Chamber and committees

An internal audit was undertaken by NHS Lothian regarding organisational culture in January 2017. Part of this process was to review the implementation of the recommendations from the Investigation into Management and Culture in NHS Lothian Report of 2012.

In February 2017, the NHS Lothian’s Audit and Risk Committee confirmed that all recommendations within the Report had been implemented. A copy of the internal audit report is available online via link: http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/OurOrganisation/KeyDocuments/Audits/Documents/OrganisationalCulture-BowlesReportActionPlans-Jan2017.pdf.

Although NHS Lothian has implemented all the recommendations of the Report, the Board recognises that maintaining and further developing an effective organisational culture is an ongoing requirement, in line with national policy guidelines and practice. This informs the Board's organisational values of Care and Compassion, Dignity and Respect, Openness, Honest and Responsibility, Quality and Teamwork.

As such, NHS Lothian has provided assurance that it continues to take steps to evolve its culture from both a staff and patient experience perspective. To enable this, it utilises staff survey results and the iMatter Board Report to monitor how the organisation is perceived and to take action to continuously improve performance. This is overseen by NHS Lothian’s Staff Engagement and Experience Programme Board, which reports into its Staff Governance Committee.

National reporting on iMatter and the Dignity at Work Survey will be available in February 2018.

Everyone Matters: the 2020 Workforce Vision Implementation Plan is our workforce policy for the NHS in Scotland, and our commitment to valuing the workforce and treating people well. It sets out national and Board level actions to embed the core NHS Scotland values that drive behaviours and promote a healthy organisational culture.

Sentencing in any given case including decisions relating to the publishing of sentencing statements is a matter for the independent court.

The Scottish Government continues to make it clear to all Health Boards, including NHS Lothian, that there should be a zero tolerance approach and that everything must be done to eradicate bullying and harassment in the workplace, and, where concerns are raised, that they must be fully investigated.

We recently asked Health Boards to remind staff of the policies and support available for anyone in our NHS who has any concerns about bullying in the workplace.

The national Dignity at Work Survey ran from 6-11 December 2017 providing staff with an opportunity to share their views on organisational culture. The results will provide an insight on bullying and harassment issues both nationally and locally and will allow the Scottish Government and Health Boards to further consider any actions that need to be taken.

We have a well-established national policy for staff in our NHS to support them in raising concerns about bullying and harassment. As with all policies to support our workforce in the NHS in Scotland these have been developed in partnership with trade unions and other key interests, including trade union representatives from NHS Lothian.

The national Dignity at Work Survey, which was welcomed by the trade unions, runs from 6-11 December 2017 providing staff with an opportunity to share their views on organisational culture. The results will provide an insight on bullying and harassment issues both nationally and locally and will allow NHS Lothian, in discussion with local trade union representatives, to further consider any actions that need to be taken locally.

The Scottish Government has made it clear to all Boards, including NHS Lothian, that there should be a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment in the workplace, and, where any concerns are raised, that they must be fully investigated.

We recently asked Health Boards to remind staff of the policies and support available and to encourage anyone who has any concerns or may be affected by this issue to seek support and report their concerns.

A lot has been done over the past few years to tackle workplace bullying and harassment through the policies and arrangements we`ve developed for staff in our NHS. The Scottish Government continues to work in partnership to further develop and promote an open culture in all Boards, including NHS Lothian, where staff have the confidence to speak up if they have any concerns about bullying and harassment, and importantly, where all staff feel valued and supported.

The national Dignity at Work Survey runs from 6-11 December 2017 providing staff with an opportunity to share their views on organisational culture. The results will provide an insight on bullying and harassment issues both nationally and locally and will allow the Scottish Government and Boards to further consider any actions that need to be taken.

Over the past 6 years the Scottish Government has grant funded all 32 Local Authorities a total of nearly £10 million to install electric vehicle charge points across the country. In addition to monetary support, we also offer help and advice on the charge point installation process to ensure that all local authorities continue to develop the ChargePlace Scotland network of now over 700 public charge points. We will continue to work with all local authorities to strengthen this network, ensuring that drivers have confidence in electric car charging, irrespective of location. Local authorities currently have the power to fund and install their own charging facilities which the Scottish Government would encourage and would continue to offer guidance and support on this process.

As set out in September’s Programme for Government announcement, we plan to expand our electric charging infrastructure between now and 2022. This is one of a number of actions to meet the target to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032. We have already made significant progress in creating “ChargePlace Scotland” (CPS), the public EV charging network which is available to all drivers included those who live in tenements or do not have private driveways. Over the coming months we will set out future plans for the CPS network, including the development of approaches to charging for people who live in tenement properties, or do not have private driveways. We are also supporting the introduction of charging hubs including through the European supported Low Carbon Travel and Transport Hubs programme.

The role and responsibilities of fire service crew are operational matters for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Due to the continued importance of the UK Government Block Grant in determining the full package of resources available to the Scottish Government, the Scottish Government only has resource DEL funding allocations for the period covered by the UK Spending Review period. The current UK Spending Review period ends in 2019-20. As a consequence there are no current plans to provide the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service with a three year funding cycle.