Chamber and committees

Our Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland (RCAP) sets out our vision for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people affected by respiratory conditions including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung disease.

There is also a significant respiratory work programme managed by the Respiratory Speciality Delivery Group within NHS Golden Jubilee. They have pathways under development for severe asthma, COPD and sleep apnoea. ILD will continue to be considered within any new respiratory programmes.

Our new Prescribing Guideline set out our ambitions for better access to respiratory care and we also have national workstreams focusing on access to pulmonary rehabilitation and smoking cessation.

We recognise the importance of having access to meaningful data in relation to respiratory services and assessing the impact of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.

We work with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the current programmes for improving respiratory care remain relevant and make an impact. We will continue to monitor progress through various groups, including via our third sector partners, to determine next steps for implementing the Plan.

Improved access to diagnostic tests remains a wider commitment for the Scottish Government and we are working closely with Primary Care colleagues to determine ways to improve spirometry.

The Scottish Government has established a Scottish Expert Advisory Group to support the work of the UK National Screening Committee Lung Task Group and inform the implementation of a targeted lung cancer screening programme for Scotland.

Introducing a new screening programme such as Chest and Lung CT scanning is inherently complex, and the required evidence and information must be fully developed before implementation begins. This is likely to take several years for each UK nation.

The Scottish Government-funded LungScot study, led by the University of Edinburgh, provided further information on the feasibility of lung screening and the influences of sociodemographic and other patient characteristics. The Scottish Expert Advisory Group is incorporating these findings into their business case which will inform the next steps towards implementation.

The Circular Economy & Waste Route Map to 2030 provides a framework to tackle the environmental impact of priority products, and take a targeted, coordinated approach to managing materials across the waste hierarchy. This approach recognises the variation in emissions or environmental impact of production, consumption or waste management of different materials and products.

Following clarification, this question refers to multi-establishment leadership models.

The following table shows the number of schools which share a headteacher with at least one other school, known as multi-establishment leadership models, by Local Authority. This does not include Grant-Aided schools or centrally employed headteacher posts. Data from before 2007 is not available.

Table 1. Schools in a multi-establishment leadership model, by Local Authority, 2007-2023.

Two businesses were funded in 2021-22, with payments totalling £750,000, located within Mid Scotland & Fife (Region) and North East Scotland (Region).

Two businesses were funded in 2022-23, with payments totalling £570,000, both located within Mid Scotland & Fife (Region).

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The needs and welfare of all those in our care remains a key priority for SPS as we continue to manage our highly complex population with a person-centred approach.

SPS continually assess risk, including that presented by an increasing population. Establishment specific indicators are analysed and assessed with identified risks mitigated where possible, this includes but is not limited to the utilisation of our existing estate.

The Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Government are committed to the replacement of HMP Inverness with HMP Highland to create better environments for people to live and work, to aid rehabilitation, reduce the risk of reoffending, and support safer communities.

This data is not held centrally.

In April 2023, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) announced an Independent Medicines Homecare Review in response to reports of failings in the standards of care provided across Scotland and the increasing demand for medicines homecare provision.

The CPO will be publishing the Homecare Medicines Review before the end of March. In terms of next steps, the CPO has met with NHS National Procurement to discuss what actions can be taken forward within their remit and what actions require further consideration through a task and finish group. The group will be established shortly and will be chaired by a Director of Pharmacy and a Director of Nursing. The Group will help to outline the next steps and timescales around this.

The Scottish Government is tackling marine litter with actions detailed in our Marine Litter Strategy, which aims to address the amount of litter entering the marine environment, to achieve ecological, economic and social benefits. Our Strategy and action plan was refreshed in September 2022 and focuses on the most problematic types of marine litter including fishing and aquaculture gear, sewage-related debris, and plastic pellets. The Strategy drives forward our work and co-ordinates the efforts of our stakeholders and partners, working at a national and international level to help tackle this global problem.

At a Scotland-wide level, our many actions to prevent litter include: improving the management of end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear to reduce litter and improve recycling rates, contributing to our circular economy; working across the four nations to ban the sale of wet wipes containing plastic; and developing international solutions to prevent spills of plastic pellets, which can be found on beaches and risk the health of marine wildlife. Litter removal actions include: funding the KIMO Fishing for Litter scheme, to assist the correct disposal of litter caught in fishing nets; and funding the Keep Scotland Beautiful Upstream Battle project, removing litter along rivers.

At a regional level such as Loch Long, we continue to work with key partners relating to the River Clyde catchment and west coast locations including Arrochar. The Upstream Battle project enables communities, businesses, and schools on the River Clyde to develop local solutions to reduce littering, and also support its clean-up. Litter is reduced and intercepted before it reaches the sea, and citizen science outputs will inform further riverine litter policy. We are engaging with Glasgow City Council to consider more options to increase litter removal from the River Clyde which we know is a major source of litter at Loch Long.