Chamber and committees

The latest statistical release for Free Personal and Nursing Care is for the period 2022-23 and was published on 5 September 2023. Two published excel files accompany the publication, one of which provides data on people aged between 18-64, from the years 2018-19 to 2022-23. This can be found at: Supporting documents - Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The relevant information can be found in Tables 3a and 6a.

The Scottish Government continues to protect investment in digital within health services, as shown in the published budget. Planning remains underway to fully assess the impact on planned activity for 20242-5 that takes into account the considerable financial challenges facing the Scottish Government in the forthcoming financial year.

Rather than provide specific financial allocations to NHS Boards for the transformation of NHS IT Services, the Scottish Government provides funding to support investment programmes which are aligned to our Digital Health and Care Strategy. We will shortly publish our updated Delivery Plan for Digital Health & Care. This will confirm delivery priorities for the year ahead using the investment available.

Scottish Government collects information on whether any member of a household making a homelessness application to a local authority slept rough:

a) during the 3 months preceding and b) the night before the application.

This data is collected from all local authorities as part of the Homelessness in Scotland statistical data collection. Annual totals of rough sleeping reported by applicant households, broken by local authority, are published in the main tables supporting the main annual publication, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/homelessness-in-scotland-2022-23/documents/

A document has been placed with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, bib number 64985, containing data related to the reporting of rough sleeping a) during the 3 months preceding and b) the night before the application, broken down by month of application and local authority, from April 2002 to September 2023.

Data is not available prior to April 2002 as this is when data collection began. The most recent data available goes up to September 2023.

The data collection defines rough sleeping as any member of the applicant household who has slept outside, in the open air (such as on the streets, or in doorways, parks or bus shelters) or slept in a building or other place not designed for habitation (such as barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations etc.).

Data is not gathered for any household rough sleeping who does not make a homelessness application to a local authority in Scotland.

As set out within Housing to 2040, we recognise the importance that good quality, accessible and adaptable housing has in allowing people to live independently with no barriers to participation in daily life, work and their community.

To make sure that we build in accessibility and adaptability to new homes and future proof them, we are carefully considering the public response to our recent consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland’s homes.

We want older people to have choice, dignity and freedom to access suitable homes, built or adapted to enable them to participate as full and equal citizens. Our Housing to 2040 strategy sets out a vision for housing in Scotland. This includes all aspects of housing, including independent living for older people.

As set out within Housing to 2040, we understand that accessible and adaptable housing is important in allowing people to live independently with no barriers to participation in daily life, work and community as well as future-proofing new homes to help avoid costly adaptations in future when needs may change.

This is why our aim is that all new homes should be accessible and adaptable to suit the lifelong and varying needs of Scotland’s people.

The Scottish Government works closely with local authorities in their role as strategic housing authorities. Local Councils are best placed to make decisions which reflect the particular nature and characteristics of their local area.

On 29 June 2023 we launched a consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland’s homes. The consultation closed on 21 December 2023. We are carefully considering the feedback received.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken such a review however, this will be taken into consideration as officials continue to explore next steps in potential further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures that pierce or penetrate the skin.

This information in relation to treatment in Scotland is not centrally collected. When NHS Scotland treats someone who has suffered harm from a non-surgical cosmetic procedure that has gone wrong, NHS Scotland will not necessarily record the cause as there is no specific code to record this. The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to treatments outside Scotland.

Individuals who are not healthcare professionals and provide such procedures are not currently regulated and therefore this information is not held by the Scottish Government.

Individuals who are not healthcare professionals and provide such procedures are not currently regulated and therefore there are currently no regulated training requirements to work in the sector. Accreditation for training for the sector will also be considered as part of the work with stakeholders and the Scottish Cosmetics Interventions Expert Group.

Individuals who are not healthcare professionals and provide such procedures are not currently regulated and therefore this information is not held by the Scottish Government.