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The NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-26 sets out the approach and actions which will be taken by NHS Scotland, with support from the Scottish Government and working in partnership with others, to respond to the climate emergency and to contribute towards the achievement of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Strategy emphasises the importance to Health Boards of climate change adaptation, and the need to carry out climate change risk assessments and produce climate change adaptation plans. A recently published report: "NHSScotland Climate Change Risk Assessments and Adaptation Plans: A Summary Report" summarises the assessments that Boards have carried out and their adaptation plans. It includes Boards with rural communities.

The NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022-26 sets out the approach and actions to be taken by NHS Scotland, with support from the Scottish Government and working in partnership with others, to respond to the climate emergency and to contribute towards the achievement of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It applies to all NHS Boards in Scotland, including those with rural communities.

The NHS Scotland Annual Climate Emergency & Sustainability Report reports on progress in reducing carbon emissions for all Health Boards in Scotland, including those with rural populations. The latest report was published last year, see: Annual Climate Emergency & Sustainability Report 2024.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18931 on 21 June 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/questions-and-answers

Energy policy (including pre-payment meters) is mostly reserved to the UK Government, which means the Scottish Government has limited powers to intervene.

It is important that consumers are able to choose the most appropriate and manageable way of paying for their energy, and prepayment meters can, under certain circumstances, play an important part in providing flexibility and choice to households and businesses.

The Scottish Government has therefore not called for a permanent ban on the installation of prepayment meters – while strongly supporting the ban on forcibly installing meters for certain vulnerable customers.

We continue to call for more targeted support for vulnerable consumers, including those on prepayment meters, who are in greater risk of increased debt or self-disconnection.

The Scottish Government is not currently planning to establish an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce.

However, we are undertaking a range of actions to improve access to diagnosis and support for people with ADHD.

The Scottish Government is working with NHS Boards, community partners, and the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to improve access to diagnosis, by supporting local health partners to develop, enhance and redesign existing local neurodevelopmental services.

We are working with NAIT to implement Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways across Scotland. By implementing a single diagnostic pathway for autism and ADHD, and by adopting a stepped care model, we hope to ensure that diagnostic and post-diagnostic support is provided in a timely and effective fashion.

We also provide funding to NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to deliver training resources to meet the needs of staff working in ADHD services across health and social care. These include webinars on ‘Assessing ADHD’ and ‘Understanding ADHD in Girls and Women’, which are available to all NHS and Social Care staff via an online knowledge hub.

Work is ongoing to establish how the £16 million funding announced in the draft Scottish budget will be best used to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from thrombectomy.

The new Scottish Budget was presented to Parliament on 4 December 2024 with £16 million allocated to the further development of the thrombectomy service and stroke policy. This details Scottish Ministers spend proposals for the year ahead and the Scottish Parliament will then scrutinise this information through the Scottish Budget Bill. Further details on the Scottish Budget and the Health and Social Care portfolio budget Finance can be found at; Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026.

The Scottish House Condition Survey provides a snapshot of the Scottish housing stock in each survey year including the construction age and built form of Scottish domestic buildings. Within this it provides estimates of the number of dwellings with a prepayment meter for gas or electricity.

The most recent estimates of households with a prepayment meter are from 2023, and are presented in the following table:

Table 1: Number of PPM meters by type (000’s)

The Scottish Government remains committed to expanding the national thrombectomy service, and ensuring access to this treatment is as equitable as possible.

Through the National Thrombectomy Programme Board, and Thrombectomy Advisory Group, work is being undertaken to drive expansion of the thrombectomy service.

Planning is ongoing to establish how the £16 million funding announced in the Scottish budget, once scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament, will be best used to maximise the number of patients able to benefit from thrombectomy.

The current Acceptable Use of IT Policy does not explicitly apply to Members and their staff, though all Parliament IT account holders are bound by the SPCB's Use of Resources Policy which states that resources, including IT resources, are provided to support parliamentary duties and must not be used to any significant extent for any other purposes.  A revised Acceptable Use of IT policy which will apply to Members and their staff is currently being developed for approval by the SPCB.

The SPCB strongly advises that all Members and their staff, whether paid or voluntary, complete GDPR training. Each Member, as the data controller, is ultimately responsible for their staff's compliance with UK GDPR and the SPCB provide a variety of resources to help ensure Members are well placed to meet their responsibilities.