Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has been discussing the need for better data on metastatic breast cancer over several months including seeking advice from Public Health Scotland and breast cancer specialists. Additionally, officials have met with the Third Sector to discuss evidence of need. Dialogue continues as we seek to improve data collection methods.

KPMG have advised that there are 23 contracts across Scottish Government public bodies that they would have considered bidding for, were it not for them having stepped back from bidding for Scottish Government work. The combined value of these opportunities is estimated to be over £137,000,000, but KPMG are not conducting internal assessments of these opportunities and so may not have bid for them all, and would be unlikely to have won everything that they bid-for.

As tenders are ongoing it would not be appropriate to list the contracts at this stage as, were bidders to understand that a potential competitor was not participating, it could distort the competition, either reducing quality or increasing costs to the public purse. However, the tenders cover a range of service types, including research, analytical services, business-planning, and economic modelling.

The Scottish Government has had several discussions with lead breast clinicians. The most recent was on 18th March at a meeting with the group leading on quality performance indicators for breast cancer. The group has indicated an interest in improving data on breast cancer recurrence and metastatic disease.

The Scottish Government met with the charity Breast Cancer Now on 3rd November 2021 and requested updated evidence of need for improved data. This was received on 26th January 2022 followed by email exchanges over the recent months.

The Scottish Budget 2022-23 ensures the lowest poundage in the UK for the fourth year in a row and supports a generous package of reliefs.

Table 1 shows the tax rates and thresholds that will apply in 2022-23.

There are also a number of rates reliefs available in each of the three countries, including up to 100% relief for small properties. Table 1 sets out the eligibility thresholds for 100% relief in each of the schemes across Scotland, England and Wales in 2022-23.

Table 1: Property rates and rates relief for small properties, Scotland, England and Wales, 2022-23

The information requested is not held centrally. Public Health Scotland publishes a quarterly report on Diagnostic Waiting Times which covers eight key diagnostic tests. These diagnostic tests are used for a range of conditions, including cancer.

In order to raise awareness of the early signs and symptoms of cancer, including ovarian cancer, a symptom-checker tool is included on our public facing website, getcheckedearly.org. An ovarian cancer survivor’s story and a link to the ovarian cancer page on Detect Cancer Early’s (DCE) website will be shared on our wee c social media pages, as part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

The NHS Recovery Plan – published August 2021 – commits an additional £20m for the DCE Programme, to provide greater public awareness of possible signs and symptoms of cancer and supporting the development of optimal cancer pathways to improve earlier diagnosis rates. Research is currently being undertaken to better understand the possible barriers and levers to early diagnosis that any new DCE campaigns should focus on.

The Scottish Government will publish its consultation on proposals for mandatory calorie labelling in Out Of Home settings on the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space portal at https://consult.gov.scot/ and https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804352465 on 8 April 2022.

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, closing on 1 July 2022.

Anyone who reports a positive LFD test through the UK Government website is directed to complete a contact tracing form at a website hosted by Test and Protect. To complete this form, the individual must input their surname, date of birth, and input a unique code given to them when contacted by Test and Protect after testing positive. Without these three unique identifying factors, an individual cannot access the contact tracing form, ensuring the form is correctly matched to the specific individual.

If any information on their Covid-19 Status is wrong, individuals should phone the Covid-19 Status Helpline on 0808 196 8565.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. We would advise contacting health boards to obtain this data.

Through the development of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines on chronic pain in adults and children and young people , Scotland has been a world-leader in promoting evidence-based approaches for healthcare professionals to improve standards of care and management of chronic pain.

The Programme for Government 2020-21 committed to developing and publishing a new Framework for Chronic Pain Service Delivery. A draft Framework was published for public consultation and the responses are currently being analysed. We will publish our response to the findings, including how these views have been used to shape the final Framework, later this year.

The draft Framework sets out the Scottish Government’s aim to ensure that people have a choice of treatments for chronic pain, where there is evidence they are effective, underpinned by commitments to support patients and healthcare professionals to better understand and agree effective options to manage pain. This is intended to lead to less variation in the quality and availability of services for people with chronic pain.

As part of implementation of the Framework, we will explore opportunities to update the existing guidelines to ensure they reflect the most recent evidence and best practice, including offering new treatments where there is evidence that they are effective.