Seòmar agus comataidhean

Information on the location, damage and costs caused by individual flood incidents is not held by the Scottish Government but detailed information may be held by local authorities, emergency responders and the insurance industry.

SEPA collect information on incidents of flooding from local authorities and also from members of the public through its Report–a–flood tool. Verified records are used to improve flood mapping and inform the National Flood Risk Assessment.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-22410 on 7 November 2023, as outlined in the answer we are aware of a variation in practice surrounding reimbursement policies for electricity costs relating to home dialysis, both around the level of reimbursement, and the underpinning principles. We are working with health boards to understand how best to achieve national consistency so that patients undergoing home dialysis are protected from the impact of high electricity prices, wherever they live.

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 part of the recently concluded information gathering exercise on the provision of stoma care and stoma specialist nurse coverage across Scotland's 14 territorial health boards, all boards confirmed that their stoma patients had access to specialist nurse support, whether that be through stoma specialist nurses or other specialisms such as colorectal specialist nurses.

The results of this exercise will be presented to the Scottish Executive Nurse Directors (SEND) to identify any shortfalls and inconsistencies in the level of stoma specialist nursing care provided across the country and the actions that may be needed to address them.

All licensed Assisted Conception Units (ACU’s) are required by law to offer gamete donors counselling, this is mandatory and is free of charge within NHS Scotland.

ACU’s must also give prospective donors sufficient, accessible and up to date information to enable them to make informed decisions about their donation and any consent they then provide.

All NHS Scotland gamete donations are altruistic, no compensation payments are provided and donations are made through a desire to help those people in Scotland who need help becoming parents.

There is nothing to suggest women from particular social and economic backgrounds would be more inclined to donate their eggs than another.

The Scottish Government does not collect this data, which will instead be held by individual local authorities.

The £19.6 million of additional funding for diabetes technology consisted of £5.1 million in 2020-21 and £14.5 million in 2021-22. It was allocated based on the percentage of patients with Type 1 diabetes within each given NHS Board area relative to the Scottish population. This data was taken from the Scottish Diabetes Survey 2020, which can be found here: https://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Diabetes-Scottish-Diabetes-Survey-2020.pdf .

The £5.1 million of additional funding in 2020-21 was allocated as per the breakdown below:

The Scottish Government awarded the Scottish HepatoPancreatoBiliary Network funding of £653,000 over two years to redesign the pancreatic and liver cancer pathways.

This pilot is the first of its kind across the UK. It aims to provide a nationally more efficient, standardised patient-centred pathway for people with pancreatic and liver cancers, with earlier diagnosis, referral and management decisions following a Realistic Medicine approach.

The funding comes to an end in March 2024 and an evaluation of the pilot’s achievements against these aims will be completed to inform decisions about future funding.

In the meantime, work continues to establish Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services (RCDS) across NHS Scotland – interim evaluation shows that hepato-pancreato-biliary cancer is one of the most common cancers being diagnosed through the new fast-track diagnostic pathways. There are currently five RCDSs in Scotland.

Due to the required criteria of gaining a place on the GTCS Professional Recognition Programme for Dyslexia and Inclusive Practice each year has a number of unsuccessful applications. However due to the very high standard of applications for the 2023-24 Cohort 3 programme this was taken into consideration and the number of available spaces was increased from 35 to 70. Increasing the number of teachers who are supported through the programme, supports the growing community of practice across Scotland in dyslexia and inclusive practice. Programme participants share their deepened knowledge and understanding with their colleagues in their settings as they progress through and complete the programme.

Education Scotland provide a range of free professional learning opportunities on dyslexia, literacy and inclusive practice that is available to all educators in Scotland.

As reported by the Deputy First Minister on 21st November, the £13 million originally allocated for 2023-24 has been announced as part of the savings required to reach a balanced budget. We are now considering all options for the device commitment, including a range of delivery options and an update will be provided in due course.