Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will bring forward plans to update regulations for the licensing of dog, cat and rabbit breeding and dealing for appropriate public consultation in due course.

Scottish Government officials met with representatives from the Scotland Against the Care Tax Campaign during April 2017. In addition they have also met with local authority representatives at the beginning of June and also plan to hold a round table event with stakeholder and service user organisations in the near future.

I have myself, previously met with Amanda Kopel on a number of occasions to discuss her campaign to extend free personal care to people under the age of 65. Scottish Government officials will meet with a number of representatives of Disabled People’s Organisations before the completion of the Feasibility Study.

Data on referral rates by NHS board is published in the quarterly Child and Adolescent and Psychological Therapies mental Health Services Waiting Times in NHSScotland reports which are available online at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Publications/.

The referrals section of these reports provide a total of all referrals to a board in a quarter as well as the rate per 1,000 people, but does not specify the numbers that have been referred to clinical psychologists, this information would need to be requested from NHS boards.

The following table highlights data from Higher Education Statistics Agency HESA records, from the Scottish Funding Council, showing Scotland-domiciled people who have entered pre-registration nursing and midwifery training since 2008-2009 to 2015-16.

1. Source – Scottish Funding Council – HESA data.
2. Excludes Open University Data.
3. HESA data for 2016-17 will be available in late 2017.

Data from the years prior to 2008-2009 is not routinely available. However, this could be provided on request from the Scottish Funding Council, if a reasonable amount of turnaround time is allowed for.

Scottish Government recommended a 5.6% increase in student pre-registration nursing and midwifery intakes for academic year 2016-17 and a further 4.7% increase in 2017-18, which is the fifth successive rise - bringing us a step closer to delivering our commitment to create 1,000 extra nursing and midwifery training places over the course of this Parliament.

The Chief Nursing Officer has commissioned a review into widening access into nursing and midwifery education. This is currently underway and is investigating ways to support and widen access into nursing and midwifery education and careers.

The available information is provided in the following tables. Crime groups covered in this category are: Cruelty to animals (excluding dogs) including killing and maiming cattle; Cruelty to dogs; Cruelty to Wild Animals.

Animal Cruelty Charges   reported to COPFS¹, 2002-03 to 2016-17²                  

2002-03 - 203

2003-04 - 216

2004-05 - 228 

2005-06 - 231

2006-07 - 389

2007-08 - 300

2008-09 - 414

2009-10 - 338

2010-11 - 357

2011-12 - 348

2012-13 - 404

2013-14 - 397

2014-15 - 346

2015-16 - 320

2016-17 - 266 

1 - data provided by the COPFS. 2 - data prior to 2002-03 is incomplete.

While information on how many cleaning staff have been directly employed in each NHS Board in each year since 1999 is not centrally held, information on the pre- Agenda for Change ancillary staff group from 30 September 1999 to 30 September 2006 is published by ISD Scotland and can be found in the following link:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Historic-Data/WFG01_HB_REG.xls

Information on the number of whole time equivalent staff working in hotel services from 30 September 2007 to 31 March 2017 is published by ISD Scotland and can be found in the following link:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2017-06-06/Non-Medical_Trend_M2017.xls

The Scottish Government has committed to investing £500 million extra in primary care by the end of this parliament. By 2021, £250 million of this new investment will be made in direct support of general practice, helping to transform the way services are delivered in the community.

As a first step towards that £250 million, the Primary Care Fund has risen from £45m in 2016-17 to £72m in 2017-18, and it will fund measures to improve recruitment and retention, reduce workload, and develop new ways of delivering services.

There will be a range of mechanisms and delivery partners associated with various elements of this funding package. The detailed allocation of funding, including that to NHS Boards, for the various Primary Care Fund investments they will deliver is still under consideration, but we expect to be able to advise the Board-level breakdown of the largest element, the Primary Care Transformation Fund, to NHS Boards shortly. We are keeping Directors of Finance at NHS Boards up-to-date with progress. Strategic planning by Integration Authorities will ensure that this investment supports transformation and shifting the balance of care to the community.

Details on the Primary Care Fund for the subsequent three years will be provided as part of the respective Spending Reviews.

The Scottish Government has committed to recruiting 250 Links Workers during the lifetime of this parliament, with at least 40 being recruited by September this year. In implementing the programme from April to September 2017 there is a focus on sustaining and developing existing and effective Links Worker programmes which meet the core components. These ‘early adopters’ are specifically, Glasgow: 14 practices, Dundee: 11 practices, Edinburgh: 9 practices, Inverclyde: 6 practices and North Ayrshire: 4 practices. Plans for the recruitment of Links Workers beyond September 2017 are currently in development.

Council Tax is a local tax and therefore it is for individual Councils to take all practical steps and use their powers to collect the unpaid tax due to them, especially in cases where households are wilfully avoiding payment as this is unfair on the overwhelming majority of people who do pay their taxes.

People who are finding it difficult to pay their council tax should contact their council immediately as they may be entitled to relief under the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. We have invested over £1 billion in the Council Tax Reduction scheme since 2013-14, assisting almost half a million households each year to meet their council tax.

The most recent council tax collection statistics are published at http://www.gov.scot/stats/bulletins/01224.