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The Scottish Government remains fully committed to a sustainable NHS and its workforce, which continues to deliver a consistently high quality healthcare service to the people of Scotland. That is why we have seen staffing levels in our NHS increase by over 12,000 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) to an all-time high of 139,262.0 WTE.

Our Health and Social Care Delivery Plan published in December 2016 sets out our aim for Scotland to provide high quality services with a focus on prevention, early intervention and supported self-management. The plan sits alongside our National Clinical Strategy, which evidenced the need to change the way services are delivered in order to continue meet the healthcare needs of our population, setting out the framework for developing health services in Scotland for the next 10-20 years, including people living with arthritis

Scottish Government has been working closely with clinicians as part of the Scottish Society of Rheumatology to assist them with an improvement programme for people who have arthritis. The Scottish Government has provided funding of £22,000 over three years to two Boards to enable them to carry out three improvement projects.

The Scottish Government sponsors work, being undertaken by Glasgow Caledonian University and HPS, to assess the cost effectiveness of general population screening for hepatitis C. The results of this assessment will be available by mid-2017. Further, Health Protection Scotland, together with NHS boards, is organising a symposium on hepatitis C case finding in the autumn of 2017. Its aim is to review progress in case finding and current strategy and, if appropriate, to advise the revision of strategy going forward.

The identification of people who have hepatitis C and other blood borne viruses is the task of local Health Boards. Funding and relevant objectives for this case finding are part of the NHS Outcomes Framework allocation for each Board which can be used at its discretion.

National Procurement leads on the procurement of medicines on behalf of NHS Scotland. Ensuring best value in medicine treatment costs will support NHS Scotland in eliminating hepatitis C as a public health concern by 2030. National Procurement have on-going engagement with the Hepatitis C Treatment and Therapies Group and with the NHS in Scotland more generally to ensure effective co-operation on this common objective.

The information requested in relation to the number of people being diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) in Scotland over the past ten years is not held centrally. However, the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Trust estimates that it affects approximately 1% of the population.

The NHS Choices website provides clear and accessible information on the causes, symptoms and diagnosis of hiradenitis suppurativa. This can be accessed at the following link: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hidradenitis-suppurativa/Pages/Introduction.aspx

We are committed to ensuring that Scotland delivers on its obligations to disabled people under the UNCRPD and other human rights treaties. A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People – our Delivery Plan for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) - published in December 2016 sets out both ambitions and actions aimed at transforming the lives of disabled people in Scotland. The Plan was produced with the active engagement of disabled people and the organisations that represent them and they will continue to be engaged in its delivery and challenging its effectiveness.

The Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with Scottish civic society to explore the benefits of further incorporating internationally-recognised human rights into the law of Scotland. That commitment applies to the UNCRPD as well as to other human rights treaties. We are determined to build on established good practice and to put human rights at the heart of both policy-making and delivery. We will continue to pursue the vision we share with civic society of a Scotland where disabled people can live with human dignity and enjoy their human rights in full.

Scotland’s record in realising the rights of disabled people will be examined, alongside overall UK performance, by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in August.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on arrests and it is not possible to derive information on religious hate crimes from the recorded crime database. With regards to people being charged the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have published information up to 2015-16 on hate crime charges reported to them by the police:http://www.crownoffice.gov.uk/publications/equality-and-diversity

This report contains details on the number of charges where a decision is awaiting on how to proceed and where it was decided not to proceed to court. The reasons given for why cases were not proceeded to court ("no action") are presented in Table 8. It is not possible to derive a local authority breakdown from the COPFS database.

Neither the Scottish Government or the COPFS hold information on the faith group, gender, race or country of origin of the victim.

Statistics on the number of people proceeded against and convicted for crimes with a religious aggravator recorded by local authority is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre - Bib number 58574. Statistics are presented on a financial year basis up to 2015-16 and are not available on a monthly basis thereafter.

The following table shows the sentencing information requested. Please note that the statistical sources in this answer are not directly comparable due to timing differences. For example, the COPFS figures measure individual charges at the case marking stage while the sentencing information are representative of closed cases that have reached a final verdict in court. This means information relating to an individual could be recorded in different years depending on the stage of the justice system. In addition, a court case can cover more than one charge or count of recorded crime but the sentencing statistics only count the main charge in a case.

People convicted with a religious aggravator recorded against the main charge, by main penalty 2007-08 to 2015-16

Source: Criminal Proceedings Database

The Scottish Government does not hold data on arrests but it is possible to derive information on racial hate crimes from the recorded crime database. Crimes of racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated conduct recorded by the police broken down by local authority is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre - Bib number 58575.

With regards to people being charged the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have published information up to 2015-16 on hate crime charges reported to them by the police: http://www.crownoffice.gov.uk/publications/equality-and-diversity

This report contains details on the number of charges where a decision is awaiting on how to proceed and where it was decided not to proceed to court. The reasons given for why cases were not proceeded to court ("no action") are presented in Table 8. It is not possible to derive a local authority breakdown from the COPFS database.

Neither the Scottish Government or the COPFS hold information on the faith group, gender, race or country of origin of the victim.

Statistics on the number of people proceeded against and convicted for crimes with a racial aggravator recorded, broken down by local authority, is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre - Bib number 58575. Statistics are presented on a financial year basis up to 2015-16 and are not available on a monthly basis thereafter.

The table below shows the sentencing information requested. Please note that the statistical sources in this answer is not directly comparable due to timing differences. For example, the COPFS figures measure individual charges at the case marking stage while the sentencing information are representative of closed cases that have reached a final verdict in court. This means information relating to an individual could be recorded in different years depending on the stage of the justice system. In addition, a court case can cover more than one charge or count of recorded crime but the sentencing statistics only count the main charge in a case.

People convicted with a racial aggravator recorded against the main charge, by main penalty 2007-08 to 2015-16

Source: Criminal Proceedings database