Chamber and committees

The Stroke Admission HEAT target began on 1 April 2011 and expired on 31 March 2013. As with all HEAT targets there was a clearly defined deadline date for delivery of 31 March 2013; after this point the target is considered to be expired.

The HEAT target data is in the public domain and can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/Downloads/2013_report/SSCA_2013_National_Report_tables_and_charts.xls

NHS Scotland coards are currently working on draft financial plans that include the identification, classification and risk assessment of efficiency savings. Draft financial plans are due to be submitted on 14 February 2014 for consideration by The Scottish Government; with final versions of these plans to be submitted by 14 March 2014.

The aim is to formally agree the financial plans by 31 March 2014, with the exception of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which is working to an agreed extended timeframe to allow local governance arrangements to conclude; however the final version of their financial plan is not expected to change from that submitted on 14 March 2014.

The NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) formula was introduced in 2009-10 and is used in the allocation of around 70% of the total NHS Budget between the 14 territorial NHS boards in Scotland. This provides funding to NHS boards for the provision of Hospital and Community Health Services and GP prescribing. The most important element of the formula is population. Population is then weighed to reflect the effect that age, sex and deprivation have on the need for health care services.

It is the approach of the Scottish Government that those boards that are below parity will receive additional funding each year to bring them closer to parity, whilst not destabilising other boards. In the 2014-15 draft budget, the Scottish Government agreed to give an additional £42.5 million of funding to those boards below parity to bring them closer to their NRAC share.

The policy of the Scottish Government is to phase in the NRAC Formula whereby all territorial boards continue to enjoy real-terms growth in their allocations year-on-year, with those above parity (i.e. above their formula target share) receiving less growth than those below parity until the new distribution is achieved. This provides a stable and managed process for moving boards towards their NRAC parity levels.

The Scottish Government anticipate that, assuming current funding levels are maintained, by 2016-17 no NHS board will be more than 1% below their NRAC parity level.

It is a statutory requirement for NHS boards to deliver a balanced financial position at the end of the financial year in terms of both the revenue resource limit and the capital resource limit. Where an NHS board delivered a cumulative financial deficit, this would be carried forward, however this outturn would be classed as failure to meet a financial target and therefore subject to a report by the Auditor General for Scotland under Section 22(3) of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 and reported to the Scottish Parliament.

All NHS boards met these financial targets in 2012-13 for the fifth consecutive year.

The following table shows the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) target and actual percentage shares for those boards below their target share for each of the last five years.

Note: Percentages are rounded to 2 decimal places, therefore where actual/target figures appear the same, the Board was marginally below target share in that year.

Detailed information on the NRAC formula is publically available on the NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) Information Services Division (ISD) website:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Resource-Allocation-Formula/

This information is not held centrally.

However, dance, including Scottish Country Dance, can be a key context for learning in core Physical Education (PE). PE provides learners with a platform from which they can build the movement skills and competencies, personal and interpersonal skills necessary for participation in all forms of dance and enhances their physical wellbeing in preparation for leading a fulfilling, active and healthy lifestyle.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-19346 on 5 February 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at;

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-19346 on 5 February 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Some schools offer bagpipe tuition along with other instruments. As with Curriculum for Excellence, the detail of how this is delivered in schools is decided by local authorities and schools. This includes the choice of instrument and how instrumental music tuition is delivered. These decisions are based on a range of considerations and take account of relevant resource limitations, local traditions and demand and availability of music instructors.

We welcome the wide range of instrumental music tuition local authorities provide and believe that music plays a vitally important role in education, helping to shape a young person’s sense of personal, social and cultural identity as well as providing significant cognitive, societal and economic benefits to Scotland as a nation and its people.

Last year the Scottish Government set up the Instrumental Music Group chaired by David Green and this spent six months investigating local authorities’ provision of instrumental music tuition services. The group’s report was published in June 2013 and is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/ACE/InstrumentalMusicGroup.

In terms of accessing traditional music and learning to play the bagpipes, the report does not focus on any particular instrument but recommendation three states that local authorities should review their charging policies and concessionary schemes to ensure that pupils in their area are not prevented from learning a musical instrument because of their background, location disability or financial circumstances. The government has accepted this recommendation.

The operational cost of running the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) in 2012-13 was £5.5 million. For the same period SFT reported delivery of net benefits of £132.1 million.

SFT’s annual reports and accounts, which are laid before Parliament by 31 December each year, provide more details on income and expenditure. SFT’s benefits statement is published on its website.