Chamber and committees

The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is a Non-Ministerial Office and part of the Scottish Administration. OSCR is an independent regulator and does not form part of the Scottish Government.

Under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, it is for OSCR to identify and investigate apparent misconduct in the administration of charities and to take remedial or protective action in relation to such misconduct, including whether to remove a charity from the Scottish Charity Register.

It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on what is an operational matter for OSCR.

The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

This is a matter for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on their decision.

The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

The Scottish Government is advised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on vaccination policy and uses their advice to inform vaccination policy in Scotland.

Each year the seasonal flu vaccination campaign promotes the flu vaccine to those in eligible groups.

Eligibility criteria for the flu vaccination programme is based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The Committee is an independent, expert group that considers a full range of available evidence before providing advice on all aspects of vaccination, including eligibility, to each of the four UK health departments.

Currently, the JCVI recommends vaccination of patients with asthma that require continuous or repeated use of inhaled or systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission as eligible for the free vaccine.

As with all vaccination programmes, the JCVI keeps its recommendations under review. If at any time the JCVI updates its recommendation around eligibility for the flu vaccine for people with asthma the Scottish Government will give this due consideration.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to deviate from the advice given by the Chief Medical Officer to clinicians regarding eligibility for the flu vaccine for people with asthma.

The Implementation Plan set out the ambition for the Bank to build on the positive foundations laid by the work of the Scottish Government and its agencies. Where activities transition to the Scottish National Investment Bank from Scottish Government directorates, agencies or NDPBs, appropriate arrangements will be put in place to support the transition of staff associated with these. Any transitions will be delivered over appropriate timescales and in line with relevant TUPE or Cabinet Office Statement of Practice (COSoP) requirements.

There will be no annual financial-target based bonuses within the Bank. The Chief Executive and other staff will have access to medium/long term incentive schemes, linked to the delivery of mission and objective based targets. This will ensure that an element of pay for these senior staff is linked to the Bank achieving its public service mission, without having a ‘bonus culture’.

The number of staff that will be employed by the Scottish National Investment Bank has not yet been finalised, as work is ongoing to finalise the Target Operating Model and structure. The Financial Memorandum published alongside the Bill estimated the Bank will require 130 staff once fully capitalised, building up to this over a number of years. The projected numbers, alongside the resulting projected staff costs used for the financial memorandum, are in the following table: