Chamber and committees

The remuneration of Scottish Water’s Chief Executive is set out in its Annual Reports. These can be found on Scottish Water’s website at www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Annual-Reports .

Ministers considered and agreed the salary limit for the new Chief Executive on 7 September 2022 ahead of the appointment process. This reflected the need to recruit very experienced personnel to run these vital services from a highly competitive market for such talent.

The completion of an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is a matter for Scottish Water. Scottish Water has confirmed that an EIA was carried out and updated as necessary.

Scottish Water holds information for seven years, in line with HMRC guidance. The following information has been provided for the last seven years across water and waste water. A new framework was put in place in 2021-22.

Scottish Water has over 400 supply chain partners. Over 90% of its procurement expenditure is on businesses based in Scotland and 75% of their supply chain classified as small or medium sized enterprises. Scottish Water sets out information on its supply chain in its Annual Reports, available at www.scottishwater.co.uk/Help-and-Resources/Document-Hub/Key-Publications/Annual-Reports .

Pay negotiations are a matter for Scottish Water as the employer and the Trade Unions. Industrial action has been suspended pending a ballot on a new offer.

All Scottish Water contracts, including awardees, are available at www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search .

The Scottish Government has a long-standing commitment to the principles of Fair-Work for the social care sector as we recognise and value the work that they do.

The £12 minimum pay-rate from April 2024 for Adult Social Care workers represents a 14.3% increase for these workers in the last two years; with pay rising from at least £10.50 per hour in April 2022.

We have continued to progress a number of key projects to take forward and improve Fair Work principles, which will not only improve the current experience of the workforce, but also help to attract and retain new staff into the workforce.

We will also continue to build a National Care Service that has Fair Work, Ethical Commissioning and Sectoral Bargaining at its heart.

We recognise the incredible contribution that all of Scotland’s unpaid carers make to our communities as well as the pressures many carers are under. We are implementing our National Carers Strategy which sets out a cross-government approach to carers issues, including through social care, social security policies and supporting carers in employment and education.

Carers in Scotland already benefit from extra financial support through our Carer's Allowance Supplement, which by the end of this year will have provided eligible carers with £3,300 above Carer’s Allowance since its introduction.

Our Carer Support Payment will begin to replace Carer’s Allowance this month, providing unpaid carers with income in recognition of their caring role and helping them access opportunities outside of caring. Carers in Scotland getting Carer’s Allowance and Carer Support Payment will continue to benefit from Carer’s Allowance Supplement.

Adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services will see their pay increase to a minimum of £12 per hour from April 2024. This increase represents an increase of over 10% from the £10.90 minimum rate that was introduced in April 2023.

I would encourage anyone who is struggling due to a caring role to contact their social work department or local carer centre, and speak to them about what help they may be able to offer.

Menopause care and support is a top priority in the Women’s Health Plan . Progress against the menopause actions can be found in our Women’s Health Plan: Report on Progress and Interim Progress Update 2023 .

Since the publication of the Interim Progress Update, the development of a menopause public health campaign has begun and this is planned at present to be delivered within the current financial year. We are also continuing to promote menopause information on the NHS Inform Women’s Health Platform, and in October 2023 we held a ‘Talk Menopause’ panel session with The Alliance to raise women’s awareness of the menopause and menopause symptoms.

The NHSScotland Menopause and Menstrual Health Policy was launched on 31 October 2023. Whilst the policy was written specifically for NHS Scotland, the supporting resources, including line managers’ guidance and workplace adjustment guidance, are intended for use more widely and are available on the National Wellbeing Hub .

The Scottish Government recognises the challenges facing those living in remote and rural areas and the importance of women being able to access the support they need, when they need it. Work is ongoing to ensure services are developed in a flexible and innovative way, recognising local population needs and geographic challenges and there is now a menopause specialist in every mainland NHS Board, with a buddy system in place for the Island Boards.