Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery and treatment. As set out in our recently published Transport to Health Plan All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

Individual Boards are responsible for developing and assessing their own policies, including determining eligibility for escorts and reimbursement rates, whilst ensuring patient care and safety.

The expansion and retention of our specialist genomic workforce is an important part of the Scottish Government’s genomic medicine strategy and is critical to the delivery of both diagnosis and treatment across the NHS.

The Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine is working to capture not only our current workforce needs but those of our future service as we move towards an expansion in testing.

In doing so, we are working closely with NHS Education Scotland, our partners across the UK and national networks, acknowledging the many interdependencies between genomics, pathology and radiology in delivering diagnostic information needed by clinicians.

Equitable and consistent access to appropriate and timely diagnostic services and expertise are core requirements within the NICE NG47 guidelines cited within the recent Blood Cancer UK Action Plan.

We are aware of a gap analysis carried out by the Haematology and Transfusion Scotland and Scottish Strategic Network for Genomic Medicine networks on the genomic testing needed in Scotland, and we are working to address this as part of the overall implementation of the Genomics in Scotland strategy.

Work is also underway to better support integrated diagnostic reporting through the development of a national Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) in a programme of work led by a consortium of NHS Boards.

The following public bodies are currently considered to be government advisory groups, in line with the National Public Bodies Directory:

• Boundaries Scotland
• Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland
• Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland
• National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB)
• Poverty and Inequality Commission for Scotland
• Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards
• Scottish Commission on Social Security
• Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel
• Scottish Law Commission
• Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee

Information regarding advisory groups that previously existed is not held centrally, and this response is restricted to those advisory bodies currently in place.

Information regarding expenditure for several of these bodies can be found on their own websites:

Boundaries Scotland

https://boundaries.scot/corporate-documents

Judicial Appointments Board

https://www.judicialappointments.scot/publications

Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland

https://www.transport.gov.scot/our-approach/accessible-transport/mobility-and-access-committee-for-scotland-macs/#42413

Poverty and Inequality Commission for Scotland

The Poverty and Inequality Commission for Scotland was established from 1 July 2019. Links to their accounts since this date are as follows:

2019-20 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Annual-Report-Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-2019-20.pdf

2020-21 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-Annual-Report-2020-21.pdf

2021-22 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Annual-Report-Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-2021-2022.pdf

2022-23 https://povertyinequality.scot/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Poverty-and-Inequality-Commission-Annual-Report-2022-23-.pdf

2023-24 https://povertyinequality.scot/publication/the-poverty-and-inequality-commission-annual-report-2023-2024/

Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS)

https://socialsecuritycommission.scot/publications/corporate-documents/

Scottish Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel

https://fuelpovertypanel.scot/our-publications/the-scottish-fuel-poverty-advisory-panel-annual-report/

Scottish Law Commission

https://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/publications/annual-report/

The National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board was established in November 2023 and had incurred no expenditure up to 31 March 2024.

The Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards was provided Secretariat provision by the Common Services Agency, which is now known as NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). Information on expenditure for this public body is not held centrally.

The Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee was reconvened in April 2013 after it had previously been stepped down in 2013. Spend on this committee for the financial year 2023-24 was £90,985. Financial information on spend prior to 2013 is not available due to the age of this data and the changes in the finance system since this date.

The Scottish Government is aware of the regulations set out in the UK Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and the plans to introduce Awaab’s Law by setting out specified timeframes for addressing health hazards. This reflects similar rights already in place for social housing tenants in Scotland.

Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, Scottish secure tenants and short Scottish secure tenants currently have the right to have certain urgent repairs carried out by their landlord within a given timescale. The Right to Repair scheme applies to all tenants of local authorities and housing associations. The list of qualifying repairs is set out in The Scottish Secure Tenants (Right to Repair) Regulations 2002, which also sets out the maximum permissible period for completing repairs, and the compensation that is due to tenants where these timescales are not met.

This sits alongside existing requirements for social landlords in Scotland as part of the Scottish Social Housing Charter, monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). The Charter includes expected outcomes on the customer/landlord relationship and on the quality of housing. Landlords need to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, which requires that homes are healthy, safe and free from serious disrepair.

As part of their review of the Annual Return on the Scottish Social Housing Charter (ARC), SHR are engaging with the sector to develop updated indicators for tenant and resident safety.

SHR aim to confirm the revised ARC indicators by January 2025, with the new ARC being in place for collection year 2025/26. In the meantime, SHR will use Annual Assurance Statements to require landlords to provide specific assurance on their compliance with their tenant and resident safety obligations, including their performance in dealing with instances of damp and mould.

The Scottish Government, including Social Security Scotland, have not incurred any additional costs in 2024-25 as a result of the Department for Work and Pensions administering a payment equivalent to Winter Fuel Payment to eligible Scottish clients in 2024.

The Scottish Government, along with public sector bodies across the UK, face a very challenging environment as we manage our finances through the current financial year and set our budget for 2025-26. We are continuing to fund the charity, Health in Mind, in 2024-25, to deliver a specialist peer service to those affected by historic forced adoption. We also fund the charity Birthlink to manage the Adoption Contact Register for Scotland which helps facilitate connections between individuals and families affected by adoption. Decisions on funding other related historical forced adoption activities have not yet been made.

To date 17 homes have been approved through the demand-led Rural Affordable Homes for Key Workers Fund. This includes 7 homes in Highland, 7 homes in Orkney, 2 homes in Moray and 1 home in North Ayrshire. More Homes Division officials are in discussion with local authority partners on a number of other potential projects.

We are continuing to engage with all local authorities through Scotland Housing Network’s Local Housing Strategy Forum to encourage proposals to be forward where there are identified local requirements.

The Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer have been developed to support primary care clinicians to identify those with symptoms suspicious of cancer and identify those who require urgent assessment by a specialist.

Referrals are closely monitored to ensure capacity and support is available for those on an Urgent Suspicion of Cancer pathway. A clinical refresh of the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer is underway to help ensure the right person is on the right pathway at the right time.

The Scottish Government expects Health Boards to follow regional clinical management pathways and any guidance from the appropriate royal colleges when discussing monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance or any other conditions with patients.