Chamber and committees

Public funding to support the developing of bog myrtle as a crop for industry has been provided by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and is an operational matter for the agency. I will ask its Chief Executive to write to you in this regard.

It is a matter for individual NHS boards, as the employer, to deal with disciplinary procedures concerning any failures by staff to comply with the appropriate policies relating to standard infection control procedures.

The Scottish Government does not itself hold information on compensation paid out to patients or families of deceased patients in relation to healthcare associated infection (HAI).

However, we have been advised by NHS National Services Scotland (Central Legal Office) that it is aware of a total of £660,671.13 which has been awarded to patients where a healthcare associated infection was involved.

In some of these cases, HAI may have been only one factor among others in the award of the compensation paid out.

<>Monitoring of compliance with the National Cleaning Services Specification (2009) is undertaken by Health Facilities Scotland (HFS). Where NHS boards fail to meet the required level of compliance, HFS will ensure that the board puts in place a remedial action plan. These plans are summarised in the quarterly NHSScotland National Cleaning Compliance Reports which are available, along with fuller information on the monitoring process, at http://www.hfs.nhs.uk/.

Additional monitoring is provided by means of inspections carried out by the Health Environment Inspectorate, which examine, among other things, the cleanliness of the patient environment. Where necessary, NHS boards will be asked to draw up improvement plans which set out how they intend to resolve any issues which have been indentified.

Scotland’s Digital Futures: Delivery of Public Services will be published on 20 September 2012 and will set out our actions to review the capacity and the capability of the ICT Workforce across the public sector. This will include refreshing the baseline since the McClelland Review of Public Sector ICT Infrastructure, and understanding the appropriate skills sets aligned to both Industry standards and the UK Government’s work on Capacity and Capability. This will provide the basis for a long term approach to the availability of the relevant skills. Skills issues in relation to specific projects are dealt with in S4W-09367 on 12 September 2012.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The core Scottish Government and the Central Government sector’s ICT skills will be reviewed as part of the public sector wide actions set out in Scotland’s Digital Futures: Delivery of Public Services which will be published on 20 September 2012. This will include refreshing the baseline since the McClelland Review of Public Sector ICT Infrastructure, and understanding the appropriate skills sets aligned to both Industry standards and the UK Government’s work on Capacity and Capability that can deliver on our requirements.

The governance arrangements put in place following the McClelland Review of Public Sector ICT Infrastructure include sectoral boards for central government, local government, health, further and higher education, police and fire. These boards come together through the National Digital Public Services Board. We will therefore disseminate the lessons learned and good practice through this governance.

We acknowledge the findings and welcome the recommendations, and the recognition in the report that the lessons learned by the individual bodies have been acted upon. The current position is we have taken steps by writing to all central government bodies on 31 August seeking information on their ICT investment plans to ensure we can assess how best to address the issues of sound governance, collaboration, managing risks and skills requirements to support the central government sector.

As noted in the Audit Scotland report the core Scottish Government is not responsible for providing advice on all ICT programmes in central government bodies. The report itself notes the areas on which the three public bodies approached the core Scottish Government for advice, the response and advice provided and the reasons why not all the assistance requested could be delivered. The Scottish Government’s ability to respond is often determined by the nature of the advice sought, its own workloads and priorities and the timescales within which the advice is required. We are considering ways of ensuring organisations are aware of alternative sources of expertise.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that we have the skills to capitalise on the opportunities that the oil and gas industry presents for jobs and growth in Scotland and I have listed below the key activities being taken forward.

Energy Skills Action Group

Through the Energy Skills Action Group (ESAG), the public sector is working in partnership with industry to address the skills needs of the energy sector in Scotland.

The oil and gas industry is a key priority for the ESAG, and following the request from the ESAG for information on their skills needs, the Oil and Gas Industry Leadership Group have set up a short life working group with a small number of companies from across the industry to focus on increasing the labour supply. This approach has support from Oil and Gas UK; OPITO; Sub Sea UK; Scottish Enterprise; Skills Development Scotland; and Scottish Government and will build on the existing activity already taking place to improve the supply of skills labour for the sector.

Oil and Gas Industry Leadership Group

The Scottish Government has regular discussion with the oil and gas industry covering workforce development issues. Skills is also one of the six strategic priorities identified by the Oil and Gas Industry Leadership Group, and will look to be addressed through the oil and gas strategy launched by the First Minister in April 2012. The aim being to ensure the availability of a skilled workforce to support the continued development of the industry.

Specific Skills Initiatives

This government has also committed to fund 25,000 modern apprenticeships (MA), 500 of which will be ring-fenced specifically for the energy and climate change sector, every year until 2014. In 2011-12 almost half of the 500 Energy MA starts were in oil and gas (47%).

Last year the First Minister also announced £2 million to support at least an additional 1,000 flexible training places in energy and low carbon. Skills Development Scotland is currently considering how this can support the current and future skills needs of the energy sector including the oil and gas industry.

To meet this commitment, Skills Development Scotland launched a new Energy Skills Challenge Fund on 21 August this year seeking bids from firms and training organisations to develop provision and co-ordinate recruitment onto tailored courses. The fund will support individuals new to the industry and those already working in the sector seeking to improve their skills.

Through the Scottish Funding Council we are supporting the recently established Scotland’s Colleges Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) – a new and unique step in collaboration between the colleges to offer energy skills training across regional and sub-sectoral hubs. We are also working with the Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) an alliance of independent Scottish Universities, engaged in world class energy research, development and demonstration.

OPITO

OPITO is the Aberdeen-based oil and gas skills development body which represents the UK’s industry by taking a collaborative approach to skills, learning and workforce development, as well as ensuring the highest safety standards and workplace competencies are in place. Owned by industry, and not for profit, OPITO works closely with industry to understand their specific skills needs, and initiates and invests in a wide range of activities and projects to drive improvement.

OPITO provides industry representation on skills needs to the Oil and Gas Industry Advisory Group and the Energy Skills Action Group, both of which report to the Energy Advisory Board chaired by the First Minister. The Energy Skills Action Group is working to establish a common format for skills demand intelligence across the energy sector.

Skills Development Scotland

In addition, Skills Development Scotland is currently working with OPITO and the oil and gas industry to develop courses specifically targeted at meeting the current skills needs of the sector. An example of this is the recent Transition Training project which supported RAF personnel affected by base closures in the north of Scotland to up-skill in drilling techniques needed by the industry.