Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Information relating to the number of women aged (a) 50 and over and (b) under 50 currently waiting for diagnostic tests to confirm either (i) primary or (ii) secondary breast cancer would be held by individual Health Boards.

Data published by Public Health Scotland shows that at 31 March 2021, the number of patients waiting for treatment as an inpatient or day case was 94,781. The number of patients waiting over 12 weeks at 31 March 2021 was 61,901 (65.3%).

Further breakdown of this data can be accessed on page 28 of the full report at NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Quarter ending 31 March 2021 - NHS waiting times - stage of treatment - Publications - Public Health Scotland

Data showing the number of patients waiting to be admitted for treatment as an inpatient or day case at 30 June 2021 will be published by Public Health Scotland on 24 August 2021.

At present, we only collect Detect Cancer Early data for breast, colorectal and lung cancers. Information on patients diagnosed with breast, colorectal or lung cancer during the two-year period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019 by cancer stage is available in the Detect Cancer Early Staging publication at

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/detect-cancer-early-staging-data/detect-cancer-early-staging-data-year-8-1-january-2018-to-31-december-2019/

Information for the two-year period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020 is due to be released on 19 October 2021. This information will be broken down by quarter.

Public Health Scotland are currently developing a dashboard to include provisional monthly and quarterly data for 2020 compared with both 2019 and the average of 2017-2019 for the three cancer sites (breast, colorectal and lung). It is expected that this will be released over August as part of the Covid-19 wider impacts dashboard .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00019 on
‎ 26 May 2021. The answer is available on the Parliament's website at: Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Government has allocated £165,625 to NHS Shetland for 2021-22 to support the Scottish Rural Medical Collaborative develop the Rediscover the Joy in General Practice Project to ensure that remote and rural, including island, health boards can recruit and retain GPs to permanent positions. Currently there are 30 doctors recruited from other areas to work up to 18 weeks a year in practices in remote and rural areas.

Our ambition is that as many children as possible attending eligible childcare settings can access the milk and healthy snack offer via the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme, embedding the habit of regular consumption of high-quality dairy produce and fruit and vegetables from an early age.

The new Scheme draws on a considerable period of inquiry and development, beginning with the Welfare Foods Consultation of 2018. Under the previous UK Nursery Milk Scheme claims were made in arrears, however the Scottish Scheme moves to an upfront payment system that covers the cost of milk and healthy snack, which was the preference of the majority of respondents to the consultation, and an approach aimed at reducing administrative burden on settings.

The Scottish Government has sought to ensure that the approach we have set out will allow for milk or a specified alternative to be sourced sustainably and at a fair rate, based on local government procurement data and historic claims to the previous UK scheme. Upfront funding via local authorities is available to eligible childcare settings who can choose how to best procure milk, milk alternatives, fruit and vegetables in accordance with local circumstances.

The Scottish Government will use Year 1 to gather and review evidence, including via an implementation group consisting of key partners, to ensure the Scheme is meeting policy objectives. In the light of this work and other evidence we will consider whether action is required as we look ahead to Year 2 and beyond.

Scottish Ministers became the managing agent for Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited on 16 August 2019.

The Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme replaced the UK Nursery Milk Scheme (UK NMS) in Scotland from 1 August 2021 following further devolution.

3,079 Scottish settings were registered to the UK NMS and claimed from that scheme in the 12 months to 1 August 2021. Initial data shows that 3,101 childcare settings and 116,293 eligible children are registered to the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme (out of around 8,395 total childcare settings in Scotland).

The Scottish Government continues to work in partnership with local government and eligible childcare settings to increase registrations to the new scheme during the course of its first year.

Causes of death are categorised using the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10 th Revision (ICD-10). A link to this classification is available here: ICD-10 Version:2019 (who.int)

For more detail on what is mean by “certain infectious and parasitic diseases” please refer to the following page of the online ICD-10 manual.

ICD-10 Version:2019 (who.int)

The Serum Institute of India (SII) manufactures both Vaxzevria and Covishield, both branded vaccines are exactly the same COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. All SII-made doses approved by the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and administered in the UK were those branded as the ’COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca’ which is now known commercially as ‘Vaxzeria’. The MHRA has not approved doses branded as ‘Covishield’ and none were in administered in the UK.

All AstraZeneca vaccines given in the UK are the same product and appear on the NHS Vaccination status letter as Vaxzevria. The European Medicines Agency has authorised this vaccine and we are confident travel will not be affected.

Individuals can access the batch number of the vaccine they received in Scotland via a Subject Access Request from their GP.