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.

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.

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.

At close of business 20 June 2022 there had been a total of 11,122,501 journeys made under the Young Persons Scheme (YPS).

Mobile home owners that are eligible for inclusion in their energy supplier’s Priority Services Register can request their site owner to register with their energy supplier as having vulnerable people on the site, if the residents do not have their own account. The situation and process is likely to vary depending on the supplier. If the residents experience a difficulty with this or the site owner refuses, Advice Direct Scotland can offer advice on how to take further action.

The Scottish Government does not hold this data centrally.

Mr Rowley may wish to approach the Scottish Social Services Council, who are the regulator for the social service workforce in Scotland, and may be able to supply the relevant data in relation to his questions.

The National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO) have been unable to supply us with a breakdown of cards issued by age ranges. We are working with our delivery partners to have this data available.

NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data.

The Scottish Government committed to publishing a refresh of the 2017 Energy Strategy in the Programme for Government and Bute House Agreement. Following the Scottish Government's response to the Just Transition Commission, we committed to publishing a Just Transition Plan for energy, which will be integrated with the forthcoming Energy Strategy Refresh to ensure a cohesive and joined up framework for action.

In Parliament on 29 March 2022, I announced that the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) would be published in Autumn 2022 for consultation. It was previously due to be published in Spring 2022.

The revised timeline will allow time for the development of a robust evidence base. It will also enable consideration of recent, fast-moving events in the energy industry, the impact of the rising cost of energy, and the UK Government's Energy Security Strategy and forthcoming Energy Bill.

Additionally, this summer we are engaging with those most likely to be impacted by the energy transition, in line with our wider approach to just transition. We will be carrying out a number of events to identify what needs to be done to ensure the energy transition is good for Scotland’s people and build consensus that will enable policy makers to develop the best solutions.

The Local Rail Development Fund has already been extended until the end of the 22-23 financial year on a case by case basis. The fund is not open for new applicants, but committed funds will be honoured, subject to progress being made in line with grant agreements.

The following table shows the number of cards issued under the Young Persons Scheme (YPS) as at close of business on 20 June 2022, broken down to local authority level. This information includes number of passes collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application held by Transport Scotland and data supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data.