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A robust governance process is one important aspect of delivering effective care and meeting the Scottish Stroke Care Standards measured in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit.

That is why NHS Board reviews conducted by the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme explicitly ask NHS Boards to set out their governance structure and any plans to improve this.

We have also asked every NHS Board to nominate an accountable individual to take overall responsibility of stroke care, including meeting the Scottish Stroke Care Standards.

A tool for collection of empirical data relating to various stroke rehabilitation outcomes - such as time to rehabilitation assessment, creation of rehabilitation plans, commencement of rehabilitation, input from various Allied Health Professional specialities and time to commencing community rehabilitation - has been developed. Data collection with this tool is currently being trialled in two NHS Boards, with the aim of using this across Scotland once this has been assessed.

We are in the process of developing a tool to capture and publish patient experience of rehabilitation in each NHS Board.

The Scottish Stroke Care Audit already tracks the number of beds by health board as part of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme. This information will be added to the dashboard of the most recent annual report within the next two weeks.

We will continue to work with Public Health Scotland on the most effective methods of capturing and reporting organisational data, including staffing levels.

The revised criteria assessing NHS Boards requires more rigorous reporting on stroke service governance structures and data reporting, and these will take time to fully implement.

I expect NHS Boards to prioritise their stroke governance structures and have scheduled a roundtable meeting with the accountable individuals from all NHS Boards where the importance of service governance will be emphasised.

The Scottish Stroke Care Standards are designed to enhance service delivery and improve patient outcomes. Monitoring performance against these standards through the Scottish Stroke Care Audit allows us to identify where challenges are being faced in the delivery of stroke care and implement quality improvements where required.

We recognise the standards are challenging and continue to expect Health Boards to identify aspects of their stroke services which do not meet these standards and to work to improve their standards of care locally to meet the Scottish Stroke Care Standards.

We expect staff providing care for individuals who have had a stroke to be fully trained in providing stroke care. However, in smaller Health Boards, it is not always possible to maintain a dedicated stroke unit.

A range of online stroke care competency training programmes are available and as part of the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme review process all NHS Boards are asked to complete an education template highlighting the training stroke staff have undertaken.

We expect staff providing care for individuals who have had a stroke to be fully trained in providing stroke care. However, in smaller Health Boards, it is not always.

Fair Start Scotland launched in April 2018 with an initial referral period of 3 years. Contracts were subsequently extended for an additional 3 years.

New referrals to the service ended on 31 March 2024, with the delivery of Scotland’s devolved employability support being met through our No One Left Behind approach from 1 April 2024.

The Fair Start Scotland employability service was procured, and national contracts awarded to public, private and third sector Service Providers across Scotland. The Scottish Government does not have any staff directly employed to deliver the service. There are 4.75 full time equivalent staff assigned to manage the delivery of the contracts with the Service Providers.

It is the responsibility of Local Authorities to plan, develop and deliver flood protection schemes and other flood resilience actions.

Local authorities carry out appraisals of flood protection schemes. It is expected that every scheme, which is delivered by a local authority, is developed with consideration of catchment processes and characteristics, making reasonable and practical efforts to enhance the landscape’s natural ability to slow and store flood water.

All Scottish quota is issued in line with the requirements of the UK Fisheries Act 2020.

On 7 June 2024, the Scottish Government published the outcome of its consultation on the allocation of Additional Quota. Additional Quota is the extra quota the UK receives following EU exit.

As part of Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy 2020-2030, the Scottish Government committed to the maintenance of FQA system as the primary method of allocating Exiting Quota (the UK’s established share of quota prior to leaving the EU) following stakeholder feedback.