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Dr Brian Montgomery considered the views of a wide range of diverse stakeholders across Scotland as part of his independent review into access to new medicines and these influenced his final report and 28 recommendations. We continue to work with a diverse range of stakeholders and partners as we implement the recommendations.

I wrote to Vertex Pharmaceuticals in March to encourage them to take forward discussions about the cost of Orkambi® with colleagues in National Health Services Scotland who are best placed to advise them on pricing approaches and a fair price that could support the securing of a positive recommendation from the Scottish Medicines Consortium for the prescribing of these products in NHSScotland. Those talks are underway.

Through those discussions we hope that the manufacturer will make their best offer on price and indicate that they will re-submit an application for Orkambi® to the SMC.

Dr Montgomery’s independent review on access to new medicines recognised that the Scottish Government has made significant reforms and investment to improve access to newly licensed medicines in recent years.

I announced in December 2016 that we will be taking forward the recommendations from the review. We are working at pace, in collaboration with stakeholders, including the Scottish Medicines Consortium, NHS Scotland, and the pharmaceutical industry to implement the recommendations as quickly as possible.

The Scottish Microfinance Fund aim is to provide access to affordable business finance for those with viable business propositions but who are unable to obtain finance, either wholly or in part, from mainstream lenders. Responsible lending is at the core of the Fund and individuals need to demonstrate the ability to maintain payments over the period of the loan. To date, the Fund has provided £925,141 of loans creating 131 new jobs and safeguarding 37 existing jobs.

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges those with a low credit rating can face when trying to source finance and is working hard to address this and to promote financial inclusion. That is why our Fairer Scotland Action Plan, published in October 2016, set out a commitment to making affordable credit more easily available. We are working together with Carnegie UK to deliver this commitment through their Affordable Credit Action Group, which has cross-sectoral membership, including from the banking sector, and a remit to deliver Carnegie’s Fairer Scotland Pledge to help Scotland’s not-for-profit affordable credit providers to grow, to reach many more people, building financial capability and improving wellbeing.

The Scottish Government has provided funding for 111 continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices in 2017-18 as set out in Directors Letter DL (2017) 13.

We have followed the advice of the Scottish Diabetes Group (SDG) with funding allocated in 2017-18 to ensure that appropriate CGM services are established in NHS Boards across Scotland.

We will fund a higher number of CGMs in subsequent years but the approach we have taken will help ensure equality of access for those with the greatest clinical need regardless of where they live in Scotland.

I wrote to Vertex Pharmaceuticals in March to encourage them to take forward discussions about the cost of Orkambi® with colleagues in National Health Services Scotland who are best placed to advise them on pricing approaches and a fair price that could support the securing of a positive recommendation from the Scottish Medicines Consortium for the prescribing of these products in NHSScotland. Those talks are underway.

Through those discussions we hope that the manufacturer will make their best offer on price and indicate that they will re-submit an application for Orkambi® to the SMC.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10195 on 28 July 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

NHS Lothian’s resource budget allocation for 2017-18, is £1,342.0 million. The Board’s budget has increased in cash terms by £473.3 million (54.5%) from 2006-07 to 2017-18.

Since September 2006, all staff (whole time equivalent) has increased within NHS Lothian by 12.4%, or 2,229.6 (from 18,022.2 to 20,251.8.)

As employers NHS Boards have full delegated powers in relation to employment issues, including recruitment. While the Scottish Government works in close partnership with all Boards to provide the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality health care in Scotland, it is for each NHS Board to decide how best to deliver those services to meet the needs of the population.

Recruiting from Scotland and elsewhere is the UK, and also European Economic Area, is the most common route for taking on new staff. Generally via advertisement either online or through specialist medical journals. Where there are no suitably qualified staff from the UK or EEA, Boards may seek to fill vacancies from out-with these areas. Boards can either use the UK or the Scotland only Shortage Occupation List (SOL) that notes certain nursing and medical specialists where evidence of shortages exist. In using either of these list, Boards are free to recruit internationally to any of the medical occupations listed on the UK or (SOL) List, without the need to go through a Resident Labour Market Test.

The Scottish Government published Part 1 of the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan, which will strengthen and harmonise workforce planning practice, take full account of the future demand for safe and high quality services for Scotland’s people and work to accurately identify gaps in supply. These are complex issues which will require an incremental approach. The production of a National Plan will be the first step in this process, with future benefits and improvements impacting on all service users across Scotland.

The content of the chronic pain waiting times publication is determined by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS Scotland, who publish the information.

ISD adheres to the Code of Practice for Official Statistics which is underpinned by the Statistics and Registration Services Act (2007). This is achieved by listening to users of their statistics through consultations and adjusting their statistical outputs accordingly, ensuring their statistical reports are protected from any political pressures, and presenting statistics impartially and objectively.

For example, changes to their Chronic Pain publication summaries were made recently as a direct result of feedback from users and patient representatives. Officials met with ISD on 13 January 2017 to provide feedback from patient representatives of the Ministerial Steering Group (MSG) on Chronic Pain. This was following discussion of the waiting times at the MSG on 4 October 2016, and is captured in the minutes from the meeting which are available on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Services/Chronic-Pain/MSGCP/MSGCP-Minutes

ISD ‘s Head of Profession for Statistics has responsibility for deciding on statistical methods, standards and procedures, and on the content and timing of statistical releases. ISD can be contacted directly by any user of their statistics by emailing NSS.isdSHIS@nhs.net

The content of the Excel publication tables has not changed – all information previously available is still available within the Excel tables.

The content of the chronic pain waiting times publications is determined by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS Scotland, who publish the information. ISD keeps the format of its publications under review and is currently considering different approaches to publishing, including greater use of visuals to aid user interpretation. ISD is planning a programme of user engagement for the later part of 2017 to seek user views on the format of its publications.