Seòmar agus comataidhean

As we head towards the peak winter period we can expect to see performance fluctuate as pressures start to increase. We know that too many people are still waiting too long – and we are determined to drive improvements across our NHS.

As part of the NHS Scotland Winter Plan, we are supporting Health Boards to move people through the hospital as quickly as possible so that A&E waits can be kept to an absolute minimum. This includes an increased focus on effective discharge planning, which not only helps to free up beds, but is also in the best interest of patients who are ready to leave hospital.

Additionally, a record number of NHS 24 call handlers will be available this winter to direct people to the most appropriate care, helping reduce unnecessary A&E attendances.

Table 1 shows the estimated net additional income arising from an inflationary increase to the Intermediate Property Rate to 55.4p, compared to a freeze at 54.5, by property class. The net estimates include adjustments for reliefs, as well as in-year adjustments such as reductions due to proposals or appeals and write-offs.

The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. “Property class” is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, but may not necessarily accurately reflect the actual use of a property.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated net additional income arising from the inflationary increase to the Intermediate Property Rate (£)

Source: Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 October 2024, local authorities’ billing information as at 1 June 2024

The Scottish Government continues to adopt a comprehensive approach to address public health issues focusing on early prevention, reducing inequalities and creating the conditions to support people to lead healthier lifestyles.

This includes addressing the underlying drivers of heath inequalities by continuing to allocate around £3 billion a year in 2024-25 to a range of actions to tackle poverty and mitigate the impacts of the ongoing cost-of-living-crisis. This includes funding for free bus travel, the provision of early learning and childcare, as well as providing direct financial support through the likes of the Scottish Child Payment.

The Scottish Government has taken clear action to improve population health including continuing and increasing Minimum Unit Pricing of alcohol – estimated to have saved hundreds of lives - and delivery under our Tobacco and Vaping Framework including ongoing work on the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill to create a smokefree generation.

We are taking action to improve diet and increase physical activity. This includes ongoing work to consider restrictions on promotions of high fat, salt and sugar foods under our Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan, and promoting active lifestyles through our Physical Activity for Health Framework.

Furthermore, to address long term population health challenges work is ongoing to produce a Population Health Framework in partnership with COSLA and in collaboration with our wider partners. This will set out a whole system approach on population health seeking and key actions that seek to improve population health.

The Scottish Government has taken the decision to realign funding for scams prevention and awareness, with the requisite funding reallocated from its consumer policy and advice budget to Consumer Scotland’s budget. Consumer Scotland also now receives and manages grant funding for Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) for its advocacy and education programme which was previously allocated from the consumer policy and advice budget.

Realigning these funding streams has had the effect of reducing the consumer policy and advice budget, while the Consumer Scotland budget has correspondingly increased.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The member should contact Children’s Hearings Scotland for this information.

The management of the school estate is the statutory responsibility of local authorities. Decisions about the closure of schools are also a matter for local authorities.

There are additional provisions to protect schools from closure in place, particularly those in rural areas, via the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010. Local authorities must undertake a full statutory consultation on the permanent closure of schools. Ministers have powers to “call-in” any proposals to permanently close schools.

Through our Addressing Depopulation Action Plan, published in February, we acknowledge the important role that education provision plays in terms of local population attraction and retention. Through this Action Plan we have provided £90,000 in funding to Dumfries & Galloway Council in this financial year, which will be used to further explore locally-identified priorities around depopulation and design a campaign to encourage people to move to the area along with inward investment, among other measures to support the long-term sustainability of communities.

The Scottish Government will also provide over £15 billion in the 2025-26 Local Government Settlement. This represents an increase of £1 billion, a real terms increase of 4.7% compared to 2024-25.

In 2025-26 Dumfries and Galloway Council will receive £444.5 million of funding, which equates to an extra £62.9 million or an additional 16.5% compared to 2024-25. In addition, all councils will receive their fair share of the currently undistributed sum of £563 million.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The member should contact Children’s Hearings Scotland for this information.

Table 1 shows the non-domestic rates and thresholds in Scotland since 1999-2000. The rates for 2025-2026 were proposed in the Scottish Budget 2025-26.

Table 1: Non-domestic rates since 1999-2000

Telehealth as a term can represent a range of digital and remote access to services across healthcare. As such, there are multiple telehealth services on offer at a national and local level across Scotland and therefore it is not possible to provide a complete number undertaken across all services provided.

Table 1 shows the estimated net additional income arising from an inflationary increase to the Higher Property Rate to 56.8p, compared to a freeze at 55.9p, by property class. The net estimates include adjustments for reliefs, as well as in-year adjustments such as reductions due to proposals or appeals and write-offs.

The Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. “Property class” is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, but may not necessarily accurately reflect the actual use of a property.

Figures are rounded to the nearest 100,000, and may not sum due to rounding.

Table 1: Estimated net additional income arising from the inflationary increase to the Higher Property Rate (£)

Source: Scottish Assessors’ Valuation Roll as at 1 October 2024, local authorities’ billing information as at 1 June 2024