Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has no plans to establish a database with regards to the monitoring of individuals with Lynch Syndrome.

We are currently in discussion with clinicians including members of the Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine and the Clinical Genetics Forum to bring together all stakeholder specialities to advise on testing, screening and management for individuals at increased risk of cancer.

The Scottish Government does not routinely gather or centrally hold information on staff attrition rates across all public sector, or publicly funded, bodies.

National Statistics on employment across the public sector in Scotland, including headcount by devolved and reserved sectors, are published on a quarterly basis and can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/public-sector-employment-statistics/.

In the case of some specific workforces, further information relevant to attrition rates is also available:

• Official Statistics on the NHSScotland workforce, including staff turnover, are published and can be found at: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/ .
• National Statistics on the composition of the Civil Service workforce, including staff turnover by department and devolved administration, are published annually and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics

Since December 2022, the Scottish Government has allocated over £896,000 to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) to support work to improve their adult and young people’s gender identity services.

NHS GGC is using this funding to recruit to its Young People’s Service multidisciplinary team; contact those currently on the waiting list to identify unmet needs; and improve support for those waiting.

The Scottish Government has engaged with NHS England on the developing plans on clinical research, and the Scottish Government/NHS Scotland will join the planned NHS England study development process as an observer.

s set out in our answer on 21 June, decisions on prescribing are for clinicians to make in consultation with the patient, following individualised assessment, and they are subject to regular monitoring. The Scottish Government remains proactive in its commitment to help to deliver high-quality healthcare to children and young people in that sensitive field of medicine.

The Scottish Government has also committed to support the establishment of a nationally commissioned young person’s gender identity service. Work is underway with NHS National Services Scotland on how best to sustainably provide gender identity healthcare for young people in Scotland in the long term. This process includes considering existing and future treatment pathways.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-20714 on 19 September 2023. 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 Scottish Government is making available funding of £3 million over this financial year to support NHS Boards to increase the capacity of existing services providing support to people with long COVID, develop these in to more clearly defined pathways and to provide a more co-ordinated experience for those accessing support.

The individual delivery models being utilised and progressed by NHS Boards will vary, as they are tailored to local circumstances and needs. For example, some NHS Boards have developed single points of access for assessment and co-ordinated support from services including physiotherapy and occupational therapy. In other areas, the co-ordination role will be fulfilled by the primary care team based in the person’s local GP surgery.

The deployment, working conditions and health and wellbeing of officers are matters for the Chief Constable. There are processes and mechanisms in place for the Scottish Police Federation to raise any concerns or suggestions for change with Police Scotland through the Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee (JNCC), whose membership includes staff associations and trade unions.

I have three scheduled meetings per year and met with the Scottish Police Federation on 21 December 2022, 10 May 2023 and is scheduled to meet them on 21 September 2023. The Federation also meet regularly with senior Scottish Government officials. During these meetings matters of interest and concern to federation members are discussed.

At this time, the only form of electronic monitoring available in Scotland is radio frequency monitoring (RF).

As at 11 September 2023 the number of non-custodial sentences being electronically monitored was 1,583. This compares to 1,177 non-custodial sentences being electronically monitored at the same time last year.

The number of full time equivalent pupil support assistants by Local Authority is available in the school support staff statistics: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-support-staff-statistics/

A summary of the changes from 2018 to 2022 is provided in the following table.

The MAT Implementation Support Team (MIST) was established to work with and support local areas to build improvement-based capacity and capability so that they would be able to implement and sustain the MAT standards locally.

MIST support is provided through networking and regular support visits with a range of stakeholders including ADPs and local Health Boards to facilitate improvement work such as the sharing of good practice. Ministers have commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to run a national learning system for implementing the standards which is mainly aimed at providing support to ADPs and Health Boards by sharing best practice.

So, MIST and HIS work together on this to support local areas. The HIS learning system includes networking and webinars as well as providing insights and materials such as case studies, resources and news stories which are shared across ADPs and Health Boards.

Local areas report regularly to Ministers on progress towards implementation of the MAT standards. Public Health Scotland publishes progress in an annual National Benchmarking Report each June based on the work of MIST, and in the second annual Report published in June this year included good practice case studies provided through the HIS learning system.

MIST are also holding thematic groups for each of the standards to bring stakeholders together, and there is a planned in person work shop for MAT Standard 3 – Assertive Outreach taking place in the Autumn.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving digital access for learners and ensuring that every school aged child has access to a device by the end of this Parliament. We continue to work COSLA to progress delivery of this commitment.

To inform this process we have committed to developing a digital strategy in partnership with COSLA. This will help ensure digital provision supports the wider aims of the education system. Development of this strategy will aim to deliver the right technology, in the right place, with a workforce that knows how to use it and supporting the work to continue the rollout of devices across Scotland.

Information from local authorities indicates that around 280,000 digital devices have already been distributed to learners across Scotland (including 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government in 2020-21). These devices have been distributed in line with our council’s own digital strategies and budgets, recognising it is they who hold delivery for education locally.