Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders on the review and development of various guidance to inform pain management services.

As outlined in the updated chronic pain implementation plan, Framework for pain management service delivery - implementation plan update (www.gov.scot) the national clinical guidelines for Scotland (SIGN 136), and polypharmacy guidelines are currently being updated.

We are also working with Healthcare Improvement Scotland to deliver a national approach to specialist interventions for chronic pain and to consider the creation of national standards for chronic pain management.

The total Resource (RDEL) Block Grant funding received by the Scottish Government (SG) in 2024-25 is currently £39.8 billion. For 2025-26 the Spending Review confirms a resource block grant of £41.1 billion, £1.3 billion higher than 2024-25.

The following table shows the real terms calculations.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people in Scotland living with Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease and colitis, are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

Scottish Government workforce planning guidance requires Boards to take a demand-led approach by determining future staffing requirements in line with healthcare needs within their locality.

Speciality training numbers are reviewed and considered annually by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG), with subsequent recommendations made to Scottish Ministers around the need to increase training establishments. The most recent uplift in Gastroenterology (as the specialty which treats IBD) took place in 2022 when 10 additional posts were created. This saw the overall number of speciality training places on Scottish Gastroenterology training programmes increase to 47.

We are committed to ensuring that people living in Scotland with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and person-centred.

Significant additional activity is already underway following the allocation of £30 million funding to target reductions to the national backlogs that built up throughout the pandemic. This includes over 40,000 extra diagnostic procedures.

Our Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal Plan has so far delivered four mobile endoscopy units across Scotland, providing 5-6 additional endoscopy rooms, and a Dyce facility to provide additional endoscopy procedures for NHS Grampian. Additionally, the national endoscopy surveillance framework, introduced in February 2022, has been implemented in all Health Boards.

We have also funded the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme (MPPP) with a specific workstream continuing to promote improvements in IBD care which is being taken forward through the MPPPs National Gastroenterology Speciality Delivery Group (SDG). They have developed a national IBD pathway for NHS Scotland which is due to be published imminently.

In addition, the Gastroenterology SDG is developing a lower gastrointestinal pathway which will provide primary care guidance about testing and diagnosis for people with IBD and Coeliac Disease in Scotland.

On Monday 4 November 2024 I announced that, through a combination of public and increasing private sector investment, Scotland has achieved its target of 6,000 publicly available EV charge points two years ahead of its 2026 target and this was achieved through a combination of public sector and growing private sector investment. Charge point data provider ZapMap reports Scotland had 6,030 public charge points as of 31 October.

The amount of Scottish Government funding which has been awarded and drawn down by recipients to support investment in public EV charging in the last five years is noted in the following table, from financial year 2019-2020.

The Scottish Government is not able to speak on behalf of individual members regarding their personal views on abortion. Members were chosen for their professional affiliations and expertise. No members of the Expert Group represent pro-life organisations as the Group is not considering the fundamental right to abortion.

The Expert Group is carefully considering all the evidence before it. Views from a range of perspectives, including those raised by pro-life organisations, will be considered on issues within the scope of the review. As outlined in the answer to S6W-30745 on 14 November 2024 on the work of the group is one part of the wider review and a stakeholder group has been established to represent a range of groups including pro-life organisations. The review will examine all evidence provided.

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.

As set out in the Scottish Government’s response to Professor Muir’s report, the move of the inspection function to the new Chief Inspector will work alongside existing ministerial commitments to the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework (TQEF), which is being implemented from Academic Year 2024-25.

The TQEF has been co-designed, developed and implemented by the SFC in partnership with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Education Scotland and other stakeholders.

In order to fulfil its existing statutory responsibilities for quality assurance and enhancement of colleges and universities, the SFC commissions the QAA and Education Scotland to support this work on its behalf.

Under the Education (Scotland) Bill, the Chief Inspector will have the power to enter into an arrangement with the SFC in order to support the latter’s statutory functions.

The Scottish Government committed to reviewing the law on abortion to ensure that abortion services are first and foremost a healthcare matter.

An expert group chaired by Professor Anna Glasier, the Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Champion, has been established to take this forward. The Group will consider the legal framework for abortion and clinical practice with a view to making recommendations where appropriate.

Membership of the expert group consists of clinical, legal, reproductive rights and academic experts. Members were selected to reflect a diverse range of expertise relevant to the healthcare focus of the review and its aim to develop recommendations that best serve the needs of those seeking and providing abortion care, while also considering the complexities of the matter.

Stakeholder engagement is a vital part of the wider review. The work of the expert group is one element of that wider review, and written submissions will be provided to the group from a range of organisations, including pro-life groups. The Scottish Government has written to a range of pro-life groups to ask if they wish to participate in a stakeholder group to feed directly into the wider review. All organisational views will be carefully considered alongside a range of clinical evidence in addition to the recommendations made by the Expert Group.

All minutes of the Expert Group are published online, and can be accessed here: Abortion Law Review Expert Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

The biodiversity duty requires public bodies to further the conservation of biodiversity in the exercise of their functions, having regard to the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. Biodiversity duty reports produced under the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 are the best measure we have for compliance, and this shows that at least 85 of 156 (54.5%) public bodies active during the most recent reporting cycle (2021-2023) are compliant with the duty. However, the actual figure is likely to be higher. A number of smaller public bodies which are technically covered by the duty have limited opportunities to further the conservation of biodiversity due to the nature of their remit. We do not consider it to be a good use of public funds to try to enforce the production of a biodiversity duty report in every case, but all the information we have suggests that where it is relevant, most public bodies take the duty very seriously.

The Finance Secretary wrote to the Treasury on 31 October seeking urgent clarification on the increase to employer national insurance contributions.

We are clear that this change must be fully funded so that there is no impact on our frontline services. Clarity must be provided before we set our budget in just a few weeks’ time. We also need clarity on whether funding will cover the full extent of organisations delivering public services.

We will continue to work with the hospice sector to consider opportunities to deliver pay parity with Agenda for Change for independent hospices.