Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold this information, however the data can be found by contacting the Care Inspectorate directly or searching the Care Inspectorate datastore.

Scottish Government is committed to supporting and growing our childminding sector, which is why we launched the Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future in June 2024, in partnership with the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA). The programme is supporting the recruitment of new professional childminders across Scotland, offering a package of funded support and training in addition to a £750 start-up grant, providing everything needed to establish a new childminding business from home.

The programme also includes a range of pilot measures to address the retention of the childminding workforce, delivering more practical support to ensure our existing professionals are supported with their workloads and professional development.

The recruitment support is available across 19 local authorities during 2024-25, and 12 local authorities are participating in the retention pilots. SCMA are currently in discussions with local authorities regarding participation for year 2 (2025-26), and we welcome their commitment to supporting the childminding workforce.

The Scottish Government will announce its spending plans for 2025-26 in its budget, on 4 December, with more detailed consideration of portfolio spend priorities, including the Monitor Farm Programme, being taken shortly thereafter.

The information requested is not held centrally and is a matter for the Health Boards referred to in the question.

The first cohort of 52 ScotGEM students graduated in summer 2022 after completing the four year course. Of these, 45 undertook Foundation training in Scotland with 42 completing their required foundation year 2 (FY2) in August 2024; a small number opted to go less than full time. Of those 42 individuals, 10 have chosen GP training and have taken up GPST 1 posts in Scotland, with two of these in the North which contains the areas denoted by the question, as follows:

a) Highland - 2 trainees

b) Western Isle – 0 trainees

c) Orkney – 0 trainees

d) Shetland – 0 trainees

e) Grampian – 0 trainees

In 2024-25 the Scottish Government has invested £113.5 Million in digital health and care technologies.

The requested information on how many travelling consultants there have been within NHS (a) Highland, (b) Western Isles, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland and (e) Grampian in each year since 2021 is not centrally held.

The requested information on what percentage of frontline healthcare staff currently employed by NHS (a) Highland, (b) Western Isles, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland and (e) Grampian are due to retire in the next (i) year and (ii) five years is not centrally held.

One of the key aims of the new palliative care strategy, Palliative Care Matters for All, is that, by 2030, adults and children in Scotland will have more equitable access to well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care, care around dying and bereavement support based on what matters to them, including support for families and carers.

Development of the draft strategy was informed by evidence gathering, guided by a Strategy Steering Group and a number of expert working groups. This included carrying out surveys mapping palliative care delivery across Scotland, including in rural and island communities.

The outputs of this work have given us a clearer picture of the delivery and accessibility of palliative care across Scotland, which has helped to inform the actions set out in the draft strategy.

NHS Near Me continues to be an option for online appointments, where appropriate, for those who wish to and can interact in this way. The service does not require large broadband speeds to work effectively, however patients have the option to test their broadband speed or access a digital hub near their home. Further information can be found at: https://www.nearme.scot/

The Scottish Government fully expects NHS Boards to meet agreed broadband and infrastructure requirements set out in infrastructure standards. To support NHS Boards and the public, The Scottish Government has invested around £1 billion on digital programmes – including Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB).

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with partners including Higher Education Institutions, Health Boards, Skills Development Scotland, and the Scottish Funding Council on skills development, employability and widening access to NHS Scotland careers. As part of this work part time, distance learning and earn as you learn models of education, which may benefit rural and island areas, are currently being explored by the Allied Health Professions (AHP) advisory group that oversees the implementation of the AHP Education and Workforce Policy Review recommendations.

The Scottish Government, in collaboration with the Centre for Workforce Supply and the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care is developing a model of sustained ongoing direct support for employers across health, social care, social work and children’s services in rural and island areas to overcome barriers to recruitment and retention The direct support model will consist of three key elements including a Rural and Island Recruitment Forum, a Living Library and a Recruitment Toolkit.