Chamber and committees

Any funds drawn down by the Local Affordable Rented Housing Trust during financial year 2015-16 will be sourced from the additional £125 million of financial transaction consequentials, which can only be used for investment in the private sector, allocated in October 2014 to the housing budget that will support ministers’ priority of delivering more affordable homes.

Information on the number of midwifery staff in post and midwifery vacancies across NHSScotland is published by National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD) and can be found in tables 1 and 2. Vacancy information is available for less than three months and three months and more.

Table 1: Whole-time equivalent (WTE) of midwifery staff in post as at 30 June 2015

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Table 2: WTE of midwifery vacancies as at 30 June 2015

Source: SWISS, ISD Scotland

Note:

1. For the time points June 2011 onwards, the establishment value is calculated as: establishment = staff in post + total vacancies (not including posts under review). The establishment value for all older time points is calculated as: establishment = staff in post + posts under review + total vacancies.

Further information on midwifery staff is published on the ISD website at: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2015-09-01/Nursing_and_Midwifery_SIP_J2015.xls

Further information on midwifery vacancies is published on the ISD website at: https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2015-09-01/Nursing_and_Midwifery_Vacancies_J2015.xls

Historical supply side analysis shows around 80% completion from midwifery pre-registration programmes after three to four years. I refer the member to his previous question S4W-28153 on 10 November 2015, which provides information on completion rates since 2007. 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 number of midwives entering employment in NHS Scotland in the coming years will be influenced by the mandatory workload and workforce planning tools for midwifery.

The following is a link to the Information Services Division (ISD) website which provides the relevant published data:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2015-03-03/Student_intakes_and_students_in_training_S2014.xls

The following table summarises the analysis of midwifery students commencement and completion in each year since 2007:

Source: ISD, NHS Education for Scotland (NES)

*Year runs 1 April to 31 March.

**Intakes of student midwives commencing in financial year. Data sourced from NES’s Annual Statistical Supplement. Includes conversion students on first to first level and second to first level courses only.

***Completions on all pre-registration courses (data received from NES. Data extracted 14 May 15).

NB: Figures for 2014 and 2015 are not yet published. Available from 1 December 2015.

Information on the number of midwifery staff in each age group across NHSScotland is published quarterly by National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD). The latest information available is as at 30 June 2015 and can be found in the following table:

Whole time equivalent of midwifery staff by age group

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System, ISD Scotland

The Scottish Government has developed a world-leading suite of workforce and workload planning tools. These mandatory tools enable evidence-based decision making on workforce and staffing establishments and are used by NHS boards to determine the number of nurses or midwives needed for particular clinical areas through measurement of actual workload. This is part of a broader approach that incorporates nurses' professional judgment and quality measures to ensure we have the right person in the right place at the right time.

Over the last three years we have recommended three consecutive increases in the number of pre-registration midwifery student places, from 100 in the academic year 2012-13 to 173 in 2015-16, representing an overall increase of 73%.

Each year’s midwifery student intake is considered by a group which includes the Royal College of Midwives, higher education institutes and nurse directors. They apply professional judgment to recommended student numbers produced by an analytical model which is driven by health boards’ own projected staffing requirements. They are then able to make informed recommendations to ministers. This process ensures there will be sufficient supply of newly qualified midwives and nurses in five years’ time.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally, however for part (a) of the question, this information is publically available on the NHS Scotland Information Services Division (ISD) website:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Nursing-and-Midwifery/

For parts (b), (c) and (d) of the question, this information is not held centrally, however further information on the medical and dental workforce is available on the NHS Scotland ISD website:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Medical-and-Dental/

There is no centrally held information on the number of day centres across Scotland.

Overall, health in Scotland is improving, and people are living longer, healthier lives. Reducing the health gap between people in Scotland’s most deprived and affluent communities is one of our greatest challenges. The government recognises that this problem cannot be solved with health solutions alone and that it is caused by wider inequalities linked to deprivation.

The Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities highlighted the importance of providing the best possible start in life. Here the government is also working collaboratively with our partners to improve children's wellbeing and life chances with an aim to break inter-generational cycles of poverty, inequality and deprivation – demonstrated through the collective investment of over £274 million in the Early Years Change Fund to improve children’s life chances, which includes investing £18 million to further develop high quality, co-ordinated and accessible support for families.

The government recognises the need to take action upstream in line with the evidence to prevent health inequalities arising for example maximising household resources through the social wage continuing free personal care for the elderly, abolition of tuition fees, scrapping of bridge tolls and prescription charges, free eye examinations, freezing council tax and provision of concessionary bus passes. The government continues to treat the effects of health inequalities on people's health and support health behaviour changes through smoking cessation and alcohol reduction interventions.