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As set out in our public consultation we are considering how to address health inequalities and promote equitable access to cancer services. We have outlined ‘reducing inequalities’ as one of our main aims in the consultation. With over 250 responses received we have now commissioned independent analysis of the responses and anticipate the results to be published shortly. The results will inform the cancer strategy.

In addition, we held a series of workshops with patients and key stakeholders in September 2022 to help us gain further insight into the consultation responses and hear directly about peoples’ experiences of cancer and inform the development of the cancer strategy.

Since 2007 the Scottish Government has retained, and subsequently deployed, any and all net underspends which have been available following the conclusion of the Final Outturn process at the end of each financial year. The mechanism for doing so is via the Scotland Reserve and previously the Budget Exchange Mechanism.

The amount of underspends arising from each year since 1999 was detailed in the answer to question S6W-09370 on 13 July 2022.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

PHS collate data on Direct Cancer Referrals. This includes self, GP or NHS24 referral to A&E or other, where the signs and symptoms are consistent with the cancer diagnosed as per the Scottish Referral Guidelines. Data on these patients are only available from PHS from 2010 onwards as outlined in the following table.

Table 1: Number of direct cancer referrals 1,2,3 on the 31 day pathway since data-set began

The National Cancer Medicines Advisory Group (NCMAG) provides advice on the off-label uses of certain cancer medicines, which are out with the remit of the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCMAG provided rapid national decisions regarding the use of cancer medicines (sometimes out with the licensed indication for the medicine) to help meet the overall aim of reducing patient risk of COVID-19 infection and to mitigate the potential burden on cancer services.

Cancer services remain under considerable pressure, and cancer patients continue to be vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. As a result, it was agreed that existing COVID-19 NCMAG advice would remain in place until the end of March 2023, after which it will be withdrawn. More generally, extant Scottish Government guidance states that unless there is a specific clinical reason, clinicians should not continue to use an unlicensed medicine or a medicine off-label where there is an available licensed medicine, which has been accepted for routine use by the SMC.

We held a public consultation for the new cancer strategy from 12th April – 7th June. Anyone who wished to submit a response was welcome to through Citizens Space, this includes members of the public, professionals working with cancer services, and organisations. The results of the consultation will be published shortly and will feed into the development of the next cancer strategy.

Early insights from the initial consultation report show that organisations in the cancer sector welcome a long-term strategy with broad overarching aims to help achieve structural changes in the delivery of cancer care.

This data is not held centrally by The Scottish Government, National Records of Scotland or Public Health Scotland. 

In September 2022 the Scottish Government and COSLA published Scotland’s 10 year suicide prevention strategy and action plan, ‘Creating Hope Together’. This sets out a comprehensive plan to reduce suicide deaths in Scotland.

The initial 3 year action plan will support continuous improvement in the quality of clinical care and support provided by mental health services for people who are suicidal. This includes embedding the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) guidelines into operating practices. NCISH is the UK’s leading research programme into suicide prevention in clinical services, and is supported by the Scottish Government. Data tables from their 2022 Annual Report are available to view here which provides information on location of suicides, but is not broken down specifically to mental health settings.

The new strategy includes a continued focus on rolling out multi-agency suicide reviews across Scotland, which will provide valuable learning about where service opportunities have been missed in preventing a suicide. The suicide reviews will include information on whether the person who died was a mental health services inpatient. It is expected the system will identify the location of death, including whether the person was an inpatient at the time of death. Along with other types of data and insight, the learning from suicide reviews will produce valuable intelligence to inform ongoing service improvements.

The National Referral Mechanism is the UK-wide framework for identifying victims of human trafficking and exploitation and ensuring they receive appropriate support. The NRM is operated by the Single Competent Authority and Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority within the Home Office.

NRM data can be accessed via the which contains records back to 2013.

In addition to this, police recorded crime statistics include several types of crime in relation to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 as detailed below

• Slavery or forced labour (under sections 1 and 4 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• Human organ crimes (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015)
• Breach of Trafficking & Exploitation Order crime (under section 32 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 and
• Immoral traffic (under section 1 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and section 11 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995)

This act came into effect on 31 May 2016, with the first recorded crimes falling in the 2016-17 recording year (see Table One).

Prior to the implementation of the 2015 act, data is only available on Immoral traffic crimes recorded in Scotland (under section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and section 11 of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995). These are shown in table 2.

Table 1 – Recorded crimes under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, Scotland, 2016-17 to 2021-22

Notes:

1. As the act came into effect on 31 May 2016 this is not a full recording year.

2. Although this crime pre-dates the act, some charges under the act were assigned to this crime beginning with the 2016-17 recording year.

Table 2 – Recorded crimes of Immoral traffic, Scotland, 1999-00 to 2015-16

Source:

The Scottish Government does not make assessments of those who are homeless.

The Scottish Government collects information from local authorities that is recorded as part of the of the homelessness application process. This data includes ethnicity and some limited information on nationality of the main applicant and partner (where applicable), which is self-reported by the homelessness applicant.

Information on the detailed categories of ethnicity/nationality that are collected are set out in section 10 of the homelessness . These are grouped together for publication purposes (due to low numbers) as below:

White: Scottish,

White: Other British,

White: Irish,

White: Other,

White: Polish,

African,

Caribbean or Black,

Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British,

Mixed or multiple ethnic groups,

Other ethnic group,

Not known or Refused.

The most recently published data can be found in the equalities tables on the of our annual with time series starting in 2002-2003. Data is presented for the main applicant.

In September 2022, the Scottish Government, in agreement with Local Authorities, has added the following ethnicity/nationality categories to the homelessness data collection:

Ukrainian

White: Roma

White: Showman/Showwoman

This data will be included in future publications.

The Scottish Government does not hold or collect information about the availability of homeless shelter beds.

The Scottish Government established rapid rehousing welcome centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2020 as part of our commitment with partners to end the use of night shelter and dormitory-style provision. The centres provide short-term and self-contained accommodation and assist people at risk of rough sleeping to move on to more settled accommodation. The Scottish Government has provided funding towards their operation during the last two winters.

The Scottish Government does not make assessments of those who are homeless.

The Scottish Government collects information from local authorities that is recorded as part of the homelessness application. Data is collected on gender of the main applicant and partner (if applicable), with the response options of male or female.

The most recently published data can be found in the equalities tables on the of our annual with time series starting in 2002-2003. Data is presented for the main applicant.