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Service Level Agreements (SLA) with other public bodies are a commonly used and effective way to procure specialist advisory services for a defined period. Underpinned in Scottish Procurement law by the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 Regulation 13, the SLA approach is used to deliver a specific service through an individuals’ existing specialist skills and experience and so are commonly used across Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) to bring in the specialist, clinical knowledge and experience to enhance our vital services.

An SLA is not, therefore, an employment arrangement as the individuals’ employment contract arrangements remain with their employer. In the case of those individuals brought into HSCD, the service level agreement is between the Scottish Government and the relevant NHS Scotland Board.

In relation to both financial years, 2021-22 and 2022-23, the total number of individuals procured to provide specialist services under Service Level Agreements is set out in the following table:

As at October 2023, the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) have 8 specialist advisors procured under a Service Level Agreement from NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

As at October 2023, our records show that across the whole of the Scottish Government there are currently 155 individuals procured to provide specialist services under a Service Level Agreement.

The Agreements that are put in place stipulate the length of the service period, and so will often set that Agreement in place for a period of two years, or more. Some Agreements have been established with short service periods, such as 6 months, but the norm is for two to three years. Agreements are reviewed annually to consider the service being provided and whether there is a business need for that service continuation.

The percentage of individuals procured by the Scottish Government to provide specialist services under Service Level Agreements compared to the total headcount (as at 30 June 2023) is 1.44%.

The conditions of eligibility and access to free bus travel for people aged under 22 are set out in the National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Young Persons (Scotland) Order 2021. There are no powers to enable local authorities to revoke a person's free bus travel card.

The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Ayrshire and Arran to increase capacity and reduce cancellations. A number of improvement actions to enable the prioritisation of resources to areas where the capacity gap has the greatest impact are already underway, including:

• A bottom-up review of operating capacity within surgical teams;
• Increase resilience of the planned care service through protection of planned care beds to ensure that operations are not cancelled as a result of bed capacity; and
• Introduction of new enhanced roles across the wider multi-disciplinary teams to increase capacity and improve sustainability, such as surgical care practitioners, anaesthesia associates and theatre assistant practitioners.

These actions will help NHS Ayrshire and Arran deliver its plans to increase capacity which include targeted recruitment, extended workforce roles and new models of service delivery.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The SFRS fleet, its maintenance and usage are matters for SFRS.

There have been no Scottish Fire and Rescue Service stations closed in the last five years. Information regarding the SFRS estate is published annually and can be found here

There are currently no plans to close any fire stations in the next year. SFRS are currently considering the responses to a public consultation on the future of Leadhills Fire station in South Lanarkshire however, no decisions have been made at present.