Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is not currently directly funding any research projects or fellowships on the development of new diagnostic tests and tools to detect brain tumours.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the research spend of other funders. However, the National Cancer Research Institute database indicates that £2,846,401 was spent on early detection, diagnosis and prognosis of brain tumours in the UK in 2020-21 by charity and public funders.

A. The Scottish Government paid a total of £209,743 to Smarts Communications and £333,082 to Stripe Communications during the period 1 January 2022 to 10 May 2023.

B. Both companies were commissioned to provide public relation services by the Scottish Government’s Marketing Team to support vital public information and behaviour change marketing campaigns.

The Scottish Government received £199 million in Barnett Consequentials in respect of the UK Government’s 75% relief for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure sectors in 2023-24.

The Scottish Government needs to consider its funding availability in totality and not by isolating each and every line of UK consequential funding. Decisions in the budget are taken in that context and the Scottish Budget delivered the number one ask of the business community by freezing the non-domestic rates poundage.

Delivering the freeze in the poundage came at a forecast cost of £308 million, in contrast with only £169 million of Barnett consequentials received for the equivalent policy in England. Despite this, the Scottish Government continues to deliver a number of other reliefs that are not available to businesses in England including Day Nursery relief, Fresh Start relief, the Business Growth Accelerator relief, and the UK’s most generous relief package for the renewable energy-generating sector.

In relation to the allocation of funding for the national parks and local authorities, I refer the member to S6W-09126 on 29 June 2022, in response to Mark Ruskell MSP. In reference to (b), the distribution methodology for the 2022-23 ‘Edinburgh Process’ below was approved through the formal financial governance process including political sign-off from Scottish Ministers and COSLA political Leaders:

• 50% on ‘area of natural greenspace’ (as defined by PAN 65 and calculated by reporting on the State of Scottish Greenspace); and
• 50% on the composite green indicator defined by NatureScot (including local nature reserves, area of reserves) and used in the annual redetermination on Biodiversity and Ranger Services.

In addition, Local Authorities and National Parks were eligible to participate in partnerships that applied to the competitive element of NRF in 2022-23.

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

Monitoring is conducted via returns which local authorities and the National Parks are required to complete, following the end of each financial year, setting out how Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) money has been used.

Phase 1 of fleet renewal was authorised to prepare the necessary details for procurement in 2022 and work continues accordingly. Work is under way to define future phases, reflecting the budget position set out in December 2022, the condition of ScotRail’s fleet and the necessary related investment in the infrastructure.

I refer the member to the Public Health Scotland publication on ovarian cancer survival, which uses the Scottish Ovarian Cancer Quality Improvement Indicators. The most recent data can be accessed at the following address: Ovarian cancer QPIs survival analyses 2 May 2023 - Ovarian cancer Quality Performance Indicators - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

I refer the member to the Public Health Scotland cancer incidence data set, which covers all cancer types including ovarian cancer, and is updated annually. The data can be accessed at the following address: Cancer incidence in Scotland - to December 2021 - Cancer incidence in Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

We recognise the significant impact that long COVID can have on the health and wellbeing of those most severely affected across Scotland and welcome the COVID-19 Recovery Committee's consideration of this very important issue.

We are carefully considering the report and its recommendations in full, and will provide a response to the Committee in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we are making available £3 million from our £10 million long COVID Support Fund over this financial year to support NHS boards to increase the capacity of existing services supporting those with the condition, develop these into more clearly defined local pathways and provide a more co-ordinated experience for those accessing support.

Discussions between the Scottish Government and COSLA took place in April 2023 regarding the allocation of funding through the Edinburgh Process strand of the Nature Restoration Fund.