested is not held by the Scottish Government and would have to be obtained directly from individual local authorities or from COSLA.

Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics is an annual publication providing a comprehensive overview of financial activity of Scottish local authorities in 2019-20 based on authorities' audited accounts.

In May 2021, we allocated £16.4 million to support NHS Boards to implement the National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Service Specification. In addition, on 14 September, we announced £10.83 million funding to further support the implementation. Through this funding, NHS Boards have started to recruit additional staff to implement the Specification and to build professional capacity to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.

The Scottish Government is not responsible for the recruitment of NHS staff. It is NHS Boards’ responsibility to recruit workforce. The Scottish Government has provided guidance to NHS Boards, through the National CAMHS Service and Neurodevelopmental Specifications, on the appropriate roles and professionals expected to be employed within Boards.

A total of 761 applications were received for ICF Round 1 in June 2019. Of those, 276 were approved and 485 were unsuccessful

The following table shows the number of ICF applications approved and rejected broken down by local authority area

Work to establish the Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 Delivery Group is currently in progress. Membership will be announced shortly.

As part of our consultation on the National Care Service we will be engaging with the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum, the Older Peoples Assembly and Age Scotland. We are also engaging with a range of other third sector organisations to make sure that we capture the views of those with lived experience in the consultation.

Easy Read, British Sign Language and Audio versions of the consultation are available on the Scottish Government website. Braille and Large Font versions are available on request.

The work of Police Scotland’s International Development and Innovation Unit is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland. The Scottish Police Authority has responsibility for oversight of Police Scotland and to scrutinise the decisions of the Chief Constable.

Scotland has a strong and enduring commitment to securing democracy, the rule of law and human rights across the world. We expect all states to recognise fundamental human rights, comply with human rights legislation and condemn human rights abuses wherever they occur. Through International Engagement we will share our experiences, values and expertise in areas such as justice, education and climate change, with a view to seeing the human rights of people across the world fully realised.

The Scottish Government has provided funding for International Development work by Police Scotland in Malawi and Zambia since 2016. The funding provided in 2019-20 was £449,831 and the funding for 2020/21 was £162,000. The current funding supports Police Scotland’s work on a “Rights & Equalities for Marginalised Groups” programme, which helps tackle local issues in Malawi and Zambia, working with a wide range of marginalised groups such as women, children, those with disabilities, LGBTI and people with albinism. The ability to deliver the programme has been impacted by Coronavirus but Police Scotland hope to re-commence in-country training next year.

Our priority remains keeping children, young people and school staff safe. The guidance on reducing COVID risks in schools, has been updated and was published on 15 September. It is in line with current advice from the COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s issues. The sub-group keeps the mitigations in schools and Early Learning and Childcare settings under constant review, and will consider the issue of parental attendance at school sporting events at its next meeting on 21 September.

Emerging data suggests that some individuals with suppressed immune systems may not mount a full immune response to COVID-19 vaccination.

The multi-centred OCTAVE study led by colleagues from Glasgow University published their preliminary findings with widespread media coverage. The study funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Medical Research Council (MRC) was designed to evaluate the immune responses following COVID-19 vaccination in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases including inflammatory arthritis and Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) (an auto-immune disease affecting small blood vessels) who have received Rituximab treatment, along with a host of other conditions with various degrees of immunosuppression.

Initial findings suggest that in total about 40% of those across the patient groups studied produced a low antibody response to two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and the proportion varied depending on the nature of the immune impairment.

The OCTAVE group presented their findings to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the Committee took into account these findings to make their recommendation on a third primary dose of COVID-19 vaccine for severely immunocompromised people.

A second study called OCTAVE DUO, led by the same researchers and also funded by UKRI, is examining whether a third dose will give a stronger immune response in people with impaired immune systems.

Information about these studies is available at: Vaccine responses in patients with impaired immune systems – UKRI

New study tests third jab for people with weakened immune systems – UKRI

Health Boards throughout Scotland are asked to record any wastage on an online waste recording tool. However in providing some context to the Member there are a number of limitations; it is not mandatory for GP Practices to use the recording tool and most GP Practices do not record waste on the online reporting tool. The vaccine tool was launched in late January; some but not all Boards chose to record wastage from the beginning of the programme (entering data retrospectively)

The total number of vaccine doses recorded as expired since the start of the programme under the reason code ‘expired shelf life’ is 23,312 doses (11,700 Moderna, 5696 Pfizer and 5,917 AZ) however as above, this is not comprehensive.

In terms of stock that will go out of date by 30 September 2021, there is ongoing work to minimise any wastage including sites only drawing down stock where there is certainty that it will be used before expiry.

Given the scale of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, some vaccine wastage has been unavoidable for a variety of reasons. Wastage has remained well below the 5% planning assumption throughout, however, we continue to work with Health Boards to ensure wastage is at a minimum, and maximise the availability of vaccines to the people of Scotland.

Weekly updates on the number of vaccine doses allocated and delivered to Scotland are published at Coronavirus (COVID-19): daily data for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) – see COVID-19 Vaccine supply data in the Vaccination section.