Chamber and committees

NHS Lothian has never ran a full immunology service directly. A limited clinical service was provided in Lothian by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) until the immunology consultant retired in 2009.

It is NHS Lothian’s ambition to transfer all of the immunology service from SNBTS over the next few months, and to provide a more robust clinical service for patients in Lothian and the wider region (in collaboration with neighbouring health boards), supported by a laboratory service. NHS Lothian has agreed to run the laboratory and has advertised for a Clinical Lead to manage the service. NHS Lothian is also currently recruiting a consultant immunologist.

In the meantime, NHS Lothian has approached the immunology service in Newcastle to discuss a short term visiting service to ensure that Lothian patients are seen by someone with the relevant expertise.

Information on the number of patients with primary immune deficiency expected to travel to Newcastle is not held centrally, however one young adult patient has been reviewed by the paediatric immunology team at Newcastle.

The Scottish Government provides funding, via the Scottish Funding Council, to initiatives such as ‘Back on Course Scotland’ for the provision of advice and guidance for early leavers from higher education. The service is run by the Open University in Scotland.

In the 2015-16 letter of guidance to the Scottish Funding Council, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning emphasised the importance of retention and the need to ensure that the higher education sector makes more effective use of data to track student progress.

The Scottish Government also supports a wide range of programmes aimed at helping adults and young people into positive destinations. This includes 25,000 Modern Apprenticeships each year, the Opportunities for All guarantee of a place in employment or training for all 16-19 year olds, a commitment of £5 million in response to Developing the Young Workforce to support Scotland’s education system to connect young people to business more effectively and £88 million (over three years) to support small businesses create youth jobs.

NHS Lothian has never ran an immunology service directly, with services being provided by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS). The board has advised that it intends to transfer all services from SNBTS over the next few months, subject to successful recruitment of a consultant immunologist and a Clinical Lead for the laboratory.

Using information from the Student Awards Agency Scotland and the School Leaver Destination Returns report, Skills Development Scotland can identify those who are no longer receiving student support but have not completed their degree. Leavers are also tracked by the universities themselves.

In the 2015-16 letter of guidance to the Scottish Funding Council, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning emphasised the importance of retention and the need to ensure that the higher education sector makes more effective use of data to track student progress.

Information on the number of children registered with local authorities to receive their early learning and childcare entitlement is published annually in December.

We expect all local authorities to have enough places available, either in council nurseries or with partner providers, to accommodate the estimated number of children who will take up their early learning and childcare entitlement in the new school term.

Should the people of Scotland vote for independence, the collection of student loan repayments is a matter that will form part of transitional discussions between the Scottish and UK governments.

Should the people of Scotland vote for independence, the collection of student loan repayments is a matter that will form part of transitional discussions between the Scottish and UK governments.

The Access to Education Fund is a £1.5 million fund which aims to reduce the barriers to learning experienced by pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The fund, which will be administered by Education Scotland, will be open to applications from schools, from the week commencing 18 August 2014. Applications can be made for up to £5000 per school for a range of activities, including, funding to support pupils and their families for additional school materials, trips, uniforms, IT, coaching and mentoring and parental engagement programmes. Further guidance for schools and the application form can be found on the Education Scotland website:

www.educationscotland.gov.uk/supportinglearners/accesstoeducationfund.asp

The deadline for applications is 10 October 2014 at 5.00pm. Officials from the Scottish Government and Education Scotland will consider all applications and schools will be notified with a decision by the end of November 2014.