Chamber and committees

In order to ensure the efficient and timeous processing of dental payments to contractors all claims require to be submitted for payment within 3 months of the completion date of the claim.

This reflects the period from the closure of the claim for the care and treatment undertaken. As this requirement is widely understood within the sector there are no plans to review this.

There is ongoing engagement with the Nordic countries on a wide variety of policy issues which deliver against the commitments in Scotland’s International Strategy and the Scottish Government’s Priorities for Scotland. For example: officials are working to develop opportunities for policy learning and exchange with Sweden on forestry and peatland restoration, while collaboration with Denmark is proving pivotal to informing the Scottish Government’s approach to digitisation and health reform. Scottish Government officials benefit from working closely with colleagues from Scottish Development International, who are based in the Nordic Office. Integrated working between the two teams has led to the first Space Scotland Summit which can be linked to £2 million of exports.

The figures requested are as follows:

1. In the 2021-22 financial year, there were 12,912 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £3,306,695.

2. In the 2022-23 financial year, there were 13,900 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £3,660,948.

3. In the 2023-24 financial year, there were 20,197 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £5,419,255.

In reference to the increase of number and value of unclaimed tenancy deposits in recent years, Scottish Government received notification from one of the schemes in August 2023 explaining that they had reviewed the criteria used to report on unclaimed deposits. This resulted in a fluctuation in their figures with a corresponding increase in the total unclaimed deposit value pool amongst the three schemes.

Each of the three schemes may calculate unclaimed deposits differently, as an unclaimed deposit is not currently defined in law. Provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill will create a legal definition of when a tenancy deposit can be considered unclaimed, ensuring there is consistency in all three schemes figures if the Bill is approved.

The Scottish Government are liaising with NHS National Services Scotland, as the contract holder, and are a member of their GPIT Incident Management Team which has specifically been established to lead on this matter. Through this, NSS are in regular contact with the Administrator. Assurances are continually sought from the Administrators on their plans to ensure continued performance and delivery of the Managed Services to NHS Scotland for the foreseeable whilst the administrators actively seek a buyer for In Practice Systems Ltd.

In the meantime, there remains no impact on GP service delivery and existing operational governance around Service levels is very much still in place. GP practices are advised to utilise the service and raise any queries through their usual health board escalation routes.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the occupied domestic housing stock in each survey year, including energy efficiency ratings and household composition.

In 2022, using data from the SHCS it is estimated that approximately 120,000 children under 16 were living in rented accommodation with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D or lower (under the SAP2012 v9.93 methodology).

This ought to be considered as an approximate estimate as the SHCS survey methodology is not aligned with more robust population estimates by age, from sources such as the Population Census, instead the SHCS methodology focuses on alignment by household numbers and different types of dwellings.

Scottish Government are provided with unclaimed deposit figures on a monthly basis by the tenancy deposit schemes, and as such cannot provide information from a specific date. The December 2024 figure is not yet available but at the end of November 2024 there were 23,123 unclaimed deposits, totalling to a value of £6,310,182.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the occupied domestic housing stock in each survey year, including energy efficiency ratings and household composition..

In 2022 using data from the SHCS it is estimated that approximately 690,000 individuals were living in rented accommodation with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D or lower (under the SAP2012 v9.93 methodology).

This ought to be considered as an approximate estimate as the SHCS survey methodology is not aligned with more robust population estimates from sources such as the Population Census, instead the SHCS methodology focuses on alignment by household numbers and by different types of dwellings.

Scottish Government are provided with unclaimed deposit figures on a monthly basis by the tenancy deposit schemes, and as such cannot provide information from a specific date. However, at the end of April 2024, there were 20,357 unclaimed deposits between the three schemes, totalling to a value of £5,565,899.

Students receive taught modules on mental health and psychiatry in years three and four of their medical degrees with the opportunity for specialist mental health units or clinical placements from year four onwards. There are significant core learning requirements in relation to mental health set out by the GMC and each University ensures these are fulfilled.

The GMC also require all medical schools to provide support for the consideration of postgraduate careers and each school has their own way of doing this. Each of the medical schools have a ‘PsychSoc’ attached to them. These societies are funded by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and work with the medical schools to encourage and support medical students into a career within psychiatric fields.

Given the pace of change and developments in the digital landscape, the SPCB reviews its communications channels on an ongoing basis. Considerations include extent of reach and levels of effective audience engagement, ethical considerations linked to impartiality, and effective use of resources. Content strategies and how channels are managed are reviewed and adapted regularly. Given the need for us to provide impartial services, decisions on whether the Corporate Body remains active on a channel or not are informed by data and evidence. While recent changes to X and developments are being monitored, the Parliament does not have immediate plans to stop using it. Our combined following on this channel is over 245,000, and we still therefore consider it to be a viable channel for us in terms of our ability to reach a mass audience quickly and to raise awareness of the work of the Parliament.

As well as X, the Parliament has a presence on a range of other digital channels including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.  It also has a presence on Threads and is planning to run a 6-month pilot on Bluesky. Bluesky is a relatively new social media channel that looks and feels very much like X but is based on a very different operating model. During the pilot we will be increasing our understanding of this emerging platform and exploring its potential for public engagement. At the same time, we will also be monitoring how the more recent changes introduced at Meta might impact on how we use Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.