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The Scottish Government welcomes the publication of the RCN Scotland report, The Nursing Workforce in Scotland, and notes the report's recommendations.

On 21 February 2023 we announced that a Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce had been established to build on efforts to make Scotland the best place for nurses and midwives to work by developing plans for recruitment and retention. The Nursing Workforce in Scotland Report, and its recommendations, will be considered by the taskforce as a part of its work.

Scottish Government is committed to implement payment reform from 1 November 2023. It was confirmed to the sector on 20 March 2023 that the timeline for the payment reform showcase was necessarily delayed by the process to replace the First Minister. The sector retains financial support until 31 October to support the delivery of services until the implementation of payment reform.

The current position is that the payment reform discussions with the British Dental Association (BDA) have begun on 10 May 2023. It is intended to that an announcement to the dental profession will be available in early summer.

Three agencies have been opened outside of the Lothian region since 2007 with no relocations during this time. There is one Agency located in the West Scotland region.

There have been multiple changes to Scottish Government Directorates over the last 15 years. Available data would not provide accurate assessment of the number of Directorates relocated or opened outside of the Lothians over the period.

Directorates particularly in DG Net Zero and DG Communities continue to be located outside of the Central Belt in locations close to their stakeholders and operations.

There are 17 owned buildings on the Scottish Government Core Estate. 11 have EPC ratings lower than C.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

Responsibility for the management of the (a) police estate is for Police Scotland, which is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority; and (b) the fire estate is for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Meeting health and safety requirements across their estates continues to be a high priority for both Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Table 1 shows the number of ATM sites in receipt of 100% rates relief through the Small Business Bonus Scheme since 2018.

Table 1: ATM sites in receipt of 100% Small Business Bonus Scheme relief

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s Report on Jobs is one of several sources of evidence that the Scottish Government monitors, in the context of wider developments in the labour market. The Report draws on a monthly survey of recruitment agencies, and offers insights into broad trends and developments around recruitment.

The latest edition of the Report indicates reductions in staff placements, along with reduced staff availability and increased demand for permanent staff. The latest labour market data for Scotland from ONS indicates that Scotland’s employment rate remains high, while unemployment rates are at close to record lows.

The National Strategy for Economic Transformation sets out our approach to ensuring that employers have a pipeline of skilled workers and makes clear that employers must invest in the skilled employees they need to grow their businesses. We are taking forward a range of measures, including working with business organisations to promote Fair Work; providing a range of employability support to help people to enter the labour market; and developing our Talent Attraction programme and Migration Service to attract workers with the skills that Scotland needs.

The HMP Glasgow project was advertised to the market in March 2022 to commence procurement of pre-construction services as part of a two-stage procurement process in order to progress the overall delivery of the programme. The Scottish Prison Service awarded the pre-construction services contract in July 2022. Timescales for the delivery of the prison will be confirmed once the design phase is concluded.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Work within Inverclyde Council’s Pottery Street depot has been progressing well, although there has been some delay to starting work on the A8 itself due to other urgent utility work. For the section of work on the A8, Scottish Water’s forecast start date is at the end of June, with an anticipated completion by mid- to end-December. Information on the project is published online at

Social Security Scotland routinely releases information on payments issued for Funeral Support Payment as part of quarterly official statistics releases.

Excel tables released as part of these publications include information on the value of payments issued by local authority and financial year.

The latest statistics on Funeral Support Payment were released on 16 May 2023 covering data to 31 March 2023. These statistics can be found at: .