Chamber and committees

I think that the 218 service came through the justice funding that went into IJBs; it was not from health funding. I am not entirely sighted on exactly what has happened with the justice funding. I think that it would probably go back to the old justice boards and the funding that was transferred across to IJBs, rather than coming directly from the health portfolio. I would imagine that it is a matter that the justice secretary would be able to respond on, because it is not something that sits directly in my portfolio.

We do not micromanage services on the ground within individual health boards, but, clearly, there is a requirement for boards to ensure that there are safe staffing levels. Where there are concerns, there is a mechanism for staff to raise them and escalate them within the board.

There is a lot of work going on around the safe staffing legislation that we introduced. If concerns have been raised with you directly by staff, they should escalate them through the local mechanism to ensure that they are addressed. My expectation is that boards would address such concerns and do so quickly.

I have heard some of the commentary on that, and I do not subscribe to it. We have a range of health regulators that regulate a range of professional groups. In my view, the GMC taking on the regulation of AAs and PAs will not cause any confusion, so long as there is a clear regulatory body that is responsible for dealing with any issues relating to AAs and PAs. I have heard some of the commentary, but I am not persuaded by it, given the fact that we have a range of other regulators that cover a variety of professional groups. I do not see why that would create any confusion for the GMC, given that it does not do so for other health regulators.

I do not know what the exact costs associated with that are, but the UK Government has decided to fund the GMC to support the introduction of the regulation of PAs and AAs. Eventually, we will move to the normal self-funding model, which the majority of the regulators, if not all of them, operate.

How we use PAs and AAs in NHS Scotland will be determined by us. That will be the approach that we will take through the group that we have set up. As I mentioned, it will consider the role of PAs and AAs.

We have taken a very different approach from that of the UK Government, about whose approach to the matter the BMA has flagged up concerns. The use of PAs and AAs is a key part of the UK Government’s workforce plan, and a lot of concerns have been raised about the proposed fairly rapid expansion of their use. I understand that, which is why we have taken a different approach here in Scotland. I have outlined to the BMA that we will take much more of an incremental and evidence-based approach to how PAs and AAs will be used in NHS Scotland and how they will be deployed and utilised in the workforce. We have put in place a process to manage that.

We do not intend to replicate the rapid expansion of the use of PAs and AAs that the UK Government is planning in NHS England. We are taking a much more evidence-based approach to their use and how that will be defined, which will be much more limited.

I go back to my earlier answer. There was a debate around that, and it was part of the consultation in which we asked for feedback on which body would be the most appropriate to regulate PAs and AAs. The very clear majority—just under 60 per cent—said that the GMC should be responsible for that. The GMC has also been clear that it believes that it is capable of carrying out that regulatory function, and it has already begun putting arrangements in place to manage the process. It gave evidence to the committee, and we have met with it and discussed the matter.

I used to be regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council; it regulates a range of bodies and different professional groups, and I do not think that that causes confusion for the public. The idea of another regulator taking on an additional bit of regulatory work is not greatly difficult for the public to understand.

Two hundred and fifty-four properties were identified as priorities. I think that only one property had to be vacated—actually, it was in the process of being vacated anyway. The vast majority of the others require only additional monitoring. That information is all publicly available. Health facilities Scotland has that on the NSS website, and each individual health board has published information on that as well.

Once health facilities Scotland had completed that work—as I stated previously, it was completed on time before the end of last year; I think that it was completed before the end of November—some additional sites were identified that were not previously known about. Some of those are not facilities that are directly owned by the NHS; they might be GP surgeries and so on. A programme of survey work on 100 or so such buildings is being taken forward. That information is all publicly available.

The work that was carried out last year did not identify—

Our capital budget is dependent on the capital allocation that we get from the UK Government, which has cut our capital budget by 10 per cent. As a consequence, there is less capital funding available to invest in capital projects in Scotland. On top of that, we are experiencing significant challenges as a result of construction inflation. Indeed, some projects have almost doubled in cost as a result of the construction inflation that has been experienced over the past year to 18 months.

Not only are there increased costs for projects but, as a result of the UK Government’s decision to cut our capital budget, there is less money to invest in capital projects. That is a direct consequence of the decision by the UK Government to cut our capital budget.

—any remedial work that was required, other than the normal routine maintenance work that boards do. Instead of surveys being carried out every three years, they are being carried out every year, and there are details on the types of things that should be taken forward. However, no major costs were identified from the survey work that was carried out by health facilities Scotland.