Chamber and committees

Whilst the Government recognises the value of prevented fatality (VPF) as a methodological approach, it is not currently routinely used in our analysis. With regards to the closure of minor injury units, it is for Health and Social Care Partnerships to plan and provide local services, in line with national policies and frameworks and as informed by best practice.

This is an operational matter for Caledonian Sleeper, the Member may wish to contact Caledonian Sleeper Ltd directly.

The NHS Scotland Podiatry Service treats patients depending on the individual person’s healthcare needs, not according to specific medical conditions. Effective triage helps allocate resources efficiently and ensures that patients receive timely care based on their healthcare needs.

Scottish Ministers are focused on ensuring a reliable and resilient ferry service, including six new vessels in service by 2026. We fully recognise the need to support our island businesses and that is why we are offering 100% relief in 2024-25 for hospitality businesses located on islands or in specified remote areas, capped at £110,000 per business.

The package of measures announced on 24 May 2024 also provides a further £5m support across our island communities.

The Scottish Government discussed INTOG at Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) meeting on 6 March 2024.

As SOWEC chair, stakeholders were notified of the revised timeline for the updated Sectoral Marine Plan for offshore wind energy (SMP-OWE) which will provide a planning framework for Scotwind and INTOG. Consultation on a draft will commence in Autumn 2024 and a final plan adopted by Spring 2025.

While the updated SMP-OWE is being prepared, developers may continue to submit applications for consent and licensing in the normal way. These will be considered by Ministers on a case-by-case basis in line with the planning, consenting and assessment framework available at the time.

Therefore there will be no delay for any offshore wind project progressing through our licensing and consenting process as a result of the revised timeline.

SOWEC will continue to engage with industry to discuss the key challenges and opportunities related to offshore wind in Scotland including INTOG projects.

The Scottish Government recognises the ongoing and serious impact that high energy costs is having on the culture sector in Scotland and that is why we are increasing funding to the culture sector by £15.8m this financial year. The Scottish Government continues to call on the UK Government to bring in regulation of the energy market and other measures which will help to address the energy cost crisis.

A number of actions are already underway to improve recruitment into clinical and medical oncology. For example, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) are:

• Increasing front-end supply by funding the creation of additional posts in Internal Medicine Training (IMT), which is a pre-requisite for both clinical and medical oncology (42 IMT posts added in 2021 and 22 in 2024).
• Using these IMT posts to increase exposure to oncology during the early years of a doctors career.
• Exploring the feasibility of a regional rotational training post to attract applicants to vacant posts in the North and East of Scotland.
• Providing ongoing support to trainees wishing to enter oncology training through alternative routes.
• Delivering (a) oncology-themed national training days in all regions for IMT and Foundation trainees, and (b) ‘roadshows’ in all regions to promote oncology as a specialism.

In addition, the Training Programme Directors (TPD) for clinical and medical oncology within NES sit on the respective Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) Specialty Advisory Committees (SAC). The SACs then feed into the relevant Specialty Training Board (STB) within NES. The TPD for medical oncology is a member of the Association of Cancer Physicians (ACP). The TPD for both medical and clinical oncology feed back to the RCR with relevant issues arising from the STB. The RCR and ACP both had major involvement in designing and implementing the new oncology curricula, which is now fully embedded.

The Chief Medical Officer met with the Royal College of Radiologists on 14 December 2023 and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer met with them on 16 May 2024.

The Scottish Government has funded the creation of 68 additional training places in clinical radiology since 2014 in line with recommendations made by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group (SSoTTG). The number of funded posts in clinical oncology has also increased by 15 over the same period. The SSoTTG is currently undertaking its annual review of medical training establishments and will be submitting recommendations later in the year for expansion taking place in 2025. This annual review will consider the need for expansion in all medical specialties, including clinical radiology and clinical oncology, to ensure that Scotland has a sufficient supply of trained doctors coming through the system to meet anticipated future demand for consultants. Recommendations to expand are informed by medical workforce modelling undertaken by NHS Education for Scotland.

This is an operational matter for Caledonian Sleeper, the Member may wish to contact Caledonian Sleeper Ltd directly.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27876 on 12 June 2024. 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