Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that recruitment and retention of nursing staff is key to the provision of safe and high-quality health care services. We published our National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in March 2022, which outlines our shared vision: a skilled workforce with attractive career choices where all are respected and valued for the work they do.

We are investing £11 million over the next five years in new national and international recruitment campaigns and have established a national Centre for Workforce Supply to support the development and implementation of resource strategies and services across the system. There are record high numbers of nursing and midwifery staff, up by 14.8% since September 2006, and numbers of student nurses entering Scottish Government funded degree programmes will increase by 9% in 2022-2023, the 10th successive increase in recommended student numbers.

We are firmly committed to supporting a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable health and social care workforce, with a strong leadership that promotes wellbeing. There is no place for bullying or harassment in the NHS - or anywhere else - and we have made it clear to Health Boards that this behaviour is unacceptable and expect them to ensure any reported incidents are taken seriously and fully investigated.

There is also no place for discrimination; we will publish a refreshed overarching Fair Work action plan later this year focusing on minority ethnic and disabled people’s employment and tackling the gender pay gap. We will also publish a new ethnicity pay gap strategy which will set out our approach for employers in addressing racial inequality in the workplace and will underpin our actions related to this within the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan.

Our National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care detailed the launch of a new National Leadership Development Programme (NLDP) which will work to influence culture change across health and social care. It also included establishing a National Minority Ethnic Forum for the NHS and a new proposed accelerated development programme for minority ethnic staff working in the NHS and Social Care.

The Scottish Government has recently closed an initial consultation to start a national discussion about our National Parks. We will be working with NatureScot over the summer to engage further with the general public and stakeholders to help develop the evaluation framework that will be needed to determine which area or areas should be designated as National Parks. We will soon share further information about the process and timescales which will be followed to progress one or more areas to statutory designation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09005 on 23 June 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

We will shortly share further information about the process and timetable for which will enable one or more areas to be designated as a National Park. This designation will take place before the end of the current Parliament.

The Scottish Government’s consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill, published on 30 May 2022, proposes that Scottish Ministers should have powers to require mandatory public reporting of unwanted surplus stock and waste of certain materials by Scottish businesses in order to improve data capture and public transparency and help businesses measure and take action on their waste and surplus. The consultation also set our intention that the initial priority for subsequent secondary legislation, with further consultation, would be to introduce mandatory public reporting of food waste and food surplus.

Subject to the outcome of our consultation, we will work with stakeholders to develop detailed assessments and proposals for further consultation, including on the type and size of business that should be subject to any reporting requirements.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many crimes were reported in connection with the use of e-scooters.

Police Scotland collect data on road traffic accidents that were a) reported to the police and b) involved someone being injured or killed. Figures for 2021 are provisional and final figures will be published in October 2022. Figures for 2022 are still being collected and verified and are therefore not currently available.

The following table shows the number and severity of casualties in 2021 who were injured in road accidents that involved an e-scooter and the location of the accident.

We are working to publish the external report regarding the implementation of the 2021 NICE guideline on ME/CFS as soon as possible, and anticipate that it will be published by the beginning of July 2022.

As set out in the Transport Scotland Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan, it is planned to electrify between Dundee and Perth by 2035.

As decarbonisation of the line between Dundee and Perth forms a later phase of the rolling programme. Therefore it is at an early stage of development with a detailed implementation programme still to be developed.

The first step towards electrifying to Dundee (from Edinburgh) was taken in June 2022, with the commencement on site of electrification works on the Haymarket to Dalmeny section of route. Work on this estimated £55 million scheme is due for completion by December 2024.

Further development work on the business case for decarbonising the Fife Circle Line has been also been approved to progress to the next design phase for partial electrification of the route using battery electric multiple units.

I refer the member to the answer to question S60-00653 on 20 January 2022 in relation to the report from the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission on the use of glue traps I set out our plans to introduce a ban on the sale and use of glue traps.

While the Commission’s report found that there are public health concerns in certain high-risk situations that require effective and rapid pest control in order to reduce the spread of disease the report was also clear that the animal welfare issues connected with the use of glue traps would justify an immediate outright ban on their sale and use .

I understand there are some concerns from the pest control industry on the available alternatives to glue traps, which is why the Scottish Government has been and will continue to engage with stakeholders as this policy develops.

As part of the normal legislative process, we intend to have a full public consultation to seek views on our proposals, and this will include consideration of whether a transition period is necessary.

All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Meeting of the Parliament: 20/01/2022 | Scottish Parliament Website .

Details of the proposal to introduce measures to ban the destruction of unsold goods and associated impact assessments, including a business and regulatory impact assessment, are included in Delivering Scotland's circular economy: a consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill Delivering Scotland’s circular economy: a consultation on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill - Scottish Government - Citizen Space .