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The Scottish Government remains committed to introducing a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service in Scotland. As a result of the Emergency Budget Review, the thrombectomy service was not reduced, rather the expansion of the service was paused.

The budget for thrombectomy and development of a refreshed stroke improvement plan has been increased from £8.6 million for 2022-23 to £12.5 million in 2023-24. Prior to the 2023-24 budget announcement, the delivery of a national thrombectomy service had already received over £16 million of investment.

Work is ongoing to establish the most effective means of further expanding access to thrombectomy, including how the increased budget will be best used in recruiting staff to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from this treatment.

We are also in discussions with National Services Division, to ensure that decisions taken on potential expansions of the thrombectomy service consider the wider access requirements of patients across Scotland and ensure access is as equitable as possible.

Scottish Government is not currently considering the introduction of a home delivery service for Community Pharmacy. A large number of community pharmacies provide a free home delivery service and where they don't, patients are encouraged to use approaches such using a 'flu friend', when family, friends or neighbours are able to collect medicines on their behalf.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold this information.

Following the publication of Guidance on the provision of wheelchairs on short term loan in March 2021 ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/guidance-provision-wheelchairs-short-term-loan/ ) Scottish Government officials engaged with individual Health and Social Care Partnerships to initially gauge what progress had been made in implementing the guidance. However, due to the pressures of the pandemic, a full review was not carried out as planned.

That engagement established that there were nine services who were providing a short term wheelchair loan service in house. These were Fife, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Acute division.

Following a public consultation we plan to issue revised guidance on the provision of equipment and adaptations. Alongside short term wheelchair provision, this guidance includes extensive advice on the effective and timely provision of community equipment and housing adaptations. Accompanying the guidance is a range of good practice guides and self evaluation tools, which we will support services to utilise and evaluate how they are performing against the Key Actions contained in the guidance.

The number of people convicted in Scottish courts, where the main charge was Shoplifting, was published on 21 June 2022 in Table 4b of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland 2020-21 bulletin.

The most recent five years of data are shown in the following table:

Within the financial year 2022-23, we’ve made available an initial £3 million from our £10 million long COVID Support Fund to provide NHS boards and partners with additional resource to deliver the best local models of care for assessment, and support for the treatment or management of symptoms.

Anyone who is at risk of homelessness as a result of long-COVID or any other reason can contact their local authority for advice and support. Additionally home owners with a mortgage are encouraged to engage with their lenders at an early stage to discuss their options and tenants should contact their landlord. Other organisations such as Shelter Scotland and Citizen Advice Scotland are also able to provide advice and support.

Supported by Scottish Government funding, the Money Talk Team service is delivered by the Citizens Advice Network in Scotland and provides an income maximisation service, including advice on welfare reform and debt to help clients save money, access benefits and grants they are entitled to and deal with debt problems.

The Scottish Government has surpassed its commitment to ensure every extra penny it receives from the UK Government is spent on health and social care. This means an extra £1 billion will be available to improve front line services and help fund the NHS pay deal for 2022-23. Scottish Government continues to keep the management of the 2022-23 budget under close and constant review, however, we do not anticipate further consequential funds from UK Government this financial year.

The number of ScotGEM students expected to graduate in AY 2022-23 cannot be confirmed until the academic year concludes. There are, however, 46 students currently in their final year of the course who will be eligible to graduate in summer 2023.

The cost information related to delayed discharge for the NHS is no longer included in the PHS publications. This is due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic where detailed cost data could not be submitted by NHS Boards to PHS.

In total, £68 million was allocated to local authorities through the Town Centre Fund with £50 million allocated in 2019-20 and £18 million allocated in 2020-21.

This is the final year of our four year commitment to support over 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education which we set out in our Programme for Government in 2018 and reiterated in 2021. We have exceeded that target, with 89 additional counsellors now working to support students across our institutions.

This has been delivered with investment of £11.5 million to date, with a further £2 million provided to March 2023. We have also confirmed that we remain committed to provide further funding in the remainder of Academic Year 22-23 (April – July 2023), which falls into the first four months of our FY 23-24. Funds have been earmarked within the final 2023-24 Scottish Budget process and final allocations will be confirmed as soon as possible as part of the Scottish Government budget setting exercise.