Seòmar agus comataidhean

I met with Ms Helen Rowntree, CEO of Blood Cancer UK, on 12 September 2024 to discuss their recently published Action Plan. The Scottish Government is pleased to note that the charity’s five recommendations align closely with the ambitions laid out in its own Cancer Strategy for Scotland, published in June 2023.

The cancer strategy takes a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways in cancer, from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. The Scottish Government looks forward to continuing its work with the third sector to deliver on the ambitious strategy.

The Climate Change Committee were not consulted in advance of the savings in Net Zero and Energy portfolio set out in the Fiscal Statement on 3 September 2024. There is no legislative requirement for Ministers to seek such advice and it is not common practice to do so. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 sets out when Scottish Ministers must request advice from the CCC as well as when Scottish Ministers must have regard to CCC advice. There is no requirement on Ministers to ask the CCC for advice in relation to financial budgets.

We work closely with partners, including through the Older People’s Strategic Forum (OPSAF) on a range of issues related to age equality. This includes the Strategic Action Framework ‘A Fairer Scotland for Older People’, in which Ensuring Financial Security is a priority area. We are running a number of Roundtables throughout Scotland to hear from older people and older people's organisation as part of the refresh of the Framework.

We support projects that enable older people to live independent and fulfilling lives. Our Equality and Human Rights Fund provides over £2.2M to support older people’s organisations and age equality projects and programmes. We also launched a £3.8m Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund on 8 March 2023 which funds 53 projects supporting people at risk of social isolation and loneliness.

The requested information on how many staff have joined NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in each year since 2020 can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence (Turnover tab).

Scottish Government officials have regular engagement with officials from the Department for Business and Trade. As you are aware, Subsidy Control is a reserved matter and it is our understanding that UK Government have no current plans to amend the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

Scottish Ministers are bound by this UK legislation and also have a legal obligation to comply with World Trade Organisations rules. The Subsidy Control Act 2022 and World Trade Organisation rules are in place to promote fair competition, and prevent any distortion in competition or negative effects on trade and investment within the UK, or between the UK and another country.

The service the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) provide is based on a medical and mobility requirement and the Patient Needs Assessment (PNA) is designed to identify the patients who have the following needs. All patients requesting patient transport are taken through the PNA.

SAS support patients who:

• Require a high level of mobility assistance
• Need specialist ambulance equipment to help them mobilise
• Require oxygen and are unable to self-administer this during transportation
• Have a communicable disease with which travel on public/community transport or in a taxi is not advised, and do not have access to appropriate private transport
• Have undergone a procedure and the potential side effects of the treatment require the assistance of a trained ambulance crew for the return journey
• Have been clinically determined by an HCP as at risk from using alternative transport due to being immunocompromised and do not travel routinely by other means
• They have a cognitive or sensory impairment that requires oversight to safely travel, and no escort is travelling
• Have dementia, mental health conditions that means they are unable to make their own way with alternative transport and could be a risk to themselves or others

More information on Scheduled Care Service can be found on the SAS website at www.scottishambulance.com including information on some other alternative transport providers within the local area. Alternatively, patients/representatives can contact the attending hospital who may be able to provide additional advice on options for travelling to and from any future hospital appointments and if eligible, patients may be able to claim help with travel costs.

Where a publicly funded resident under the National Care Home Contract qualifies for transport from the NHS to attend for a clinical appointment/ treatment the provider will, where practicable, ensure this is arranged. For the avoidance of doubt, the cost of providing transport for the resident to and from scheduled medical appointments, as well as emergency admissions to hospital are not covered in the Council’s Approved Rate and are not therefore the responsibility of the provider where they are being paid that rate.

In the absence of free provision by the NHS, transport to the following may also be provided, but shall be charged in addition to the price charged for care and accommodation:

• Chiropody
• Opticians
• Dentistry
• Physiotherapy
• Transportation
  and Staff escorts to and from medical appointments

Any private contract between a self-funded resident and a care home may include provision for such transport.

Should the Scottish Ambulance Service be contacted, to provide consistency, all patients are taken through the Patient Needs Assessment (PNA) to assess their eligibility for ambulance transport. SAS ask the PNA questions to allow them to fully understand the patient’s needs and to confirm if they require ambulance transport. From this, SAS can then identify the correct resource required. If the caller indicates the patient can get out and about independently or can travel with the assistance of an escort, SAS will seek to understand what is preventing them from getting to their appointment. If there is a clear clinical or medical need, SAS will look to support this request; otherwise, patients will be signposted to alternative transport options specific to where a patient resides. SAS will always ask that if a patient is able to use other means of transport, this is considered the first choice rather than the Scottish Ambulance Service. A patient or representative is advised at the beginning of the call that if they disagree with their decision then they can ask for their request for transport to be put to appeal and this will be answered by a SAS supervisor.

An FCDO official was not present at this meeting. This is in accordance with standard practice for my meetings with Members of the European Parliament. FCDO officials were of course informed of the visit and programme in the normal way.

The following table shows the total value of grants awarded by Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals to applicants in the Highlands and Islands region from 1 May 2021 to 31 August 2024, which are broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring our work is informed by the experiences of people and communities that are affected by racism, hatred and prejudice.

The Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Strategy, and its associated Delivery Plan launched in November 2023, sets out our strategic priorities for tackling hate crime in Scotland. It was informed by communities with lived experience of hate crime, including Irish communities. We are committed to supporting a range of ongoing and participatory engagement, and will continue to work in partnership with Irish community organisations in Scotland to understand issues of importance to them, as we deliver our Strategy.

Scotland’s National Performance Framework is our wellbeing framework that sets out a vision of societal progress through National Outcomes. The Framework has equality breakdowns available as standard for each of the 48 National Indicators relating to people.

Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025 demonstrates a clear, continuing commitment to improve the collection and analysis of racial data, to inform understanding of needs and differential experiences of marginalised groups. The strategy was developed in collaboration with a range of external partners. By the end of 2024, an Interim Review of the Equality Evidence Strategy will be completed and published. Aligning with one of the Equality Evidence Strategy Actions, analysis of Scotland Census 2022 data will be completed in 2025 to further add to understanding of differential experiences.