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The NRAC (resource allocation formula) is an objective measure of the need for health care services across Scotland. The current formula, which was established in 2005, considers the population share of each Board adjusted for the age/sex composition of the population, the relative health needs due to morbidity and life circumstances, and the excess cost of delivering healthcare to rural and remote areas. We have committed to a review of the funding formula. This supports vital work to reduce health inequalities; ensuring that we continue to allocate funding according to the relative need for healthcare in each Board area.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling health inequalities including in areas of socio-economic deprivation and to supporting people to live longer and healthier lives. In 2024-25 Scottish Government has allocated £3bn to measures which tackle poverty, a fundamental driver of health inequalities, including the Scottish Child Payment; and continues to progress initiatives to support healthy lifestyles through tobacco and alcohol control and consulting on regulations to change the food environment to enable healthy weight.

The majority of health boards across Scotland have all, or some of their constituent population in a rural area. Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships take account of the diverse needs of their populations and plan their service provision according to that need.

Officials engage with Health Boards and HSCPs on a regular basis to review health outcomes.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving accessibility for all disabled people, including those with visual and hearing impairments.

Provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public to make a reasonable adjustment so that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disabled people can access the service or facilities.

A number of actions across national partners, key public bodies and specialist agencies are already underway to enhance the accessibility of public spaces, ranging from culture through to transport.

This includes improving experiences at Visit Scotland spaces through enhanced support, resources, and advice to tourism and events organisations. Historic Environment Scotland also provide assistance through the provision of information in a range of alternative formats, such as large print site information, tactile models, audio tours, sensory tours and scented gardens.

Furthermore, Transport Scotland have taken measures to improve accessibility for pedestrians, including implementing the new dropped kerb scheme, increasing the number of dropped kerbs and tactile paving, providing enhanced support for those with visual impairments.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with partners and stakeholders to advance disability equality, ensuring that we effectively mitigate the barriers that affect the daily lives of disabled people

Social media management involves the management of Scottish Government social media accounts across platforms, and the directly related services comprise organic content production and outreach to secure content from creators and influencers.

The Scottish Government supports the Healthy Working Lives (HWL) initiative, hosted by Public Health Scotland, which offers a range of materials to support employers on all aspects of work-related health promotion and ill health prevention, return to work and workplace safety.

The Scottish Government, in partnership with Public Health Scotland and See Me, also delivers the Supporting a Mentally Healthy Workplace: National Learning Network for Employers. The network brings together employers of all sizes and across all sectors to share learning and experiences of supporting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. Over 800 individuals are now engaged with the network.

The Scottish Government also fund Paths for All, a Scottish charity which promotes everyday walking. Paths for All run two national challenges a year in the spring and autumn. The Step Count Challenge (SCC) is a walking challenge for Scottish workplaces, which aims to encourage business to support employees to walk more to improve mental and physical health. In 2023-24, 325 workplaces took part in the spring, autumn and bespoke challenges.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government the member may wish to contact NHS Grampian directly for information.

The 2025-26 draft budget provides over £16.2 billion funding for NHS Boards, supporting services and including £1.34 billion funding for NHS Grampian - a real terms uplift.

In addition, increased capital investment of £139 million provides a 5% uplift to Boards’ core capital funding allocations as well as additional investment for priority maintenance and improvements across the NHS estate. To this end, we are working with all Boards, including NHS Grampian, to develop a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan which will support continued safe operation of existing facilities and inform longer-term investment priorities. The first part of this work – to assess immediate investment priorities across all Health Boards – is already well underway.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33748 on 29 January 2025. 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

The current Acceptable Use of IT Policy does not explicitly apply to Members and their staff, though all Parliament IT account holders are bound by the SPCB's Use of Resources Policy which states that resources, including IT resources, are provided to support parliamentary duties and must not be used to any significant extent for any other purposes.  A revised Acceptable Use of IT policy which will apply to Members and their staff is currently being developed for approval by the SPCB.

The SPCB strongly advises that all Members and their staff, whether paid or voluntary, complete GDPR training. Each Member, as the data controller, is ultimately responsible for their staff's compliance with UK GDPR and the SPCB provide a variety of resources to help ensure Members are well placed to meet their responsibilities.