- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma among adults with cirrhosis.
Answer
We expect clinicians to adhere to current guidelines from authoritative sources such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The NICE quality statement on surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma, published in 2017, states that adults with cirrhosis should be offered six monthly surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma. The European Association for the Study of the Liver published updated recommendations in the Journal of Hepatology in 2020.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration has been given to VAT liability regarding the creation of the National Care Service.
Answer
We awarded a contract through a competitive tender for independent VAT advice from Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP. AAB have been commissioned to provide advice and support to SG on VAT implications. This work is ongoing. We will engage with the wider sector and HMT prior to any decision being taken which would have a VAT impact.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what conversations it has had with Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP regarding any implications of VAT in delivering the National Care Service.
Answer
We awarded a contract through a competitive tender for independent VAT advice from Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP. AAB have been commissioned to provide advice and support to Scottish Government employees on VAT implications, to produce an options paper exploring the VAT implications of different NCS scenarios, and to produce a final report on the considerations of VAT and eventual outcome. This work is ongoing.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether any additional funding to the £10 million Long COVID Support Fund, announced for 2022-23 to 2024-25, will be made available to NHS boards in the forthcoming budget for the treatment of Long COVID, in light of the reported increase in the number of people with the condition.
Answer
In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for health and social care. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.
Health funding for 2023-24 will be confirmed through the forthcoming budget process.
We engage with NHS Boards on a regular basis regarding their capacity needs, and will continue to do so in order to inform the allocation of the long COVID Support Fund.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of any VAT liability for care services that are currently VAT free following the creation of the National Care Service.
Answer
After competitive tender, a contract was awarded to Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP to obtain expert independent advice on the implications of VAT on the NCS and associated Care Boards. This work is ongoing. We will engage with the wider sector and HMT prior to any decision being taken which would have a VAT impact.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether its forthcoming workforce projections for health and social care will include breakdowns for (a) consultant hepatologists, (b) liver nurse specialists and (c) alcohol liaison nurses.
Answer
As committed to in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care we will, for the first time, publish our high level indicative projections for the Health and Social Care Workforce.
As part of the development of the indicative workforce projections a Short Life Working Group, comprising of key stakeholders developed an initial specification for workforce projections. Development of any projections is complex with many interlinking factors and as such we will look to continue to build the complexity of our workforce projections over time. Initially we will include job families from across the health and social care sector and utilise data from existing workforce data sets. Unfortunately we currently do not hold national level workforce data on consultant hepatologists, liver nurse specialists and alcohol liaison nurses and are therefore unable to include these specialities in initial workforce projections beyond the level of nurse and medical job families.
As part of the strategy we have also committed to taking forward specific actions to improve how we gather, use and assess workforce data. This includes taking steps to improve the demographic data we collect and the analysis we undertake of data obtained at different geographic levels within our health and social care system. This work to improve workforce data will be done in concert with development of workforce projections and the continued development of these.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to follow the same model on VAT with the National Care Service that was used during the centralisation of Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Answer
After competitive tender, a contract was awarded to Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP to obtain expert independent advice on the implications of VAT on the NCS and associated Care Boards. No decisions have been made at this point and a full understanding of the impact of all options will be considered.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has spent to date in awarding contracts to private companies to undertake work regarding the establishment of a National Care Service, broken down by company, contract duration, and purpose of contract.
Answer
Please see the details of contracts awarded to private companies to undertake work regarding the establishment of a National Care Service in the following table.
Contract | Supplier Awarded Contract | Contract Duration | Total Contract Value | Contract Purpose |
Financial Controls Review | AAB | 3 months with the option for a 4 month extension which can be used purely for time to complete, not to add monetary value | £45,504 exc. VAT | To provide advice to the NCS finance team on recommendations for improvement where necessary on the financial controls in place, the capacity and capability of the finance team, and the methodology used to provide estimates set-up and running costs for the NCS. |
VAT Advice | AAB | 12 months | £46,749 exc. VAT | To provide advice on necessary VAT preparations for the establishment of a NCS. To provide advice on the VAT impact of different NCS scenarios and recommend any options and/or solutions that could potentially achieve a VAT neutral outcome. |
Operating model and business case production | KPMG | 18 months | £530,000 exc. VAT | To produce a Current Operating Model for the current social care sector, a Target Operating Model for the National Care Service and a Programme Business Case. |
Provision of consultation response analysis | PwC | 3 months | £68,360 exc. VAT | Contract to undertake analysis and the production of a report for the public consultation on A National Care Service for Scotland. Contract now complete. |
National Care Service operating model design | PwC | 2 months | £107,020.80 inc. VAT | Contract for advice and the production of a report on programme governance arrangements and a Design Authority within the National Care Service Programme. Contract now complete. |
Landscape review | Socitim (Society for Innovation, Technology and Modernisation) | 12 months | £412,624.00 exc. VAT | A review of the technology and digital architectural landscape across the public, private and third sector organisations who are involved in the delivery of social care services in Scotland to understand what will and will not work in the system |
User research | Storm ID | 2 months | £47,300.00 exc. VAT | User research to explore how people experience interacting with services in Scotland, and is particularly focussed on what data is important to them. Contract now complete. |
International research | Capgemini Invents | 2 months | £49,000.00 exc. VAT | Research to understand what digital approaches, services and products have enabled similar services outside of Scotland and what lessons can be learned from both successful and unsuccessful digital projects and programmes. This will focus on the technical and practical elements of work rather than the policy drivers. Contract now complete. |
Technical architecture partner | Capgemini Invents | 12 months | £338,730.00 exc. VAT | Research to understand in detail how data is currently flowing in the social care and health system and a technical architecture review of existing national digital assets to make a technical assessment to inform design decisions and inform the re-use of assets where appropriate. |
- Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 10 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how it will work with the gaming industry to help promote and grow the sector, in light of the recently held first ever Scottish Games Week.
Answer
Firstly, I would like to congratulate all those involved in making Scottish Games Week a hugely successful event.
Scotland has a rich history in the gaming industry and we are proud to have funded Scottish Games Week through the Scottish Government’s Start-up Ecosystem Fund.
That said, we believe gaming has more to offer to the Scottish economy in the years to come. Game developers have shown that their skills and creativity can be applied much more widely, delivering innovative solutions to help solve problems in other areas such as education and healthcare. That is why our Chief Entrepreneur, Mark Logan, is engaging closely with sector leaders to explore opportunities to catalyse the sector’s growth, including how it can benefit from our £42m investment in a new network of tech-scalers – world-class environments to start and scale new companies.
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Current Status:
Withdrawn
