Chamber and committees

The Residential Rehabilitation Development Working Group’s 2020 report noted that there was some evidence that rehabilitation programmes of 12 weeks had led to more successful treatment outcomes. However, the recommendations were also clear that further research was required on the length of rehabilitation programmes and their correlation to outcomes across Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s current position is that all placements for residential rehabilitation should be assessed on an individual needs basis, and it is ultimately for professionals and clinicians to make the decision locally as to whether a shorter or longer programme is effective for the individuals involved.

As part of our work on developing the residential rehabilitation evidence base, the Scottish Government published a literature review in 2022 which looked at existing evidence and research gaps. As noted in Page 14, residential rehabilitation encompasses a diverse range of treatment models, and there is no one programme which has proven to produce routinely better outcomes for individuals.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland have worked collaboratively with stakeholders to establish a core minimum dataset to support the monitoring and evaluation of residential rehabilitation. It is expected that the first extracts will be published in December, where a greater level of insight and data will be available, including average treatment length and associated outcomes, as the dataset continues to develop and mature.

Since the Budget, the Scottish Government has had exploratory discussions with a range of business and public health stakeholders. This includes Alcohol Focus Scotland, British Heart Foundation, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems in their roles as members of the NCD Alliance Scotland.

The additional £30 million for planned care, initially announced in April, will support health boards across the country deliver around 12,000 inpatient procedures, over 40,000 extra diagnostic procedures and around 12,000 new outpatient appointments.

Funding will target reductions to pandemic backlogs, including orthopaedics, ophthalmology, diagnostics for cancer referrals and patients waiting the longest time.

The funding will be allocated to health boards for the activity set out above based on delivery. We are working closely with health boards to monitor progress.

There is no legislation that specifically sets out rules on the use of netting on buildings to prevent birds from nesting or roosting. However, it is an offence to obstruct or prevent any bird from using its nest during the nesting season, under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside (Scotland) Act 1981, and this would include the use of netting to prevent access to a nest.

Enforcement of the law in relation to wildlife crime is the responsibility of Police Scotland.

There is no legislation that specifically sets out rules on the use of netting on buildings to prevent birds from nesting or roosting. However, anyone obstructing or preventing any bird from using its nest during the nesting season through the installation of netting, would be committing an offence under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside (Scotland) Act 1981.

Bird netting can be an effective and lawful measure when used correctly. Guidance is available on the RSPCA webpage , the NatureScot webpage , and the RSPB webpage on how and when to use bird netting.

The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the care and wellbeing of people through the best use of digital technologies. We work closely with NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), who manage the rollout of the new national GP IT System, ‘Vision’ supplied by Cegedim Healthcare Solutions. Our focus always is on patient safety and the resilience of such systems. The recent performance issue referred to was quickly identified as due to bandwidth capacity and was quickly resolved, since when there has been stable and consistent service for GP practices using Vision.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the current rules on the use of netting on buildings to prevent birds from nesting or roosting, with a view to requiring the use of alternative approaches and reducing harm to birds.

Data on the Whole-Time Equivalent GP Workforce is published annually by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in the General Practice Workforce Survey report . As of March 2023 the estimated WTE number of GPs (excluding GP registrars/specialist trainees) was 3,478.4, where 1 WTE is defined as 8 contracted sessions per week.

GP headcount is published by NES through the General Practitioner Headcount report. In September 2023 there were 5,168 Headcount GPs in Scotland (including GP Registrars on placement in general practice).

NES are due to publish results from the 2024 General Practice Workforce Survey and the 2024 General Practitioner Headcount data later this year.

The Chief Dental Officer and a Deputy Chief Dental Officer met with Air Vice Marshal (AVM) and Director of Defence Health, Dave Mcloughlin earlier this year. Consequently, the Chief Dental Officer and AVM McLoughlin issued a joint letter to all dental teams on 22 February 2024.

No application for the use of Asulox during 2024 was submitted.

Asulam, the active substance in Asulox, has been withdrawn in the UK for over 15 years. For 10 years Asulox was approved annually as an emergency authorisation, for limited and controlled use each season, following application by the Bracken Control Group. An application must be submitted in order for emergency authorisation to be considered. Emergency authorisation applications are then assessed on a case-by-case basis against the legislative requirements.