Chamber and committees

No, I attended the Astley Ainslie Hospital on 25 August to visit NHS Lothian’s Mental health After Covid Hospitalisation (MACH) service. During the visit, I met with staff from the MACH team, service users who have been involved in group therapy delivered by MACH, and members of the MACH National Specialist Advisory Group.

Fixed Penalty Notices are a matter for Police Scotland.

You may be referring to Penalty Charge Notices, which were discussed within the Penalty Charge Notice for Parking Enforcement Consultation. The analysis report of this consultation is due to be published within the next few weeks.

The publication of the analysis report is still under consideration however is expected to be published in due course. My officials in Transport Scotland will keep the member updated of any progress.

As of 30th June 2022, the number of completed thrombectomies across the three centres are:

West of Scotland: 22

North of Scotland: 41

East of Scotland: 36

We estimate that a fully functioning 24/7, Scotland-wide thrombectomy service could deliver around 800 thrombectomies per year.

Through the Thrombectomy Advisory Group (TAG), work is currently underway to establish the optimal approach to increasing the out-of-hours availability of thrombectomies, the resources required to do so and the appropriate timescales for safely increasing capacity.

As the thrombectomy service develops we will continue to work closely with NHS colleagues and stakeholders to consider how to improve the service to ensure that safe and high quality interventions are provided to patients.

Through the Thrombectomy Advisory Group (TAG), work is currently underway to establish the optimal approach to increasing the out-of-hours availability of thrombectomies, the resources required to do so and the appropriate timescales for safely increasing access.

The Scottish Government continues to work with stakeholders to better understand what resources will be required for the development of a high quality and clinically safe thrombectomy service.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken specific planning or research regarding a reduction in the devolved civil service headcount in Scotland.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews its workforce numbers to ensure affordability, and that the organisation is delivering for the people of Scotland as efficiently and effectively as possible. The organisation's focus is on aligning its workforce plans with the outcome of the Resource Spending Review, and contributing to achieving the broad aim set out within the Resource Spending Review, to return the total size of the devolved public sector workforce to around pre-COVID-19 levels by 2026-27. This will be achieved through effective vacancy and recruitment management, working in partnership with the Council of Scottish Government Unions.

The RSR sets out how the wider decrease in the public sector workforce will not be achieved via a uniform approach due to varying trends in demand for different services and the recovery of services from COVID-19.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09566 on 20 July 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

SCVO estimate that the public sector as a whole invests around £1.8 billion each year to support the work of charities and social enterprises. Of that, around £500m comes from the Scottish Government via a broad range of programmes including those supporting community empowerment, mental wellbeing, children and families and health and social care.

The Scottish Government fund Third Sector organisations for specific projects or for core funding and these organisations often also attract income from other sources. That is a matter for those individual organisations and the Scottish Government do not keep a record of which organisations source additional funding from other sources and which do not.

The Scottish Government has not been requested to research a headcount reduction in the Scottish civil service.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews its workforce numbers to ensure affordability, and that the organisation is delivering for the people of Scotland as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The UK Government has not provided details on how their plans to reduce the number of civil servants by 91,000 will affect their staff working in Scotland. There are around 24,800 [1] Civil Servants who are part of the reserved Public Sector in Scotland.

The UK Government plans do not have a direct impact on civil servants who serve the Scottish Government, as the responsibility lies with Scottish Ministers and the Permanent Secretary when it comes to determining our workforce size.

[1] Source: Public Sector Employment In Scotland Statistics For 1st Quarter 2022 .