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Our approach to planning and delivering health and care services needs to change to enable the step-change we need in our services. Our Policy Prospectus and Programme for Government is explicitly clear that reform is required and sets out initial actions we are taking.

Work is already underway to progress reforms to ensure long term sustainability, reduction of health inequalities, deliver services closer to home, further harness the benefits of digital technology, and the improvement of population health outcomes in Scotland. We engage frequently with health boards, the public, health and social care staff and other key stakeholders across a range of issues to develop our thinking.

The Deputy First Minister announced in her statement on the budget on 19th December that the Government will be taking forward a National Conversation on the future of the NHS. The Deputy First Minister set out the principles of public ownership of our NHS and ensuring services are available free at the point of need.

The Cabinet Secretary will set out in more detail in the new year how the Government will progress this work.

This will be a collaborative process across the health and social care system, alongside stakeholder and citizen engagement as a core principle. The Scottish Government will continue to build on engagement already in place with services, clinicians, professionals, service-users and citizens in 2024 to collectively build our long-term planning for health and social care in Scotland.

The NHS Scotland Academy (NHSSA) provides training opportunities across five programme areas: National Workforce Programmes; National Endoscopy Training Programmes (NETP); National Perioperative Training Programmes; National Imaging Training Programmes; NHS Scotland Youth Academy and the NHSSA Skills & Simulation Centre. Within these programme areas, NHSSA facilitates over 30 training courses. More information, including a full list of courses, can be found on the NHSSA website -

In the last 12 months, NHSSA has provided additional training opportunities for 5,918 new and existing staff.

The learning modules “Preparing for work in Health and Social Care in Scotland”, designed to support incoming staff, have been completed by 3,941 learners in the last 12 months.

In financial year 2022-23, NHSSA was provided with £3.5m in funding.

As part of our work to develop a sustainable healthcare workforce, we continue to look for opportunities to increase levels of student attraction to healthcare professions. Careers in NHS Scotland are promoted on the NHS Education Scotland NHS careers website, designed to promote opportunities to school leavers, those in education and those looking to change careers. This site can be accessed at .

The current route to becoming a podiatrist registered with HCPC is to attain a degree in podiatry and, as such, higher education institutions (HEIs) are autonomous bodies responsible for the attraction and recruitment of their own students. Each institution has their own advertising and recruitment strategy which will include visiting schools, attending careers fairs and promoting the range of opportunities via their social media channels. HEIs also recruit to their approved programmes against their own entry requirements and will encourage and support prospective students in how to achieve the required standards.

Additionally, the Allied Health Professions (AHP) Education and Workforce Policy Review examined workforce and education issues and recommendations included promotion of allied health professional careers and aligning strategies to market a career as an allied health professional. An advisory group has been established to oversee the effective implementation of these recommendations.

The Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce, which brings together representatives from a broad range of stakeholders, including the RCN, RCM, and academia, focuses on retention as one of its five key themes. Retention, including the retention of nursing graduates, is currently being assessed with recommended action as indicated by its findings due in the coming year.

The Princes Trust and NHS Scotland Partnership’s programmes aim to support young people to achieve the outcome that is right for them. Often this is not directly into NHS employment as many of the young people require longer term support to achieve this outcome. Positive destinations include employment, further education, training or volunteering.

The Get Started programme is a personal and social development opportunity which is targeted at those young people who are furthest away from entering the labour market. In 2022-23, of the 56 young people supported, 37 participants moved on to a positive destination.

The Get Into programme is a short course that further develops young people’s skills and familiarises them with employment in the NHS. In 22-23, 44 young people were supported by the Get Into Programme with 29 moving on to a positive destination, of whom 13 gained employment with the NHS.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the retention of Princes Trust participants in NHS employment.

Apprenticeships are a key way for employers to invest in their workforce, providing skills the economy needs now and in the future. Scottish Government recognise the importance of apprenticeships for the public sector, including health & social care. Our priority is to ensure apprenticeships are of high quality and lead to sustainable employment opportunities characterised by Fair Work.

To assess national demand for apprenticeships, a wide-ranging consultation process is carried out by Skills Development Scotland which includes employers, trade unions and trade bodies. This ensures that apprenticeships are developed and delivered in line with employer needs, including the public sector.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with Higher Education Institutions and other partners including Health Boards, Skills Development Scotland, and the Scottish Funding Council on skills development, employability and widening access to NHS Scotland careers, including the development of apprenticeship models to provide an ‘earn and learn’ pathway.

The Scottish Government has had a wide range of discussions with Police Scotland over many years about its use of technology to support effective policing in communities through its Change Programmes.

In 2019-20 the Scottish Government provided an additional £12 million in capital funding to support the introduction of mobile devices for 10,000 officers, as part of an investment programme to build operational capacity enhance digital capabilities and enable frontline officers to spend more time in communities.

Police Scotland is the lead delivery partner for the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) Programme – a collaborative transformation programme supported and funded by the Scottish Government and currently being piloted in Dundee. It will deliver significant efficiencies to Police Scotland and its partners, making the process of collecting, editing and sharing evidence with the prosecutor much simpler and quicker for officers than current processes. DESC is also a critical platform for future transformation, such as the national roll out of a body worn video capability, and greater use of pre-recorded evidence.

The Scottish Police Authority provide oversight and scrutiny when new technologies are being introduced to ensure that ethical, legal and human rights are considered, so that public confidence can be maintained.

The 2021-22 Programme for Government, alongside the Bute House Agreement, set out our plans to develop and implement breakfast policy for the whole parliamentary term. Subsequent Programme for Government publications have reiterated that food provision is an important part of the mission to tackle child poverty. Work to map existing breakfast provision is expected to be completed by Spring 2024 which will inform policy on school breakfasts, and a plan for breakfast provision, designed around the needs of children and families.