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The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland have a shared vision for a culture that values openness and learning and supports continuous improvement. Health Boards are responsible for delivering safe, effective and person-centred care at a local level, which includes identifying and monitoring instances of patient misdiagnosis and adverse events. The Scottish Government has legislated and has implemented procedures to support this:

• The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 provides a specific right for people to make complaints, raise concerns, make comments and give feedback about their care, and places a duty on Boards to thoroughly investigate and respond to concerns raised, and to monitor all feedback with a view to improving the services they provide.

• The NHS model Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) was revised in 2017 to support a more consistent, person-centred approach to complaints handling across NHS Scotland.

• The Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2018make it a legal requirement for all care providers, including Health Boards, to review certain types of adverse events, meet personally with those affected, offer an apology and consider how the learning from these events can be applied.

• Since 2020, Health Boards have been required to notify Healthcare Improvement Scotland of any Category 1 Significant Adverse Event Reviews commissioned. These reviews support NHS Health Boards to improve services by learning from adverse events, reducing the risk of them happening again, and providing public assurance that adverse events are effectively managed.

• In addition, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), which is independent of Scottish Government,looks into complaints about most organisations providing public services in Scotland, including Health Boards. The SPSO will create reports following an investigation, which will include their decision, any recommendations to put things right, and the deadline by which the organisation must carry out these recommendations.

The Scottish Government and NHS Scotland have a shared vision for a culture that values openness and learning and supports continuous improvement. Health Boards are responsible for delivering safe, effective and person-centred care at a local level, which includes identifying and monitoring instances of patient misdiagnosis and adverse events. The Scottish Government has legislated and has implemented procedures to support this:

• The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 provides a specific right for people to make complaints, raise concerns, make comments and give feedback about their care, and places a duty on Boards to thoroughly investigate and respond to concerns raised, and to monitor all feedback with a view to improving the services they provide.
  
• The NHS model Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) was revised in 2017 to support a more consistent, person-centred approach to complaints handling across NHS Scotland.
  
• The Duty of Candour Procedure (Scotland) Regulations 2018make it a legal requirement for all care providers, including Health Boards, to review certain types of adverse events, meet personally with those affected, offer an apology and consider how the learning from these events can be applied.
  
• Since 2020, Health Boards have been required to notify Healthcare Improvement Scotland of any Category 1 Significant Adverse Event Reviews commissioned. These reviews support NHS Health Boards to improve services by learning from adverse events, reducing the risk of them happening again, and providing public assurance that adverse events are effectively managed.
  
• In addition, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), which is independent of Scottish Government, looks into complaints about most organisations providing public services in Scotland, including Health Boards. The SPSO will create reports following an investigation, which will include their decision, any recommendations to put things right, and the deadline by which the organisation must carry out these recommendations.

The Scottish Government is planning to bring forward a draft of the next Climate Change Plan before the end of 2023 to set clear asks and responsibilities for all of the main actors on delivering climate policy in support of our climate change targets. We will also bring forward draft Just Transition Plans at the same time.

As part of the work in developing an enhanced framework for action with local government, the Scottish Government will explore co-producing a roadmap with local government partners, setting out the roles and responsibilities of local authorities in delivering net zero as part of the development of the next Climate Change Plan.

As referred to at the debate held on 14 March on the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee's Inquiry Report on ‘The role of local government and its cross-sectoral partners in financing and delivering a net-zero Scotland’, we are pleased to confirm that we are taking forward plans with local government partners to establish a Climate Intelligence Service for local authorities this year.

The Climate Intelligence Service will provide local authorities with the data, tools and skills to help ensure that they are on the right trajectory for net zero and to embed climate impact into local decision making.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the participation of people from BAME backgrounds in politics. In 2016 the Scottish Government published the Race equality framework for Scotland 2016-2030. One of its aims is to ensure minority ethnic participation and representation is effective, fair, proportionate, and valued at all levels of political, community and public life.

This ambition is also reflected in the commitment in the Bute House Agreement to encourage more people to register to vote, to stand as candidates and to remove barriers some people experience so they can vote independently.

The Scottish Government funds a post based in CoSLA until March 2024, to support the work of the Cross-Party Barriers to Elected Office Special Interest Group. The group involves elected members from each of COSLA’s Political Groups, and seeks to identify changes in culture and practices, and support our ambition to deliver greater equality and diversity within local democracy.

