Chamber and committees

As noted in the 2022-23 Programme for Government, we are continuing our preparatory work to ensure every school-aged child has access to a digital device by the end of this parliament in 2026.

The Mental Health Workforce Plan is scheduled to be published in spring 2023. A separate National Workforce Strategy for Health & Social Care was published on 11 March 2022, with a new Staff Wellbeing Strategy to be published in early 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06593 on
 4 March 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

The Enhanced Psychology Practice (EPP) training course was established by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in 2021, with the first round of training commencing in October of that year. Training numbers so far as follows;

• 14 learners from the Adult EPP Cohort 1 have completed training. 5 learners from Cohort 1 are still to complete due to extensions. Cohort 2 commenced in April 2022, with 22 learners currently in training.
• The Children and Young People (CYP) EPP pilot cohort commenced in April 2022 with 10 learners currently in training.
• Interviews concluded for the November 2022 cohorts of EPP-A and EPP-CYP learners in August. NES HAS issued offers for 32 places across both programmes.
• When at full capacity, an annual intake of approximately 100 learners will be possible. This will form a rolling programme of recruitment over several intake cycles.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) estimates that capacity for up to 100 newly created posts can be created each year when the programme reaches full capacity, with scope to employ up to 300 by 2026.

This information is not held centrally.

The Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) have published related figures on the levels of staff vacancies in Scotland’s care services, in their recent 2021 Staff Vacancies in Care Services report:

The 2021 Staff vacancies in care services report | Scottish Social Services Workforce Data (sssc.uk.com)

The Enhanced Psychology Practice (EPP) training course was established by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in 2021, with the first round of training commencing in October of that year. Training numbers so far as follows;

• 14 learners from the Adult EPP Cohort 1 have completed training. 5 learners from Cohort 1 are still to complete due to extensions. Cohort 2 commenced in April 2022, with 22 learners currently in training.
• The Children and Young People (CYP) EPP pilot cohort commenced in April 2022 with 10 learners currently in training.
• Interviews concluded for the November 2022 cohorts of EPP-A and EPP-CYP learners in August. NES has issued offers for 32 places across both programmes.
• When at full capacity, an annual intake of approximately 100 learners will be possible. This will form a rolling programme of recruitment over several intake cycles.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration and are best placed to develop the right partnerships and identify suitable funding to support town centres and high streets including in the South of Scotland.

The Scottish Government is aware of how challenging the current economic climate is for businesses and communities in town centres and the issues around out-of-town shopping. We are committed to continue to working in partnership with local government, business, third sector and community partners to repurpose and revitalise town centres.

The Scottish Government has long-term funding and a strong framework with clear priorities and actions to help support local government and other partners to develop town centres in accordance with the needs of their own communities. This includes the Town Centre Action Plan 2, the Retail Strategy, and subject to parliamentary approval, and subsequent adoption by the Scottish Ministers, the National Planning Framework 4.

These recognise the critical importance of planning with and for communities and in diversifying the offer within town centres, to help them thrive, improve their resilience and anticipate continuing societal, environmental and economic change. The draft NPF4 recognises that our cities and towns are a national asset and strengthens support for development in centres to be considered first, while limiting out-of-town retail development. Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation contains bold and ambitious actions - within the powers currently available to us – and is a route to a strong, inclusive economy with good, secure and well-paid jobs and growing businesses.

The Government has committed in the recent budget to continue to deliver the Place-Based Investment Programme, which aims to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action and community wealth building and the complimentary Vacant and Derelict land Programme. In addition, as part of the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal and recognising the importance of our smaller rural market and coastal towns to the local economy, the Scottish Government is committing up to £20 million in the South of Scotland.

This information is not held centrally and is a matter for the Care Inspectorate.

The programme of travelling Cabinets was paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government is now exploring options for restarting the programme in 2023 and will consider the South Scotland region as part of this work.