Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with NHS Education for Scotland (NES), has made available a full suite of information for dental teams on the forthcoming changes including interactive webinars, short educational videos and a comprehensive FAQ document. These can be accessed on Scottish Dental and through NES Turas learning accounts.

In addition to these materials, officials will continue to meet regularly with NHS Boards to understand how dentists can be better supported, within their local area, in transitioning to the new payment system.

We understand that dentists will be eager to communicate with their patients about the changes, and we will shortly be providing materials direct to practices to help deliver this information.

In recognition of long waiting times for dental surgery which have been exacerbated due to the pandemic, the Scottish Government published the NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021. The £1 billion backed plan will support an increase in outpatient and inpatient activity to reduce waiting times through the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.

Key actions of the plan include creating a network of National Treatment Centres (NTC’s) which will provide and create capacity nationally. This additional capacity will free up space for other specialties locally to address waiting times.

Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

As the lighting in question is local authority owned, we would advise Mr Sweeney to contact Glasgow City Council for further information.

To date 32 different people have been prescribed diamorphine in this service since it started in 2019. Currently 25 people attend the service with 23 on active injecting plans.

The Chief Scientist Office published an evaluation of the facility in conjunction with Glasgow Caledonian University, Kings College London, University of Strathclyde and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde. The evaluation concluded that heroin-assisted treatment was successfully implemented for those with complex needs who had previously been unable to meaningfully engage in other community drug treatment services. It also found that tailoring HAT to individual patients’ needs is essential to their ongoing engagement and that COVID-19 had a major impact on the original service delivery model, but other barriers to implementation were identified at individual, service and environmental levels.

The evaluation -

https://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/HIPS1919report.pdf - also concluded that HAT is not a short-term solution for a patient group with complex needs and polydrug use, therefore policy makers, commissioners and practitioners need to consider this when planning and operating similar services.

We recognise the importance of Glasgow and the Scottish Events Campus as one of the world’s top conference and events venues. It is clear that Glasgow and the SEC make a vital contribution not just to the local economy, but to Scotland’s economy as a whole.

Glasgow City Marketing Bureau restructured, with the Glasgow Convention Bureau intact. The lead for researching, bidding for and securing UK and international conferences to Glasgow sits with the Bureau. This is the same approach for all of Scotland’s cities with a convention bureau. The concept of the city leading its conference business enables events to be established at the behest and preference of each city, rather than it being delegated to cities by VisitScotland.

VisitScotland supports Glasgow in its efforts to secure business events via the provision of Scotland-branded marketing platforms including tradeshows, enabling Glasgow and Scotland to promote itself to global markets.

In the past 7 years, Glasgow and has been exhibited on the VisitScotland stand at IMEX Frankfurt, IMEX America, The Meetings Show London, IBTM World and the Conference Hospitality Show. VisitScotland has also directly supported business events to come to Glasgow through the match funded National Conference Bid Fund. In the life of the fund 68 conferences have been supported through this route.

Glasgow has also been profiled at international industry events solely through, or jointly with VisitScotland in the past 7 years including: PCMA Convening Leaders; PCMA EduCon; MPI; Destinations International; PCMA Convening EMEA; ICCA World Congress; M&I Forums; and VisitScotland Association Receptions in Washington DC and Brussels.

The Scottish Government works closely with the university sector to ensure that we secure economic advantage from innovative research. Our recently published Innovation Strategy highlighted work to deliver a step change in the commercialisation of this research with a focus on facilitating even greater collaboration between industry and academia, supporting the creation of more scalable spin-outs and ensuring that we have the necessary infrastructure to retain more of these spin-outs in Scotland over the longer term. In this specific case, officials from both the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise are making contact with the university to discuss what support is required to realise the full economic potential of this exceptional discovery.

Decisions on where to locate their premises is an operational matter for National Museums Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland and their Boards of Trustees.

Both collections are committed to the important work that they do with local communities across Scotland, including in Glasgow and wider region. National Galleries of Scotland’s and National Museums Scotland’s connection with Glasgow ranges from the delivery of schools programmes, touring exhibitions, loans and acquisitions, professional skills development opportunities, and research.

A strong manufacturing sector with more jobs will be central to the successful delivery of our 10 year National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

The Making Scotland’s Future Programme, which is focused on strengthening and diversifying Scotland’s manufacturing sector, has a dedicated leadership and skills workstream alongside others supporting sectoral growth. This commitment to the sector’s growth is also demonstrated by our £26 million Low Carbon Manufacturing Challenge Fund (LCMCF) and the £75m investment in the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS). NMIS has a Manufacturing Skills Academy. It is also working with large and small manufacturers to unlock big productivity gains; develop new products and processes; transform workforce skillsets; win new orders; and grow their businesses.

The Scottish Government has also accepted the recommendations of the independent Equalities and Wellbeing Working Group and is working with the sector to support and diversify the manufacturing workforce.

Scotland remains the most attractive place in the UK outside London for foreign direct investment. Recent successes with substantial employment opportunities include a number in the manufacturing sector.

We are also developing a Green Industrial Strategy, which will set out how we will help businesses and investors to realise the enormous economic opportunities of the global transition to net zero and create good, well-paid jobs across Scotland.

Foster carers are classed as self-employed and, therefore, receive payments in the form of foster carer allowances and fees. Responsibility for providing financial support to foster carers registered with Glasgow City Council is a matter for Glasgow City Council.

The Scottish Government recently introduced a new Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) for foster and kinship carers across Scotland, to be backdated to 1 April 2023. This will ensure that a consistent and transparent level of financial support is provided to all eligible foster and kinship carers across Scotland.

We are committed to maintaining the 2023-24 levels of support for the SRA going forward, and to reviewing the funding implications for future years from 2024-25.

Responsibility, however, for setting levels of foster carer fees along with consideration of any adjustment to fees in line with inflation - lies with the relevant local authority.

I wrote directly to Richard Turfitt, the Senior Traffic Commissioner, on 6 September to set out our strong concerns with the proposed guidelines and to request any future proposals are developed with the full involvement of the Scottish Government and the Scottish football governing bodies, and most importantly, supporters clubs and fans. The consultation was subsequently withdrawn but nevertheless I look forward to receiving a response to my letter.