We recognise that pay may be a barrier to some people standing to become a councillor. The Scottish Government and COSLA have jointly committed to undertake an independent review of Councillor remuneration. The inaugural meeting of the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) was held in April 2023. A report with recommendations for Ministers will be published at the end of November 2023.

The difficulty of getting reliable data on the participation of under-represented groups, including people from BAME backgrounds, is an issue that stakeholders raised during the electoral reform consultation in 2018. In response, the Scottish Government worked closely with a range of stakeholders, including the Electoral Management Board for Scotland, the Electoral Commission, COSLA and the Improvement Service to run a candidate survey for the 2022 Local Government elections.

The Local Government candidate diversity survey suggests that among those who responded (28% of candidates responded, which is lower than we would want but represents a typical response rate for this kind of survey), 6.7% of candidates in 2022 identified as “Asian” or “All other ethnic groups” (rather than “White” or “Prefer not to say”). For those who went on to be elected the figure was 4.0%. We are looking at ways to improve the collection of data in the future as the voluntary approach clearly has its limitations. This survey does however confirm the view that people with BAME backgrounds are under-represented in local government.

Clearly work remains to be done to encourage more people from BAME backgrounds to take part in politics. We are open to ideas to ensure that all members of society have the opportunity to participate in politics and to become elected representatives.

The SFC’s Fiscal Sustainability Report is an important contribution to the debate on fiscal sustainability and highlights potential impacts of demographic change on the Scottish public finances over the next fifty years. These challenges are not unique to Scotland, and are prevalent in many high-income countries. However, Scotland lacks a full range of levers to deal with these in the way that other countries can, particularly over migration.

Within the powers at its disposal, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the public finances are on a sustainable trajectory. This will mean growing our economy and by extension our tax base, and embedding delivery and value for money at the heart of our public services. Central to this will be overseeing public service reform, focused on delivering more efficient, person-centred public services. The Fiscal Framework review will also be vital and must ensure the Scottish Government and Parliament has the necessary powers to manage the risks we face within our devolved responsibilities, and to support economic recovery. The Scottish Government’s approach to managing the public finances over the medium-term is set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, due to be published in May 2023.

In 2023 we will also launch a new Talent Attraction and Migration Service for Scotland, and publish an Addressing Depopulation Action Plan. And we will continue to press the UK Government to make the vital immigration reforms required to meet Scotland’s needs.

While the Scottish Government will continue to manage the public finances diligently with the powers we have, it is our view that the current constitutional settlement is insufficient to properly tackle the long-term challenges that Scotland faces. Ultimately, Scotland must be independent with full control over the economy and powers over migration to secure the stability of our public finances.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-16686 on 28 April 2023. 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 .

Transport Scotland is unable to estimate the annual daily traffic flow (AADT) for the entire A1 trunk road within the Scottish Borders. However, the following table provides the AADT taken from the two traffic counters Transport Scotland operate on the A1 trunk road in the Scottish Borders.

As non-executive directors (NXDs) are not employees of the Scottish Government but appointees of the Permanent Secretary, they are remunerated through the payment of quarterly Fees as opposed salaries. Alongside receiving quarterly Fees for their services, NXDs are also entitled to be reimbursed for relevant travel and accommodation expenses in line with the Scottish Government’s Travel and Subsistence policy.

Remuneration of NXD Fees and Expenses in each year since 2016:

Lambing and calving are now underway in many parts of Scotland and it is troubling to see reports on social media of irresponsible behaviour by dog owners. The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021 has been in force for over a year and provides Police Scotland and the courts with greater powers to deal with those who allow their dogs to worry, attack or kill livestock in Scotland’s countryside.

We want everyone, including dog owners, to enjoy their right to access Scotland’s stunning countryside and landscapes responsibly. I would encourage people to familiarise and remind themselves of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code and to exercise caution and vigilance when in and around farms and fields with livestock to help prevent livestock worrying incidents.

I can confirm a surveillance framework was introduced in February 2022 and this framework has been implemented in all Health Boards. The surveillance waiting lists have been re-validated and categorised by diagnosis and risk category. In addition, waiting list triage tools such as qFIT, and endoscopy alternatives such as Cytosponge, and Colon Capsule Endoscopy have been introduced.