Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally. NHS Scotland health boards have fully devolved responsibilities for the for the recruitment, retention and deployment of staff. The Scottish Government works closely with boards to support their recruitment efforts.

Under this government, whole time equivalent staffing levels have increased by over 12,000 (Sept 06 – June 18). Quarterly statistics on vacancies, staffing and turnover are published by NHS Information Services Division.

Over the next 3 years the Scottish Government is investing over £4 million in recruitment and marketing campaigns, which will focus on on attracting GPs, social care workers, nurses and midwives to NHS Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-18974 on 2 October 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The timing of financial reporting by individual Integration Authorities is aligned to the local release of information in to the public domain and associated with Board Meetings which generally take place every few months. For practical reasons there is currently no intention to increase the frequency of reporting from quarterly to monthly.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-05785 on 16 January 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The National Census data, which is held centrally by ISD Scotland, are for staff employed directly by NHSScotland and includes the postcode of residence.

Staff working as and when required, such as bank and agency staff, are excluded from this data capture.

At 30 th June 2018 census, this information was complete for 97.8% of census records for nursing and midwifery staff in post. Of the 68,111 staff (headcount) involved, 69 (0.1%) staff had a non-Scottish postcode of residence.

The information in relation to delayed chemotherapy treatments is not collected or held centrally. However on 26 September 2018, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed since January 2018 16 patients at the Royal Hospital for Children have had their chemotherapy treatment delayed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-14195 on ‎20 February 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

As the lead public body for our historic environment Historic Environment Scotland (HES) promotes the use of traditional building materials (which can be locally sourced) in relation to the care and maintenance of historic building stock, where appropriate, including in relation to historic properties in the care of public bodies. HES works closely with the Scottish Stone Group and wider stone industry sector to support the production and use of natural Scottish stone. HES has an ongoing Collaborative Partnership Agreement with the British Geological Survey in order to promote the use and production of natural stone in Scotland. As part of this Agreement, HES launched a publicly accessible Building Stone Database for Scotland in June 2018 to provide information on historic and current sources of traditionally used building stone across Scotland.

As part of the organisation's Action Framework for traditional building materials, due to be finalised later this year, HES is committing to producing guidance on the specification and procurement of traditional Scottish materials, including stone, for public bodies. HES has also produced a ‘Managing Change in the Historic Environment guidance note on External Walls’ which acknowledges local materials and traditions as an important element in defining the character of the building in question. The guidance note also promotes maintenance and appropriate repair as the best means of safeguarding the character of historic buildings.

The Scottish Government estate comprises 73 buildings of which 18 are Crown owned. Of these 18 there are 2 that make use of local natural stone, these are Saint Andrew's House and Governor's House - both of which are Grade A listed properties in Edinburgh. There is a 'stone graveyard' situated in the grounds of Saint Andrew's House which allow replacement stones to weather over time. Both properties are surveyed annually in line with our Conservation Plan and should there be a need to replace any stone this is undertaken as part of Planned Maintenance for the properties.

Scotland’s built environment has a rich legacy of the innovative use of stone and we are keen to capitalise on and promote the use of our national assets wherever possible. The then-Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy met with the three founders of the Scottish Stone Group in November 2017, which was established to raise awareness of locally sourced stone.

Although it is for local authorities to determine where to source materials the Scottish Government’s architecture and planning policies encourage new development that responds appropriately to its context and which reinforces local identity and character. The use of appropriate materials is recognised as a key consideration in this.

We are continuing to work towards the implementation of the recommendations from the Review of Access to New Medicines.

Recent developments include the publication of the Access to Medicines Data Scoping Taskforce Report “Building Capability to Assess Real-World Benefits, Risk and Value of Medicines: Towards a Scottish Medicines Intelligence Unit”. The new “Ultra-Orphan” decision pathway will also begin to come into place from October 2018. And the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) continues to enhance its effectiveness and accessibility to the public, and has now begun to publish new explanatory leaflets about individual decisions.

From August 2018, the SMC also introduced interim accepted advice for medicines with a conditional marketing authorisation from the European Medicines Agency.