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The Network and Information System Regulations set out standards which NHS Scotland Health Boards must comply with. Boards must test themselves against these standards which cover managing security risk, defending systems against cyber-attack, detecting cyber security events, and minimising the impact of cyber security incidents. This is in addition to mandatory information security and data protection risk/impact assessments and routine penetration testing on all major IT systems.

The NHS Scotland Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE), works nationally across health boards to prioritise the security capabilities of existing technologies and deployment of new tooling. This allows real time discovery of vulnerabilities and potential issues across a national view.

The Scottish Government has not consulted the Scottish Information Commissioner, as the role of the Scottish Information Commissioner is limited by law to promoting and enforcing Scotland's freedom of information (FOI) law.

Microsoft are a key partner to NHS Scotland Boards. NHS Boards regularly engage directly with Microsoft regarding licencing and systems required.

As the member will appreciate, it would not be appropriate to disclose information publicly that may compromise the security of Scotland’s NHS.

Unauthorised access to information by the cyber threat actor was contained to information on the NHS Dumfries and Galloway network.

The safety and security of people’s data, and the running of NHS services is of the upmost importance. The NHS in Scotland and across the UK successfully defends itself against attacks on its IT infrastructure on a daily basis, demonstrating resilience to the threats faced.

Access to continuing professional development and education for community children’s nursing staff in Scotland is vital as it enables children to receive specialist care within a setting that is familiar and comforting to them. However, it is the responsibility of higher education institutions to develop and deliver education at Masters level. It is the Scottish Government’s understanding that Robert Gordon University have developed a contemporary Specialist Practitioner Qualification in community children's nursing, at Masters level, which will be presented for approval by the Nursing and Midwifery Council at the end of May this year. If approved, the programme will move forward with a provisional starting date of September 2024.

The information requested on how many community children’s nurses are employed by NHS Scotland, broken down by NHS board can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: 05 March 2024 Workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot)

The Scottish Government fully understands the pressures that hospices are currently facing. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health engages regularly with this sector, and has visited a number of hospices and met with hospice leaders over the last few months.

Integration Joint Boards are responsible for the planning, and commissioning of adult palliative care services, including hospices, using the integrated budget under their control. We have invested over £2 billion in the 2024-25 budget for social care and integration, delivering on our Programme for Government commitment to increase social care spending by 25% over this Parliament. Despite this significant investment the financial climate remains extremely challenging and we are working with partners to understand and address the challenges, within the context of a finite budget.

The term “puberty-suppressing hormones” is non-specific, and could be applied to a range of medicines used for a variety of conditions.

In the context of the provision of gender identity healthcare to children and young people, I refer the member to question S6O-03286 on 28 March 2024. which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament .

The Scottish Government does not routinely hold or collate this information. This information should be requested from the relevant Health Boards.

The Scottish Government has commissioned NHS National Services Scotland to work with a wide range of clinical and other stakeholders to consider how best to meet the needs of the population in terms of young people’s gender healthcare services for NHS Scotland. This work is ongoing, and aims to define the scope of a specialist service in Scotland.

The Scottish Government anticipates that an outline service specification based on this work will be presented to NHS Strategic Planning Board for Scotland for consideration later this year.