Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government invited Health Boards to submit requests for hot food appliances required to support resident doctors in late 2022. In February 2023, invitations were closed and Scottish Government provided funding to responding Health Boards to enable purchase of approximately 55 appliances, including kettles, microwaves, fridges and toasters. This was a one-time provision to support staff facilities. Scottish Government cannot confirm how quickly these were purchased by the participating Health Boards.

It remains the responsibility of individual Health Boards to manage their facilities to ensure they meet staff needs. NHS employers should take steps to provide staff with access to nutritious hot food and out-of-hours catering wherever possible.

The Scottish Government continues to work with stakeholders to consider further initiatives across health, social care and social work to enhance staff wellbeing.

To date, significant work has been undertaken to develop robust criteria for a national AI solution to assist with identifying patients who may benefit from a thrombectomy.

A tendering process has commenced and the suitability and affordability of AI solutions will determine whether Scottish Government proceeds with procurement.

The Scottish Government’s decision-making for the flu vaccination programmes is guided by the expert clinical advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI typically advises flu vaccination for all those aged 65 years and over, and all those aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical at risk group.

Scotland expanded its flu programme as part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to help reduce pressure on the NHS in unprecedented times. In winter 2020-21 we expanded it to those aged 55 years and over and then to those aged 50 years and over in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

As we move beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, from winter 2024-25 we have reverted to the standard JCVI-advised groups and those aged 50-64 years are no longer included in the national flu programme. This is in line with the approach taken by other UK nations. The only nation currently offering the flu vaccine to the 50-64 years group is Northern Ireland, who announced their decision to expand their programme on 15 January 2025. They took the same approach in January 2024. The position for winter 2024-25 in England and Wales is currently the same as in Scotland.

I wrote to MSPs on 12 September 2024 to outline the changes to eligibility for flu and COVID-19 vaccination this winter, and the reason for those changes.

We have not received data or clinical advice to support any expansion of the programme to those aged 50-64 years, or other groups. Over the festive period, flu cases and hospital admissions due to flu peaked above typical levels for wintertime. These are now showing notable signs of decline in the latest two weeks ending 5 and 12 January 2025. Flu-related hospital admissions in Scotland decreased by 46.6% from 1,077 in week ending 5 January to 575 in week ending 12 January. Laboratory-confirmed flu case numbers have declined for a second week, by 40.6% from 1,906 in week ending 5 January to 1,133 in week ending 12 January. PHS surveillance stats can be found here - PHS Vaccination Surveillance.

Within the Scottish Government, funding of Health and Care Research comes under the remit of the Chief Scientist Office (CSO).

CSO funds research projects via its Translational Clinical Studies (TCS) Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research (HIPS) Committee

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/grant-funding/response-mode-funding-schemes/

CSO funds capacity building research via its Fellowship Funding programmes

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/fellowship-funding/

Research funding is not allocated to any particular condition and CSO funds research across the clinical spectrum. All applications go through a process of independent expert review to allow funding decisions to be made. Applications on Brain Tumours are welcomed and CSO's role is well known across the Health and Care research community in Scotland

In 2023-24 the following funding was awarded specifically for research in Brain Cancer

TCS/23/18 - Assessment of Brain Tumours with Dynamic T2* and Lactate MR under Oxygen Challenge to Evaluate Aerobic and Anaerobic Metabolic Status of Gliomas

£299,918

Tessa Jowell Fellowship in Neuro-oncology

£44,237

In addition, CSO provides infrastructure funding to support the delivery of clinical studies in the NHS in Scotland. In 2023-24 the cancer-specific component of this infrastructure funding was £1,112,434. This figure includes funding for the NHS Research Scotland Cancer Research Network and the CSO component of funding for the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow (co-funded 50:50 with Cancer Research UK). The purpose of this funding is to support the delivery of early and later phase cancer clinical studies, including in Brain Tumours.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33241 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/written-questions-and-answers

Screening Oversight and Assurance Scotland, supported by the work of an expert advisory group and led by the Director of Screening, is currently developing a business case for implementation of targeted lung screening. This is expected by the end of this winter, and will consider the matter of incidental findings. Following receipt of the business case, the Scottish Government and delivery partners across the NHS will have greater scope to make an evidenced-based assessment of implementation timescales.

The roll-out of any screening programme is a complex undertaking, and the UK National Screening Committee acknowledged in its recommendation that there remain a number of significant issues that must be worked through before a full programme of lung screening can be implemented. This means a national screening programme is likely to take years rather than months to implement.

In the meantime, lung cancer remains a national priority. The Scottish Government has a dedicated chapter in our £114.5 million National Cancer Plan, and in December 2023 we redesigned lung cancer diagnostic services to help ensure patients receive faster access to treatment.

The Scottish Government regularly engages with the offshore oil and gas industry on a range of topics, including workforce planning. For example, the First Minister last met with Offshore Energies UK along with myself in September 2024 and this included discussion of jobs in the context of the energy transition.

In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will always offer and provide support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE. Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

Changes to the eligibility for flu vaccination were communicated via campaign materials produced by Public Health Scotland (PHS) that can be seen on NHS Inform and social media, as well as being advertised across health and community settings. The Health and Social Care sector were alerted to changes in eligibility via the Chief Medical Officer’s annual flu letter. I wrote to MSPs on 12 September 2024 to outline the changes to eligibility for flu and COVID-19 vaccination this winter, and the reason for those changes.

The Scottish Government is unaware of any shortages in vaccine availability. While NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) Procurement were made aware of some Community Pharmacies seemingly having issues securing flu vaccine stocks for private vaccination clinics, our national programme supplier confirmed that stock of the vaccine suitable for those under 65 years of age is available for purchase by pharmacies. Information has been shared with Community Pharmacy Scotland so they can signpost pharmacies to where they can purchase further supplies, so that they can meet any demand from citizens seeking vaccination.

PHS ran a targeted campaign, with multiple assets and toolkits that have been promoted widely across the health and social care system and the third sector, ensuring those who were eligible to come forward were notified. The campaign focussed especially on certain groups where uptake is lower.

The Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP), led by PHS, will review the winter vaccination campaign. As part of this we will consider the impact of the communications strategy and what we can improve for next season.

The Draft Scottish Budget on 4 December 2024 announced plans to invest £3m in 2025-26 in Bright Start Breakfasts.

At this stage the Budget remains subject to Parliamentary approval and therefore, more detail about Bright Start Breakfasts will be provided ahead of the fund launching in Spring 2025.

Recent mapping work carried out by the Improvement Service and Assist FM shows that nearly half of all primary and special schools in Scotland are already providing breakfasts at the start of the school day, with a range of delivery models and service providers supporting delivery. Bright Start Breakfasts aims to enhance and expand provision across Scotland, building on this existing local delivery.

The Draft Scottish Budget on 4 December 2024 announced plans to invest £3m in 2025-26 in Bright Start Breakfasts.

At this stage the Budget remains subject to Parliamentary approval and therefore, more detail about Bright Start Breakfasts will be provided ahead of the fund launching in Spring 2025.