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We are clear in our expectations that all women, at all times, receive high-quality and person-centred maternity care tailored to their needs, with quality and safety for mothers and babies central to decision-making. To understand the quality and safety of maternity care and identify where improvement should be made, we are closely following data published by Public Health Scotland (PHS). Occurrences of third- and fourth-degree perineal tears (also referred to as obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI)), a leading cause of faecal incontinence following childbirth are recorded by PHS as part of its Maternity Inpatient and Day Case - Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR02) dataset and can be viewed via its Scottish Pregnancy, Births and Neonatal Dashboard .

We are also aware of the research and evidence endorsed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives on obstetric anal sphincter injury and recognise that further work is required to improve care for women who experience incontinence including follow-up care and specialist care. Obstetric anal sphincter injury is on the agenda at various meetings bringing together senior leaders in Scotland’s maternity care.

Community youth work remains an important pillar of local authority provision, including in schools. The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work in schools. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities. Transparency is ensured through annually-published breakdowns of spending on the Scottish Government website, though there is no statutory obligation for youth work activity to be recorded or monitored by local authorities, third sector organisations or voluntary organisations.

An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), encompassing youth work, was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland, providing valuable insights for the future.

Community youth work remains an important pillar of local authority provision. The Scottish Government utilises a Block Grant system, affording local authorities significant autonomy in allocating financial resources, including those designated for youth work. This approach empowers councils to prioritise local needs and tailor services accordingly, while fulfilling mandatory obligations and adhering to nationally-agreed priorities. Transparency is ensured through annually-published breakdowns of spending on the Scottish Government website.

Furthermore, an independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD), encompassing youth work, was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland, providing valuable insights for the future.

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

The Scottish Government recognises that Transport plays an important role in supporting patients’ health journeys and the Scottish Government has recently prepared a draft Transport to Health delivery plan which has commitments against transport and healthcare across the work of Health Boards, Regional Transport Partnerships, Health and Social Care and Transport Scotland.

All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services and must ensure Patients have access to all information on any relevant patient transport (including community transport) and travel reimbursement entitlement.

The Scottish Government greatly values the Community Transport sector’s work helping older and disabled people to access GP or hospital appointments and live happier, healthier and more independent lives for longer in their own homes and communities.

The Scottish Government works closely with NHS Education for Scotland who are the national body that are responsible for advanced practice across the Allied Health Professions (AHPs) including physiotherapy.

The NHS Education for Scotland Multiprofessional Advanced Practice Toolkit aims to facilitate the professional development of advanced practitioners and provides easy to navigate links to useful information across four pillars of practice.

Although not profession specific, advancing practice and the promotion of AHP career pathways is a key focus of the AHP Education and Workforce Policy Review intended outcomes. The review’s work is being taken forward through an ongoing delivery plan that aims to adopt a comprehensive approach to fostering the growth and advancement of the AHP workforce.

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

We remain committed to eradicating long waits to ensure all people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible.

We opened two new National Treatment Centres in Fife and Highland in Spring 2023, and NTC-Forth Valley and the second phase expansion of NTC-Golden Jubilee will open in 2024. These centres will deliver eight orthopaedic theatres and will provide additional and protected capacity for hip and knee replacements.

This year NTC Highland is providing 1,500 orthopaedic procedures and NTC-Fife plans to deliver more than 700 orthopaedic procedures by 2025/2026.

Significant progress is also being made in the delivery of same-day discharge arthroplasty, allowing patients to be safely discharged home on the same day as their procedure, increasing capacity within Orthopaedics.

We remain committed to driving down waiting times. We have increased investment in frontline NHS boards by more than half a billion pounds in the draft Budget. We will continue to target resources to reduce waiting times, particularly for those waiting longest for treatment, through maximising productivity and additional resources.

We are working with Health Boards on detailed annual plans to demonstrate how waiting lists will be managed to see reductions, improved productivity and clear evidence on how this will help free additional capacity.

The UK Government did not inflation-proof its capital budget which has resulted in nearly a 10% real-terms cut in the Scottish Government’s capital funding over the medium-term between 2023-24 and 2027-28. The result of this cut is that new health capital projects have currently been paused.

Work is underway to update the pipeline of projects and programmes relating to the 2021 Infrastructure Investment Plan to ensure it is affordable and deliverable and provides best value for money. Our emphasis for the immediate future will be on addressing backlog maintenance and essential equipment replacement.