Chamber and committees

No information is held centrally on the number of NHS staff recruited from overseas from 2018 to October 2021.

In October 2021 the then Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care announced £4.5 million for Health Boards to recruit up to 200 nurses from overseas. Figures released in August 2022 show that this target was met and 200 registered nurses were recruited, taking up posts in hospitals across NHS Scotland.

On 4 October 2022, further funding of £8 million was announced to support Boards in recruiting up to 750 registered nurses, midwives and allied health professions from overseas by end of March 2023. Early indications are that boards have achieved the target with many staff already in post or have signed offers of employment to arrive as soon as practicably possible. The data is currently being reviewed and will be published shortly.

The then Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government wrote to the Convener of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on 27 March 2023 stating that we had not, as yet, reached an agreement with Homes for Scotland and developers on the Scottish Safer Buildings Accord.

Discussions have been positive, and significantly, developers have accepted the principle of developer responsibility. However, developers want to apply a single approach to Building Standards across the UK even when remediating buildings in Scotland. We remain committed to seeking to secure an agreement and thereafter agreeing the legally binding contract to help safeguard residents and I would urge developers to reconsider their position. Developers must adhere to Scots law when operating in Scotland. This is not an issue on which we can compromise.

Portfolio responsibility for COVID-19 Inquiries rests with the Deputy First Minister. There have been no meetings between other Ministers, including the former Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, and the Chair of the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry, the Hon Lord Brailsford, since his appointment.

Both passenger ships, MS Ambition, Glasgow and MS Victoria, Edinburgh were contracted as a temporary measure to ensure Scotland could respond to the humanitarian crisis facing people in Ukraine and provide an immediate place of safely for displaced people.

All guests successfully disembarked MS Ambition before the contract ended on 31 March and were supported into alternative accommodation and we are now working closely with the City of Edinburgh Council to support guests on board MS Victoria to disembark before the contract ends on 11 July.

The Scottish Government continues to work intensively with local authorities to match people into longer-term accommodation and our priority is to ensure safe and sustainable accommodation can be provided. We are keen to continue to work together with the British Red Cross to utilise their experiences and expertise as we continue to settle displaced people from Ukraine into our community.

The Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to provide high quality, person-centred care and support for all people, including those with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS). Support is often provided via primary care, with specialist referral if necessary to rule out other causes of symptoms.

PoTS UK is a charity which provides information about managing and living with PoTS. This includes information and advice on self-management, mental health support and medication guidance. Their full resources can be found here: Managing PoTS - PoTS UK . Additionally, STARS (the Heart Rhythm Alliance) provide information on PoTS and resources for patients, which can be found here: Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS) – STARS – UK (heartrhythmalliance.org) 

The 2021 Digital Health and Care strategy aims to make the right information available to all appropriate staff, when and where it is needed. It builds on the existing use of electronic patient record systems used by all Health Boards and GP practices. Our recently publish Data Strategy for Health and Social Care augments this ambition.

Improving the creation and retention of digital records allows for greater sharing of information and reduces the need for multiple paper records to exist across multiple locations. The focus is on allowing medical records to be stored, linked, and shared securely according to the information needed. To achieve this most Health Boards, have a Clinical Portal. This system works across organisational, regional, and national boundaries to provide a timely transfer of information. The key developments to improve the sharing of information within Health Boards is the GPIT Programme, the National Digital Platform, TRAK Care and Clinical Portal.

HEPMA ( Hospital Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration ) is a system that can also replace paper prescribing and medication administration systems within hospitals. It has already been successfully implemented in six Health boards across Scotland and all remaining Health Boards all expected to roll it out by the end of 2025.

Student Satisfaction statistics are published on an annual basis. The latest Student Satisfaction statistics published by the SFC show that nine out of 10 (90.2%) full-time students were satisfied with their college experience in 2021-22. This is a positive improvement on the previous year’s statistics and similar to the figures for years preceding the pandemic. These figures will continue to be monitored.

Operational decisions are matters for colleges to determine and they must adapt and respond to the current economic needs flexibly. The future financial position remains exceptionally challenging and consequently, colleges are considering the steps that they must take in order to ensure their financial viability and sustainability. It is for each individual college to determine how best to secure its sustainability while continuing to deliver provision to meet the needs of their regions, communities and students.

We are producing a Student Mental Health Plan, linked to our Suicide Prevention Strategy and the forthcoming Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy to provide a framework for institutional action.

We currently support NUS Think Positive which sign-posts help for students, where institutions can share good practice and where, through Student Mental Health Agreements, students’ associations and institutions collaborate on institutional mental health practices.

Since 2019/20, we have invested over £13.5 million to provide almost 90 additional counsellors and will provide funding for the entirety of AY 2022-23. Any decision with regard to funding beyond the end of the current Academic Year has yet to be taken.

No decision has yet been taken regarding funding for counsellors in colleges and universities beyond the end of the current Academic Year.

Data from Scottish Colleges covering Successful Completions and Destinations are collected and published as National and Official Statistics by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

• College Performance Indicators (CPI) – – College Performance Indicators 2020-21 (sfc.ac.uk)
• College Leaver Destinations – College Leaver Destinations 2020-21 (sfc.ac.uk)

Under the Code of Practice for Statistics, publications undergo systematic and periodic reviews on the strengths and limitations of the data.

As an example of the continuing work in this area, SFC has initiated collection of students’ reasons for withdrawal (RfW) from colleges. The first year of collection of the data in 2021-22 was during the Covid-19 pandemic and is therefore considered experimental data. SFC will be working with Colleges Scotland and College Development Network (CDN) to improve the capture of student withdrawal data in future years to enable publication.

Over the coming months SFC will also be undertaking a review of the definitions of college student outcomes metrics, to ensure that they provide the most appropriate measures of success for students.