Chamber and committees

The Fair Work in Social Care Group organised itself into four workstreams on Pay; Terms and Conditions; Effective Voice; and Sectoral Bargaining. The workstreams meet 1-2 times per month, most recently on 17 January 2023.

The Fair Work in Social Care Group is now overseen by a Joint Ministerial Group, co-chaired by myself and COSLA Health and Social Care Spokesperson. The Joint Ministerial Group met on 3 November 2022 and is scheduled to meet again in February 2023.

Our National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care supports the remobilisation and recovery of health and social care services and sets out priorities for recruitment, training and retention. We anticipate that the Strategy will be used by workforce, service and financial planners from across Health and Social Care at all levels.

Through this Workforce Strategy, and the NHS Recovery Plan, we are investing in staff so that they have the right skill mix and career progression opportunities.

Actions have been set out as part of the Workforce Strategy to develop, improve and transform workforce data, information and intelligence and to commit to publishing workforce projections. These actions will be delivered through the Workforce Data and Intelligence Programme, including a Data Links and Gaps Project with key workstreams of NHS Workforce Data Quality Improvement (WDQI), Adult Social Care WDQI and Primary Care WDQI.

A baseline review of Healthcare Science Education and Training Provision was carried out in 2022 and published on 20 October. Emerging themes for further investigation were identified from survey feedback, and this has helped ascertain the work required to increase the visibility of the Healthcare Science workforce to improve the pipeline of a future workforce. Examples of specialist training currently available were highlighted, including Neurophysiology at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Work has been done in consultation with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to investigate and suggest improvements for low uptake in Neurology expansion posts. Discussions are underway with the NES lead Dean for Medicine to consider how to make improvements in the coming year when these posts are re-advertised. Many of these vacancies are in the North and East of Scotland, reflecting the difficulty in recruiting to posts in these areas. NES has been promoting awareness of Neurology training opportunities in these regions, and hope to make progress in 2023 and 2024 recruitment.

Through our National Advisory Committee for Neurological Conditions, we are identifying priorities to strengthen the neurological workforce alongside the National Workforce Strategy, Remobilisation Plans and Rehabilitation Framework. We have scoped neurological workforce priorities and work has commenced to address these with a focus on nursing, allied health professionals (AHPs), neuropsychology and neurophysiology.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13687 on 23 January 2023. 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13692 on 23 January 2023. 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 .

As committed to in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, we have been undertaking a data collection exercise to inform future decisions about workforce investment. This work is being led by the Scottish Cancer Network, which is engaging with local boards and professional representatives.

A final report, including recommendations, will be provided to the National Oncology Taskforce in the first quarter of 2023. The Taskforce is made up of NHS Board Chief Executives and Medical Directors, and will seek national solutions to ensure the longer term resilience of oncology services in Scotland.

I refer the member to the Scottish Government’s second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan which committed to offering up to 500 apprenticeship opportunities across NHS Scotland in 2022/23.

NHS Boards deliver a wide range of employability programmes, following the ‘No One Left Behind’ overarching approach which is place-based, needs-led and person-centred. Programmes delivered in 2022-23 have focused on a wide range of groups, including: young people at risk of long-term unemployment, care leavers, veterans and service leavers, and lone parents over the age of 25.

All NHS boards have utilised the funding available to build the infrastructure in their recruitment teams and appoint an international recruitment lead.

The Scottish Government see good accessible workforce data as a key tool for effective future planning within the Primary Healthcare Workforce. We have a number of ways in which we do this.

In General Practice, Public Health Scotland published workforce planning data through the General Practice Workforce Survey in November 2022 that gives us access to the latest General Practice workforce wte data, this is followed by the General Practice Workforce and Population Survey that gives us accurate headcount data across General Practice, published most recently in December 2022.

Workforce data on general dental practitioners is published by NES biannually, the latest data was published in December 2022.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery intends to publish a report on workforce planning for the eyecare workforce by end March 2023.

Reporting arrangements are in place to monitor progress of Health and Social Care Partnerships against their Primary Care Improvement Plans (PCIPs). This includes progress on establishing Multi-Disciplinary Teams. Further information is provided in our annual statistical publication that published in March 2022.

In November 2022, Public Health Scotland published a report analysing the 2022 survey of the General Practice workforce. This publication is available at General practice workforce survey 2022 - General practice workforce survey - Publications - Public Health Scotland . Following this work in 2022, the Scottish Government has committed to undertaking the workforce survey on an annual basis.

Scottish Ministers are already able to access advice and analysis which allows for the triangulation of workforce intelligence at national level. They are fully supported in this by other agencies and organisations, including NHS Scotland health boards and NHS Education for Scotland, which publishes quarterly official workforce statistics and provides associated analysis on the NHS Scotland workforce.

The Scottish Government also continues to work closely with NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to improve workforce planning, including the data and intelligence required to carry this out effectively at a local level.

The Scottish Government has established a Workforce Data Information and Intelligence Improvement Programme to support further improvement in data collation and evidence triangulation. This programme is focused specifically on improving the quality and granularity of existing data sets, alongside considering the requirements for gathering new or different data to support better decision making, workforce and service planning.