Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to work with Scottish local authorities through Zero Waste Scotland, to tackle all forms of fly tipping including asbestos and other hazardous materials. Information about the cost of removing materials that have been fly tipped is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government does not set targets for the treatment of stroke patients. The Scottish Stroke Care Standards, in the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA), are used to assess the performance of stroke services, at a Scotland wide, NHS Board or individual hospital level, not at the level of individual patients. The standards are set at a level which aims to be both challenging but achievable by hospitals. It is, therefore, inevitable that some stroke services will not meet some standards. This is done to encourage improvements in performance. Once a Standard is routinely exceeded by all hospitals it is recommended it is raised. Stroke services need to use appropriate Quality Improvement methods to optimise their own performance.

Our Stroke Improvement Plan (2014) sets out a comprehensive programme for further reducing the number of deaths from stroke and improving stroke treatment and care across the whole patient pathway. It focuses on providing the best possible care in the acute setting, as well as helping peoples’ longer-term recovery in their own communities. The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme measures progress towards meeting the priorities in the Improvement Plan.

The SSCA shows that last year’s modest improvements were maintained in all four ‘bundle’ standards, the most important overall indictor of the performance of stroke services. NHS boards report self-evaluated performance against the Stroke Improvement Plan priorities, and this shows variability across the country. The Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme National Report 2018 contains the results of the annual Scottish Stroke Care Audit and NHS boards benchmarking against the Stroke Improvement Plan priorities and is available at https://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/index.html

A Directors of Planning Thrombectomy Advisory Group is developing a national planning framework for the provision of thrombectomy for stroke for Scotland. The development of the framework will consider all the elements required to deliver the service. It is anticipated that the framework will be completed by spring 2019 and will be submitted to Directors of Planning and follow due process for the planning of NHS Scotland services.

Sunscreen is available on prescription to patients who have specific medical conditions. This includes people with photosensitivity due to genetic conditions and cancer patients who have skin photosensitivity as a result of radiotherapy.

Energy Efficient Scotland is a long-term programme and as such, its development is on-going. Our Energy Efficient Scotland Transition Programme launched on 2 May for consultation with stakeholders, and builds on our existing programmes and earlier pilots and supports the continuing development of Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies.

Under our existing domestic schemes we already distribute funding based on an assessment of need, and take into account the additional costs associated with interventions in remote rural areas, which means that these areas, including all island communities, currently receive a higher than average per-capita spend.

Details of future programme delivery will be developed in partnership with each of Scotland's 32 Local Authorities and other partners, and will be set out in 2020. Further analysis will be undertaken to fully understand the breakdown of expenditure required (from public, private and third sector sources) to improve the energy efficiency of rural and urban buildings. There are a number of factors which will affect the breakdown of expenditure including built form, construction type and heat supply.

Our estimates of the costs of improving Scotland’s domestic and non-domestic buildings were set out in the Energy Efficient Scotland Consultation. We estimate that the cost of meeting the programme for domestic properties is in the region of £8 billion, to bring around 75% of Scotland’s private sector domestic buildings to EPC C and around 50% of its social rented sector properties to EPC B. Current estimates place the total cost of improving the energy efficiency of our non-domestic buildings at £2-4 billion. The Energy Efficient Scotland Consultation closed on 27 July and can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00534912.pdf

As set out in the Energy Efficient Scotland Routemap we will continue to provide grant funding to support households in fuel poverty to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. For businesses and households who are not in fuel poverty we will continue to make available low-cost loans to help them spread the costs of investing in energy efficiency improvements.

Details of future programme delivery will be set out in 2020 and further analysis will be undertaken to fully understand the breakdown of expenditure required (from public, private and third sector sources) to improve the energy efficiency of Scotland’s buildings. There are a number of factors which will affect the breakdown of expenditure including built form, construction type and heat supply.

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is an extremely rare disease affecting around 100 people across the UK. The treatment and supervision for this condition is highly specialised and is best delivered through specialist hospital services which can provide expert advice to fit the particular needs of the patient concerned.

Scottish Government contract with NHS England to ensure access for Scottish patients to highly specialised service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

In Scotland, the only high-security hospital is The State Hospital in Carstairs, South Lanarkshire. The security arrangements in that hospital are the responsibility of the hospital itself and are decided upon in the context of ensuring staff and patient safety, and supporting effective incident reporting and investigation. The hospital is currently investigating the use of body cameras and their use and utility in similar environments in order to decide how such use may fit into supporting those aims.

The Scottish Government is clear that school trips should be inclusive and this is supported by guidance. The Education Scotland guidance on outdoor learning https://education.gov.scot/Documents/cfe-through-outdoor-learning.pdf includes a section on inclusion and equality when planning to take groups outdoors.

Further, there was a recent consultation on guidance on Excellence and Equity: Guidance on the Presumption of Mainstreaming https://consult.gov.scot/supporting-learners/presumption-of-mainstreaming/user_uploads/sct04173422181.pdf and the document includes the expectation that all children and young people should have the opportunity to participate and engage as fully as possible in all aspects of school life, including school trips and extracurricular activity.

Specialist UV protective clothing is not available on prescription for people with rare genetic skin disorders such as Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP). XP is an extremely rare disease which affects roughly 100 people across the UK. Only drugs and devices included on the Scottish Drug Tariff can be prescribed by an appropriate health care professional.

The treatment and supervision for this condition is highly specialised and is best delivered through specialist hospital services which can provide expert advice to fit the particular needs of the patient concerned. High factor sunscreen, lip-screen and Vitamin D supplements are available on prescription for patients with XP who require them. All items are prescribed based on clinical judgment.

The Route Map for Energy Efficient Scotland contains a set of actions aimed at making Scotland’s existing buildings near zero carbon wherever feasible by 2050, thus necessitating Energy Efficient Scotland as a 20 year programme. Its vision is that by 2040 all our buildings are warmer, greener and more efficient. By improving the energy efficiency of homes and buildings we will remove poor energy efficiency as a driver of fuel poverty, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over the lifetime of the programme to 2040 we estimate that a 'whole economy' cost of £10 - £12 billion from public and private sources, will be require to be invested in improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s buildings.