Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40323 on 11 September 2025. 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 opening of a Scottish Government office in Warsaw is currently under review given ongoing budget pressures.

How the recommendations are taken forward will be determined following consultation with stakeholders, including NHS Boards and OSCR. Consultation will ensure no unintended consequences as well as appropriate consideration of capacity, as significant work will be involved for both for the Scottish Government and for Health Boards. The timing of that consultation has yet to be determined.

In the meantime, funds remain available to be directed in accordance with the charities’ purpose, and taking account any restricted funds.

It is also important to note that neither OSCR's inquiry nor the Independent Review indicated that there are widespread issues in the decisions being made about the use of NHS Endowments’ charitable funds.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37406 on 19 May 2025. 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 purpose of a Significant Adverse Event Review (SAER) is to find out what happened, how it happened and why, and identify learning to reduce the risk of the same event happening again. Due to the nature to SAER reports, they often contain personal and clinical information. The Scottish Government does not require NHS Health Boards to publish SAER reports; however, they should always be shared with the individual concerned, or their family in the event of a death. Following the updated publication by Healthcare Improvement Scotland in February this year of A national framework for reviewing and learning from adverse events in NHS Scotland: February 2025 – Healthcare Improvement Scotland, work is underway to support NHS Health Boards to share learning from SAERs locally and across Health Boards, to make the learning more accessible to healthcare professionals.

Specific data on school-based family income advisors, is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government has invested £1.75 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge over the past decade, including over £1billion in Pupil Equity Funding, empowering headteachers to take the best approaches that suit the needs of their pupils and families. This funding is supporting significant numbers of additional staff, like family income advisors, to help close the poverty-related attainment gap.

Across the country we continue to trust and empower Scotland's headteachers to use this extra funding to support their pupils - whether through extra support staff, family link workers or family income advisors. As highlighted in the pupil_equity_funding_report_2025_.pdf, published in May 2025, we know that the majority of the funding supports staff with roles specifically designed to help children and young people impacted by poverty. This includes up to 3,000 additional staff - almost 700 of whom are teachers - with the remainder in roles such as family link workers, pupil support assistants, education psychologists, speech and language therapists and family income advisors.

The Scottish Government also continues to support free income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services with £16.9 million invested in 2025-26, a significant increase on the £12.3 million invested in 2022-23, helping support families get the support they are entitled to.

Work is underway to support health boards to share learning from SAERs locally and nationally, to make them more accessible to healthcare professionals. In February this year Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) published an updated version of A national framework for reviewing and learning from adverse events in NHS Scotland: February 2025 – Healthcare Improvement Scotland. The revised framework includes an updated shareable learning template, which NHS Health Boards should complete following a Significant Adverse Event Review (SAER). These summaries, which will support local and national learning, will be published on an online community of practice for NHS staff which HIS will launch soon. It is the responsibility of health boards to share learning within their organisations and to ensure that relevant staff groups are aware of changes to policies and processes as a result of learning and improvement actions.

Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAERs) are conducted at a local level within each NHS Health Board. NHS Boards are required to notify Healthcare Improvement Scotland on a monthly basis of the number of SAERs that have been commissioned, including the event type and specialty. HIS recently reviewed and published an updated version of A national framework for reviewing and learning from adverse events in NHS Scotland: February 2025 – Healthcare Improvement Scotland in February this year. This provides templates to support NHS Health Boards to consistently report and learn from SAERs. The Scottish Government does not monitor NHS Boards responses to SAERs.

Whilst Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for the NHS in Scotland, operational matters including staffing are the responsibility NHS Boards. NHS Boards take account of national, regional, and local priorities, and we expect NHS boards to plan and provide safe, effective, and high-quality care, in line with their statutory service provision and workforce planning responsibilities.

To help address recognised workforce pressures, Scottish Government continues to invest heavily in radiology training. Scottish Government is currently funding around 190 specialty training places in clinical radiology, including 78 extra places which have been added since 2014. This enables doctors to train and enter the workforce following completion of training - which takes a minimum of 5 years. Clinical radiology specialty training programmes have been filled at 100% in Scotland from 2014 to 2024, with 230 resident doctors successfully completing training in this period.

To further support a coordinated response to pressures in cancer services, Scottish Government commissioned the National Oncology Coordination Group. This group considers real-time assessments and develops proactive risk mitigation proposals aligned with the strategic aims for cancer. This collaborative approach across NHS Boards in Scotland is ensuring that services can deliver for people with cancer.

No guidance has been issued by the Scottish Government to a) schools and b) education authorities regarding peer massage programmes or other massage in schools programmes.