Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government funds advice services through a combination of longstanding funding relationships that ensure continuity of services, such as those delivered by Citizens Advice Scotland and the network of Citizens Advice Bureaux, or through a bidding process for funds aligned to specific policy objectives. All bid-in funds have their own assessment criteria based on the needs of the policy areas with responsibility for the funding programme, however all grant funding offered from the Scottish Government must adhere to the rules set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

The Chief Medical Officer issued guidance in his letter of 21 September on the vaccination of severely immunosuppressed individuals. This letter is published here: COVID-19 vaccination programme: JCVI advice on the vaccination of severely immunosuppressed individual (scot.nhs.uk) . On 19 October a tailored Primary Care Update communication was cascaded direct to primary care networks to ensure GPs and others were aware of arrangements for this cohort.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice on third primary doses is complex both in terms of eligibility and timing, as the ideal time for a third dose may differ from person to person. There has therefore been clear national communication to health boards to assist them in delivery to this cohort.

There are many rare conditions and guidance on specific conditions which may benefit from inclusion is not necessarily exhaustive. Where a condition is not on the list but a patient’s clinician believes they should be included, they can add people to the list and refer them for vaccination to their local health board, if in their judgement, they feel that their patient should be eligible for a third dose.

More information on this is available at: Coronavirus (COVID-19) third dose vaccination | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot).

That Scottish Government does not support the manufacture of munitions and Scottish Enterprise does not provide funding for the manufacture of munitions. The support provided is mainly focused on helping firms to diversify and develop civilian applications for their technology and ensure Scotland continues to benefit from the thousands of jobs in the defence, aerospace and shipbuilding sectors.

The licensing of arms exports is a reserved matter over which the Scottish Government has no control. We have impressed upon the UK Government our expectation to act responsibly as regards export licensing.

I refer the member to the answer given in S6W-00182 on 27 October 2021 with regard to how Scottish Enterprise undertake Due Diligence assessments when assessing business support. I understand that Scottish Enterprise have also reached out to the member with an offer to discuss how they support businesses operating in the defence sector and I would recommend that the member accepts that offer.

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 .

Since 2018, the Scottish Government has consulted and reported on funding for advice services twice, publishing our review “Publicly-funded advice services in Scotland: review report” in 2018 and our “Debt Advice Routemap” in December 2019. Both reports identified changes to advice delivery and funding models that could improve the efficiency and sustainability of the advice sector and increase the impact and effectiveness of funding. The Scottish Government is taking forward actions to implement and build upon these changes taking account of the impact of the Covid pandemic on the advice sector.

The Scottish Government understands the impact of annual funding agreements on adviser wellbeing and job security, which is why we are undertaking work to support creating a more sustainable and effective model of funding in the future. This includes testing innovative approaches using digital technology and working with the Improvement Service to help us identify a model through which devolved debt advice levy funding can best be distributed in order to have the maximum impact, both locally and nationally. We also continue to fund Money Advice Scotland to develop and run a programme to support and improve adviser wellbeing.

The Scottish Government put in place and agreed a three year financial package in 2019-20 which sees an annual a fixed percentage uplift of 2.5% to the global sum each year of the current remuneration package. This ensures funding for continuous expansion in the quality and number of services that can be offered by community pharmacy contractors to local communities.

The Scottish Government have also invested £10 million over the course of the 3 year financial settlement in NHS Pharmacy First Scotland, seeing it increase the range of common clinical conditions which are able to be treated by the community pharmacist without the need to see a GP. We have also put in place a National Foundation Programme and Independent Prescriber Career Pathway. This pathway aims to maximise pharmacists’ expertise in medicines and, with the introduction of the new NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service, the opportunity for pharmacists to enhance patient care will further increase. Increasing the number of Independent Prescribers and establishing the core use of the IP qualification in the community setting will enhance the pharmacy networks’ role in the clinical pathway of patients.

The Scottish Government Health and Social Care Integrated Workforce Plan commits to increasing Pharmacy pre-registration training places by 120 over the next 4 years and we are currently increasing training places available for pharmacy technician training. Scottish Government will continue to work with partners to ensure not only the stability of the network but also that the balance of high quality pharmaceutical care is maintained across the whole pharmacy workforce in all sectors.

Having spoken to Public Health Scotland, I can confirm that only limited information is published in the Stage of Treatment publication on cancelled planned operations. You will find this information at: Cancelled planned operations - Month ending 30 September 2021 - Cancelled planned operations - Publications - Public Health Scotland

If you would like more detailed information, I would suggest contacting NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde directly.

As we committed to in Housing to 2040, the Scottish Government will shortly be publishing a consultation on a draft rented sector strategy. Our strategy will seek to improve accessibility, affordability and standards across the whole rented sector in Scotland. The draft strategy will also set out how we will deliver a new deal for tenants – giving them more secure, stable, affordable tenancies with improved standards of accommodation, new controls on rent and more flexibility to personalise homes.

We aim is to publish a first draft of the strategy, for a full 12 week public consultation, by the end of this calendar year and to publish a final version of the strategy in the second half of 2022. Any legislative aspects identified will be included in a housing bill in this term of parliament and other legislation, as appropriate.

Our vision is for people to have equality of outcomes no matter what tenure they live in and we recognise that greater flexibility to keep pets is important for wellbeing, and for being able to consider a tenancy a settled home. That is why it is a commitment in the Shared Policy Programme, and we will set out more detail in the draft strategy when it is published for consultation.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

As was the case for the disposal of the former HMP Peterhead site, SPS will dispose of the site at HMP Barlinnie in accordance with Scottish Government policy which is set out in guidance within the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Thereafter, it will be for any potential purchaser to determine the future use of the site in conjunction with the relevant Planning Authority.

In 2021-22, over £14 million has been provided to welfare and debt advice services aligned to Social Justice priorities and to projects in the Justice Programme, including law centres. The value of funding in future financial years will form part of the setting of the overall budget for 2022-23.

The Scottish Government runs a number of funding programmes across all areas of its responsibility, some of which are open to applications from advice agencies and law centres. All funding streams have their own assessment criteria based on the needs of the policy areas with responsibility for the funding programme. Such a varied approach allows for targeted funding that responds to identified policy need. For example, the Investing in Communities Fund, which is anticipated to re-open for applications in April 2022, is a community-focused fund which supports community organisations based in the places they serve to deliver a holistic range of projects and services that help to tackle all forms of poverty and inequalities. Funding for these projects through these programmes is in addition to the figure of £14 million above.

In addition, advice services receive funding from multiple other sources, including Local Authorities, which remain the biggest funders of advice in Scotland. The Common Advice Performance Management Reporting Framework published on 28 January 2021 found that total Local Authority funding for money and welfare rights advice services was just over £28 million in 2019-20, of which £13 million was spent on externally delivered provision including free advice and law centres.

Scottish Government and its agencies have no agreements in place to provide financial or other support to Siemens Gamesa.