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The Scottish Government is committed to the recruitment of a minimum of 1,500 additional staff to support the operation of Scotland’s National Treatment Centres (NTCs) and is supporting a range of activity to achieve this.

This includes support for domestic and international recruitment activity, growth in domestic training pathways for registered medical professionals and new youth employment and apprenticeship opportunities in a variety of non-registered roles, designed to attract individuals who may not have originally viewed NHS Scotland as an employer of choice.

Work is also being undertaken to upskill existing NHS staff through bespoke in-house training programmes delivered via the NHS Scotland Academy, thereby directly supporting career progression and retention for existing staff, and providing access to a variety of new roles that the NTC programme will offer. Through these initiatives we are also supporting boards with backfill arrangements.

NTC Recruitment is the responsibility of each NHS Board. It is therefore for each NTC Board to provide details of recruitment activity planned for their Centre.

Since 1 May 2021, significant progress has been made on the National Treatment Centre (NTC) Programme.

The National Eye Centre at NHS Golden Jubilee, which opened in November 2020, has providing significant additional capacity cataracts procedures to patients across Scotland. This has been achieved through the accelerated opening of theatres ahead of the previous phasing plan in the final business case.

Construction work continued at NTC - Highland; NTC - Fife and the second phase expansion of the Golden Jubilee University National Hospital.

In June 2022,construction work started on the inpatient ward for NTC - Forth Valley at Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

These four centres will open on the following dates:

NTC Fife - January 2023

NTC Forth Valley - January 2023

NTC Highland - April 2023

NTC Golden Jubilee Phase 2 - June 2023

In addition, on 13 May 2022 NHS Ayrshire & Arran the purchased Carrick Glen Hospital in Ayr to be re-developed as NTC – Ayrshire & Arran, due to open in 2025.

The business cases for the remaining NTCs in NHS Grampian, NHS Tayside, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Lothian, including in new Edinburgh Eye Pavilion, are under development.

There is no specific budget allocated for the National Treatment Centre Programme, instead the Health portfolio are required to manage this programme within the overall portfolio capital allocation. The spend to date is:

The Never Use Alone phone line is a number that an individual can call when they are about to use drugs alone. The staff will ask for some basic information before the person uses, including: what you want to be called; the number you are calling from, so the operator can call back if cut-off; an exact location and how emergency service could gain access; and what substance the individual is about to take. If that individual stops responding after they have taken the substance, the operator will notify emergency services of the location and possible overdose, so a medical professional can get to them as quickly as possible.

Additional information provided through the service includes: details about local drug services, including injecting equipment provision and information about accessing same-day prescribing; information about postal naloxone (provided through Scottish Families Affected by Drugs and Alcohol); and other support services such as mental health and housing. All callers are treated with respect and in a non-judgmental way.

The dedicated WAWY service co-ordinator has also conducted awareness raising, information and harm reduction sessions with a range of Alcohol and Drug Partnership services, prevention and overdose response teams, residential treatment services, homelessness services, needle exchanges and recovery cafes. These have taken place all across Glasgow, Paisley and the Ayrshires.

The Scottish Government did not receive any business cases for funding to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest from Glasgow City Council, the City of Edinburgh Council or Aberdeen City Council prior to the announcement of the final shortlist. As no business cases were received, the Scottish Government provided no funding for this to any of the three councils.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCTS who will reply in writing within 20 days

We understand that Glasgow City Council, together with Glasgow Life and the SEC, are working closely to develop a bid to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. While no funding has been provided or committed by Scottish Ministers, we will consider the business case for support for any bid once received.

While it is for local authorities across the UK to make their bids to the BBC to host Eurovision, Scottish Government officials have been in regular contact with UK Government counterparts regarding the selection of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest host city. We understand that Glasgow City Council, together with Glasgow Life and the SEC, are working closely to develop a bid to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

The public health response to the current monkeypox outbreak in Scotland is being led by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and delivered in partnership with local NHS Health Protection Teams (HPTs) in each of the NHS Boards of Scotland. PHS has established a national Incident Management Team (IMT) who meet weekly and whose membership includes representation from experts in clinical infectious disease, sexual heath, infection prevention and control, health promotion, immunisation and health protection.

The response is on a four nations approach and PHS work closely with the other UK public health agencies.

Monkeypox is a notifiable disease under the provisions of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 and as such, all medical staff across Scotland report any suspected or confirmed cases to their HPTs. PHS undertake epidemiological analysis on the data gathered to better understand: who is affected; trends over time; and any risk factors; in order to plan measures to limit onward transmission. Case numbers are published regularly on the PHS website and PHS also contribute to a more in-depth analysis at a UK level.

PHS has produced guidance and resources throughout the response to provide evidence based advice on steps for HPTs and others to take to limit transmission of monkeypox. The core guidance for HPTs sets out the public health actions in relation to contact tracing, follow-up of cases and contacts, post-exposure vaccination and other approaches. These actions are undertaken by HPTs and aim to interrupt any onward transmission once a case is identified, or limit the health impact of any subsequent transmission. This guidance is supplemented by resources such as infection prevention guidance for healthcare settings, produced by Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection Scotland (ARHAI) and leaflets including advice for people with monkeypox.

PHS is also working with SG and NHS Boards to undertake the rollout of vaccination for those considered to be at highest risk of contracting monkeypox. More details on the vaccination Programme are available on NHS Inform.

Relevant public information is kept up to date on NHS Inform including advice on: monkeypox symptoms, transmission and treatment; and monkeypox and safer sex. In addition the Scottish Government has recently funded further targeted health promotion messages which is collaborative work between experts in sexual health, PHS and third sector partners.

The Breastfeeding etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 has shaped our policies to raise awareness of and protect the rights of parents to feed their babies in public. Scotland is the only country in the UK to introduce legislation which specifically protects breastfeeding. It has enabled a more robust response to negative attitudes as we work to normalise breastfeeding.

The Scottish Government carried out a Maternal and infant nutrition survey in 2017 and asked questions on experiences of feeding babies outwith the home. Of those who responded, one in ten felt uncomfortable breastfeeding in public.

We used this evidence to launch the Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland Scheme in 2019, where private businesses and public organisations can sign up to offer a supportive environment for babies to be breastfed. This scheme makes clear it is illegal to prevent someone breastfeeding a child in public in Scotland.

We also restated the importance of the protection offered by this legislation in the 2019 Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland report.

Breastfeeding rates in Scotland have continued to increase year on year, with more than half of all babies (55%) being breastfeed at 10-14 days of age.