Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-13486

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the aim set out in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland, whether it has increased paramedic training numbers by 32%, bringing the total student numbers for 2022-23 to 941.

Question reference: S6W-13589

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has developed an engagement programme across the health and social care workforce to inform a set of shared values.

As part of Leading to Change, the National Leadership Development Programme, we have been running a series of engagement events for the health, social work and social care sectors to promote compassionate and inclusive leadership at all levels and create an open and welcoming culture that will enable people to thrive.

Details of the events can be found here: Events | Leading to Change | Leadership Development | NHS Scotland

An update on the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care will be published later this year.

Question reference: S6W-13444

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the commitment made in the Health and social care: integrated workforce plan to "design and oversee work to obtain a national picture of workforce planning capacity, methodology and capability in Local Authorities/ Health and Social Care Partnerships for planning social care services".

The Scottish Government has engaged directly with representatives from NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to consider workforce planning capacity and capability across services. We remain committed to building a culture of continuous learning and improvement in workforce planning, including through the guidance we developed to support the development of health board and HSCP three-year workforce plans. We have been exploring, with stakeholders, formal qualification and accreditation opportunities, we continue to take forward these discussions with partners in further and higher education, alongside the provision of in-house training.

Question reference: S6W-13492

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has refreshed the NHS Scotland Partnership Information Network (PIN) policies, particularly the Homeworking Policy, which is part of the "supporting work-life balance" suite of policies, and whether it has responded to any requests to develop new policies.

To date, the NHSScotland ‘Once for Scotland’ Workforce Policies Programme has refreshed the following PIN policies and process:

In addition, the NHSScotland Whistleblowing Policy that includes the National Whistleblowing Standards was published in April 2021.

Following a pause due to the pandemic, the ‘Once for Scotland’ Workforce Policies programme of work formally restarted in June 2022. The review of the suite of Supporting the Work-Life Balance Policies that include flexible working arrangements and the Homeworking Policy (now known as the NHSScotland Flexible Work Location Policy) is currently at an advanced stage.

The programme policy development schedule is reviewed at each stage to enable response to service pressures and prioritised policy needs. Requests for new policies are considered by the ‘Once for Scotland’ Workforce Policies Programme Board.

Question reference: S6W-13499

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) staff it has recruited in each year since 2007.

The information on how many additional Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) staff has been recruited by the Scottish Government in each year since 2007 is not centrally held.

The information on CAMHS workforce staff in post can be found in the following link: CAMHS | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot)

The Employee Turnover tab gives the number of joiners and leavers from year ending March 2012 to March 2022. Data for preceding years are not available.

Joiners are employees who are in post as at 31 March of a particular year and were not in post at 31 March of the previous year.

Leavers are employees who were in post as at 31 March of the previous year and not in post at 31 March year of the present year.

Question reference: S6W-13439

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what options it has identified for working collaboratively with stakeholders to review the health and social care workforce data landscape, as part of a whole-system approach.

Question reference: S6W-13475

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is (a) promoting career pathways and (b) delivering policies on upskilling to develop the health and social care workforce, and whether this work includes the development of (i) foundation and modern apprenticeships and (ii) resources for those providing careers advice.

The Scottish Government works closely with partners including Health Boards, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), and the Scottish Funding Council on skills development, employability and widening access to health and social care careers, including the development of progressive career opportunities for existing staff and apprenticeship models to provide ‘earn and learn’ pathways.

Boards have created opportunities for over 500 band 4 assistant practitioners across acute, primary care and mental health, using the Development and Education framework for Bands 2-4 staff to support the continued professional development of this integral part of the NHS workforce.

We continue to prioritise the development of credentialing of medical skills, working collaboratively with the other 3 nations, GMC, Medical Colleges, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS Boards to identify and progress upskilling priorities more quickly that will improve services and benefit patients.

Last year, we worked collaboratively with SSSC and NES to develop a national induction framework for social care staff. An evaluation of the framework has been launched with the aim of improving and expanding the materials further. We are also committed to developing continuous professional development opportunities for the existing adult social care workforce.

We are working with NES, Boards, Department of Work and Pensions, SDS, and Local Authorities to ensure those providing careers advice have the appropriate health and social care resources to support them.

Question reference: S6W-13510

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there is a staff equality focus for its (a) Women’s Health Plan, A plan for 2021-2024, and (b) Race Equality Immediate Priorities Plan.

The Women’s Health Plan sets out actions which aim to address women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care for women across their lives, and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for women and girls.

The Plan includes actions to develop a menopause/menstrual health policy for NHS Scotland staff in 2023. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13514 on 16 January 2023 for an update on the development of a menopause and menstrual health workplace policy for NHS Scotland. 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 .

The Plan also contains an action to encourage Health Boards to participate in the Equally Safe at Work accreditation scheme. I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13539 on 23 January 2023 for an update on progress on this action.

The Race Equality Immediate Priorities Plan (IPP) Annex B contains actions under systemic recommendation 4 (Fair Work Practices) to support minority ethnic staff. Data recommendations 10, 11 and 14 also contain actions on monitoring workforce data, NHS workforce data and accountability and governance. These are published online at: Annex B - Immediate Priorities for Race Equality 2021-23 - Race equality: immediate priorities plan - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .’

Question reference: S6W-13463

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has set new international recruitment targets (a) focusing on key areas of shortage and (b) directly supporting key commitments set out in their NHS Recovery Plan, including meeting its anticipated 1% net growth, and, if so, what these targets are.

Question reference: S6W-13442

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has analysed the detail in its health and social care three-year workforce plans, and, if this is the case, whether this analysis will inform its workforce policy development.

Yes. The Scottish Government has analysed the three-year workforce plans produced by Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships. An analysis of key themes and emerging national priorities was subsequently discussed by the National Workforce Forum, which brings together senior government officials from across Health and Social Care Directorates, and representatives from Health Boards and HSCPs. This work has informed the establishment of a suite of priorities for national coordination and action in 2023-24.