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The Scottish Government partially funded the creation of a Priority Setting Partnership to agree the top 10 priorities for future research on ME/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and we are considering, with partners, how best we can progress these priority areas in Scotland. To help facilitate this, the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office is currently inputting to a newly-formed UK-wide working group on research into ME/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome through the UK Clinical Research Collaborative.

The Chief Scientist Office operates open competitive funding schemes for applied health research projects and fellowships across the wide range of NHS and health challenges in Scotland. These schemes are open to consideration of applications addressing priorities for research on ME/CFS that have been identified by the recent Priority Setting Partnership. Applications to these schemes are assessed through independent expert peer-review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committees.

This information requested is not held centrally.

This information is not centrally held. While the Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally have responsibility for both service delivery and people’s care. NHS Boards are expected to ensure that patients, including those who require care and support for ME/CFS, have access to a range of professionals to provide the appropriate management of their condition.

Given the range of symptoms which can be experienced with ME/CFS, we know there is no ‘one-size fits all’ response and our approach is to support people to access care and support in a setting that is appropriate and as close to their home as is practicable.

Our strengthening of the primary care workforce through recruitment of multi-disciplinary teams is making it easier for people to access this type of care and support. We have now recruited over 3,220 professionals, including community nurses and physiotherapists, with increased funding of £170m in 2022-23 to support further development of multi-disciplinary teams.

This information requested is not held centrally.

This information requested is not held centrally.

The independent economic regulator, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS), produces the average charge data in Scotland. In England and Wales, Water UK provides the data to Discover Water. Both average charges are produced independent of water companies and represent the best comparator available.

As set out in the response to S6W-08912, the Final Determination explained that the Commission would expect that its charge caps would allow Scottish Water’s annual revenue in the final year of the current regulatory control period to be no less than £1,392m (as set out in page 10 of the Final Determination). This level of revenue was based on assuming an average charge cap of 1.5% a year above inflation over the regulatory control period 2021-27.

The Final Determination set a maximum amount of charges of CPI + 2% on average for each year of the regulatory control period. As set out in the Final Determination, the difference between the CPI + 2% and the CPI + 1.5% each year on average was to cover any additional costs that Scottish Water incurs in selecting an investment option that has a higher net present value than the lowest financial cost option, after allowing for externalities such as carbon, natural and social capital. This is the allowance of £132m set out in pages 9 and 15 of the Final Determination. This money would only be used where such projects had been thoroughly appraised. The minimum revenue expectation did not take account of this allowance.

We are still modelling potential structures based on updated scheme membership data and plan to engage with the Scheme Advisory Board on these shortly. The previous proposals we consulted on put forward broadly similar rates for lower earners to those in the contribution structure implemented in England and Wales.

When developing the structure, protecting lower earners from large increases in contribution rates is a key driver but has to be balanced against the legal imperative to begin to reduce the very highest rates and flatten the contribution structure. The biggest challenge in comparing against the rates in England and Wales is that there is a bigger yield shortfall to recover in the Scottish scheme, principally due to workforce demographics.

All NHS Scotland Boards are providing assessment and support for people with long COVID, delivered across the full range of services provided by our NHS.

In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for the health portfolio. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

In addition, we have established a £10 million ‘Long COVID Support Fund’ and are investing an initial £3 million from the fund over this financial year to enable NHS Boards to continue to develop and deliver the best models of care for their local populations.

For 2022-23, the funding allocations to thirteen of the fourteen territorial Health Boards (NHS Orkney did not request funding), I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09934 on 23 August 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 .

£10 million of funding was announced for long COVID in 2021 for a 3 year period, with the first year’s expenditure being £3 million. We will monitor the progress of the initiatives being funded by this investment and use this to inform expenditure in the remaining 2 years to best meet the needs of people living with long COVID.

In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for the health portfolio. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

Around the world, science has begun the work of trying to find an explanation, and treatments, for long COVID. We are investing £2.5 million in 9 Scottish-led research studies through our Chief Scientist Office. These studies aim to improve the understanding of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on physical and mental health and wellbeing in Scotland, and inform clinical interventions to support recovery and rehabilitation.