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Making the Future contains two substantive references to the Land Reform Bill.

One (under “Strategic Priorities) welcomed the publication of the consultation on the Bill https://www.gov.scot/publications/land-reform-net-zero-nation-consultation-paper/ published 4 July 2022).

The second was a recommendation: that “An ambitious Land Reform Bill should tackle concentrations in ownership and enshrine transparency, equality and public good into the future of Scotland’s land use.”

The measures put forward in the consultation for inclusion in the Bill aim to achieve these objectives. They will do so within the context of Article A1P1 of the European Convention of Human Rights, and the devolved settlement.

The consultation closed on 30 October 2022. Responses to the consultation, and the views of the Just Transition Commission, will be carefully considered as the proposals set out are developed.

Responsibility for the management of the police estate sits with the Scottish Police Authority and the Chief Constable.

However, Police Scotland has confirmed that 15 police stations have been closed since 2013 across Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde with the majority of them been moved to a new modern co-located accommodation within the same towns or officers were moved to new police stations nearby.

The Police Scotland Estate Strategy, approved by the SPA in May 2019, provides a framework for planning the future of the police estate to support the long term vision of policing which includes enhanced partnership working, and seeks to respond to the changing needs of communities while maintaining public visibility and confidence.

The number of resident places by funding category (i.e. self-funded/publicly funded) is not available. However, Public Health Scotland have published the estimated number of long stay residents in care homes for older people by funding category and by local authority since 2009.

a) i) This information is not held centrally and is not published by Public Health Scotland.

a) ii) These figures are available in two parts:

The latest Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults publication contains figures from 2012 - 2022. The figures can be found in the “Funding and Charges” section of the dashboard.

The Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults 2020 publication contains figures from 2009 – 2011. The figures can be found in Table 13C of the accompanying Care Home Census Data Tables.

b) i) This information is not held centrally and is not published by Public Health Scotland.

b) ii) These figures are available in two parts:

The latest Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults publication contains figures from 2012 - 2022. The figures can be found in the “Funding and Charges” section of the dashboard.

The Public Health Scotland Care Home Census for adults 2020 publication contains figures from 2009 – 2011. The figures can be found in Table 13C of the accompanying Care Home Census Data Tables.

The National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Young People currently covers bus travel only. At this time, there are no plans to extend this to rail.

On public transport fares more broadly, the Scottish Government is progressing its Fair Fares Review to develop and assess options to create a fairer, more transparent system of fares across all modes that maintain and increase affordability for those who need it most, taking cognisance of the relative changes to the overall cost of travel.

I recognise that stigma associated with liver disease can create very specific challenges, including by isolating people from their communities and act as a significant barrier to seeking help and support. This can increase the harms experienced due to delayed presentation especially given the generalised association between liver disease and alcohol misuse and/or drug abuse.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling this stigma, including among health care professionals across the healthcare system. We are currently developing a national stigma action plan for drugs and alcohol that will include taking the principles of the stigma charter developed by the Drugs Death Taskforce and putting these into action.

The issue of stigma is also clearly referenced on the NHS Inform website which states that a drug or alcohol problem is a health condition and people should receive help and support, not judgement.

Alcohol and drugs are of course not the exclusive causes of liver disease. On 20 June 2022, Public Health Scotland launched the Challenging Weight Stigma Learning Hub . The learning hub aims to raise awareness of the impact weight stigma can have on people living with overweight and obesity and what health professionals can do to mitigate this. It is interactive and has been developed alongside academics, health professionals and those with lived experience of stigma.

Transient elastography, commonly measured with a FibroScan, is currently used in several NHS Boards throughout Scotland to assess liver disease in hospital settings.

However its use in community settings is less well established. Local trials of its use in the community to assess those at high risk of liver disease have been initiated.

As we strive to deliver evidence-based policy, we await a more full evaluation of the data before considering the next steps. Experience so far has shown it to be feasible to introduce this technology in primary care and community settings and this could improve early detection of liver disease. Early detection of those with unrecognised advanced liver disease provides greater opportunity to prevent liver-related illness and deaths.

There are no plans at this time to carry out a full review of the Young Patients Family Fund (YPFF) however the Scottish Government has recently liaised with all Health Boards to discuss the implementation of the fund following its first full year of operation. Health Boards also routinely provide data on uptake to support the Scottish Government monitoring processes.

Those claiming under the YPFF are not required to specify the diagnosis of the young inpatient when making a claim. Therefore the Scottish Government does not propose to use YPFF monitoring or evaluation work to inform our support for young cancer patients and their families.

With respect to what further support is needed to support young cancer patients and their families, I refer the member to S6W-11449 on 4 November 2022.

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 2021 Digital Health and Care strategy aims to make the right information available to all appropriate staff, when and where it is needed, building on the existing use of electronic patient record systems used by all Health Boards and GP practices. Whilst our strategy is for all health records to be held electronically, this will not result in a single, discrete electronic patient record that maintains all of the data from all of the health and care systems in Scotland in a single platform. Rather the focus is on allowing medical records to be stored, linked and shared securely according to the information needed. To achieve this most Health Boards have a Clinical Portal. This system works across organisational, regional and national boundaries to provide a timely transfer of information.

Clinical portals are in place across Scotland within acute services and provide access to multiple specialist clinical systems, supporting the better transfer of information between Health Boards and within services. Currently, Clinical Portals cover the West of Scotland Boards, the East of Scotland boards and the North of Scotland Boards are in the process of implementing their Clinical Portal. Further key national developments are also underway that we expect to further improve data sharing. The National Digital Platform has improved our digital health and care infrastructure, supported the development of key digital platforms for the covid-19 response and will now look to focus on linking different sources of data where that offers value. The significant investment in new GP IT system rollout is also underway to provide modern, secure GP IT systems which will support evolving models of care.

The key developments to improve the sharing of information within Health Boards is the GPIT Programme, the National Digital Platform, TRAK Care and Clinical Portal. The total funding provided for these key developments to improve data sharing this financial year is £3.743 million.

We are due to publish a Digital Health and Care Strategy Delivery Plan in the coming weeks that will be available to all Parliamentary Members. Additionally, we will also publish the first ever Data Strategy for Health and Care in early 2023, which will further set out our ambition for ensuring the right data is available to the right professionals at the right time.

Those aged between 18 – 25 years old continue to have access to the Patient Travel Expenses Scheme or the Highlands and Islands Travel Scheme, both of which provide eligible claimants with support to meet travel costs associated with outpatient appointments.

Further to this, the introduction of the Improving the Cancer Journey scheme provides all adults diagnosed with cancer with the opportunity to be referred to a link officer under the joint partnership. The link officer will complete a Holistic Needs Assessment and will generate a care plan to meet the needs identified. This programme is the first of its kind in the UK. It looks to ensure that every cancer patient who can access emotional, financial and practical support. Local community assets can at this stage be identified and utilised to support the service user in meeting their needs.

Scotland’s Digital Health and Care Strategy was published in April 2018 and refreshed in October 2021 supersedes the eHealth strategy 2014-2017. The Digital Health and Care Strategy embraces the aims and progress as previously set out but incorporates a broader and more collaborative aim for digital transformation across Health and Care.

A copy of the 2021 Digital Health and Care Strategy can be found on the Scottish Government website Digital health and care strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .