- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in the last 12 months, what additional training opportunities have been made available from the NHS Scotland Academy; how many (a) new and (b) existing staff have received training from the academy, and what funding has been available to the academy.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 98 young people supported through the Prince’s Trust and NHS Scotland Partnership's Get Into and Get Started programmes (a) gained employment within the NHS and (b) retained employment within the NHS beyond three months.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how successful the Prince’s Trust and NHS Scotland Partnership has been in achieving the commitment to recruit 267 young people in 2023-24 through the Get Into and Get Started programmes within the NHS.
Answer
As this commitment relates to activity currently underway and due to be completed by the end of this financial year, this data will therefore not be available until after the end of the 2023-24 accounting period. Activity will include participants in NHS Get Started and Get Into programmes as well as Achieve educational events.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 21 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding digital development within the police force, particularly in relation to support for and access to up-to-date technology for local policing teams.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what value it places on apprenticeships within the public sector, and what assessment it has made of the availability of these across different sectors, departments and professions.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Scottish universities about developing apprenticeship models for Allied Health Professions (AHP) training.
Answer
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.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its proposed budget spend increase of £0.1 million for alcohol and drugs policy, which is reportedly a real-terms reduction, is sufficient to address the challenges faced in this area.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 11 January 2024
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made any progress in mapping current
breakfast provision within primary and special schools across Scotland, and, if
so, whether it will commit to publishing any such data early in 2024.
Answer
Scottish Government has contracted AssistFM to map existing breakfast provision. This mapping is expected to be completed in Spring 2024. There are no plans to publish it separately, as this work is just one of the elements which will inform policy on school breakfasts, and a plan for breakfast provision, designed around the needs of children and families.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 20 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress
towards fulfilling its Programme for Government 2021-22 commitment to provide
free school breakfasts to all children in primary and special schools.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children. Work is underway to map existing breakfast provision which is expected to be completed in Spring 2024. This will inform policy on school breakfasts, and a plan for breakfast provision, designed around the needs of children and families.
- Asked by: Carol Mochan, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 December 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it is progressing its pledge in its Programme for Government 2015-16 to "effectively eliminate use of the private sector for planned care" as part of a 20-year strategy.
Answer
The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to the founding principles of the NHS. As is the case across the UK, hospitals in the independent sector were contracted to provide additional capacity for NHS priority patients throughout the pandemic. NHS Scotland makes limited use of the independent sector, in contrast to the position in NHS England.
Our National Treatment Centres (NTCs) Programme is the single biggest increase in planned care capacity ever created in NHS Scotland; these centres are planning to deliver over 20,000 additional planned care procedures by 2024-25.
NHS Scotland’s Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is also playing a central role in working with Health Boards to ensure that they are able to continually identify new ways to increase capacity, and to respond to demand through service innovation and redesign.
CfSD’s clinically-led Specialty Delivery Groups (SDG) have supported several new and innovative pathway developments, many of which are now being successfully scaled up across Scotland, including Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT), Patient Initiated Review (PIR) and Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS). These improvement programmes will support delivery of the targets and provide sustainable solutions for the future.
