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The programme of travelling Cabinets was paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government is now exploring options for restarting the programme in 2023 and will consider the South Scotland region as part of this work.

The NHS Scotland National Medical Equipment Management System (NMEMS), which aims to provide national oversight and visibility of medical equipment in NHS Boards, is being delivered in 2 phases.

Phase 1, commenced in October 2022 and has a provisional completion date of Spring 2023, has cost £28,000 to date which includes licences, data migration costs and post implementation support.

Costs for Phase 2 are currently being scoped and are expected to be finalised in early 2023.

For more information on the NMEMS delivery phases I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12907 on 21 December 2022. 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 recent Covid 19 pandemic highlighted the need for a national medical equipment management system in Scotland that provides an NHS Scotland-wide overview and visibility of critical medical equipment. To deliver this requirement, a National Medical Equipment Management System (NMEMS) is currently being developed by NHS National Services Scotland, NHS Scotland, and the Scottish Government. Once in place the system will also allow for improved strategic planning of medical equipment replacement and will aid the response to medical equipment related safety notices.

The system will be launched in 2 phases: Phase 1 commenced in October 2022 and aims to install medical equipment management systems in all the NHS Boards that currently do not have one. Work for phase 1 is currently underway with a provisional completion date of Spring 2023.

Phase 2 aims to link all the NHS Board medical equipment management systems centrally and is currently on track to commence in early 2023, with completion projected for summer 2023.

A total of 254 Target Enhanced Recruitment Scheme (TERS) bursaries have been taken up by GP trainees in the South Scotland parliamentary region since 2018. A full breakdown is included in the following table.

Funding for CCTV is provided to local authorities through their block grant and, as with most of that funding, is not ring fenced. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available. This includes installing, upgrading and maintaining CCTV, and working with the police, based on local needs and priorities. First, they must fulfil statutory obligations within the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

Police Scotland and CoSLA have highlighted ongoing challenges around the use, management, maintenance and funding for an ageing public space CCTV network. In response to this, in July 2022, the Scottish Government commissioned research on public space CCTV in Scotland. The purpose of this research is to collate a baseline of evidence in order to better understand the effectiveness and value of public space CCTV in Scotland. The research is due to conclude by the end of March 2023. The findings will be used to inform policy on public space CCTV and help future discussions with national partners.

The Stonemasonry Short Life Working Group held its initial meeting in May 2022 and has since met three further times, with the most recent meeting held on 4 November 2022. After the next scheduled meeting in January 2023, the Stonemasonry Short Life Working Group intends to report to the Our Place in Time Skills and Expertise Group by the end of January 2023 with an outline of what actions are required to put stonemasonry training in Scotland in a sustainable position. Additionally, in order to provide an independent review of 2022-23 Scottish Stonemasonry Skills & Training needs, four stakeholder stonemasonry training workshops have taken place across November and December 2022.

We have made an initial £3 million available from our £10m long COVID Support Fund over this financial year to provide NHS Boards and partners with additional resource to respond to the needs of people with long COVID in their areas.

Territorial NHS Boards’ 2022-23 funding from the long COVID Support Fund has been split into two tranches. The first tranche (70%) was provided to NHS Boards in June. The second tranche (30%) will be made later in the financial year following progress reporting.

This is a well-established practice for the allocation of health board funding to account for any slippage in programme delivery, and is used across a range of policy areas.

The following table outlines the organisations to which funding has been made available for 2022-23, and the associated amounts. The full amount spent for 2022-23 will only be known at the end of the financial year.

The development of the National Digital Platform (NDP) is a core commitment from the joint SG/COSLA Digital Health and Care Strategy (2018). This strategy was refreshed in 2021. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) was commissioned as the lead delivery partner.

Information on this important work is available via the website: www.nationaldigitalplatform.scot .

Up to 31 March 2022, a total of £6.838m was spent on the design, development and support for the NDP. NES accounts for spend during 2022-23 financial year have yet to be finalised and so associated costs for the NDP in this financial year cannot be provided as part of the answer.

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland indicate that as of the end of November 2022, a total of 3,444 referrals have been made to the charity’s long COVID Support Service since its inception in February 2021.

Scottish Government funding of £156,924 has been made available to Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland to support the continuation and development of the service over 2022-23. This funding has not been drawn from the long COVID Support Fund.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12895 on 16 December 2022. 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 .