Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11301 on 21 October 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at

https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The previous Scottish Veterans Commissioner highlighted the importance of improving the transition process for Early Service Leavers in his Positive Futures reports on transition in Scotland.

Much of the transition process is reserved; however, we have taken action to support this where we can. Our refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan refocussed the extensive services and support that the Scottish Government and our partners provide to all veterans, including Early Service Leavers.

We have also more than doubled the amount of funding provided through the Scottish Veterans Fund from £200,000 per annum to £500,000 and have included projects which offer support to Early Service Leavers as a priority category that the fund supports. Last year, nearly £100,000 was awarded to projects specifically offering support to these veterans.

This Scottish Government has consistently championed our Veterans being the first Devolved Administration in the UK to create a Veterans Ministerial portfolio and the first nation in the UK to establish a Veterans Commissioner.

In August, we published our refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan in which we reaffirmed our longstanding commitment to our veterans, taking stock of the extensive services and support that the Scottish Government and our partners provide. This was informed by a light-touch consultation with key stakeholders to review our original action plan, first published in 2020, to establish the extent to which our existing commitments remained valid and where there were opportunities to add more detail to these commitments or add new ones. We identified a number of new commitments and updated several existing ones which will help us to better deliver and expand our support to our veterans and their families.

Furthermore, on 8 November I provided the Scottish Government’s annual update to Parliament on its support for the veterans and Armed Forces community. This was accompanied by a published written report which details fully the achievements we have made this year in delivering the commitments we have made to veterans and their families.

The Scottish Veterans Commissioner (SVC) also published her annual assessment of the Scottish Government’s progress against the recommendations made by the Commissioners since 2015. The SVC published this year’s progress report on 16 November which demonstrated good progress against recommendations made since 2015.

The Scottish Government’s 2021-22 Programme for Government committed to securing improved opportunities for veterans, ensuring that those who have been willing to risk their lives in the service of the nation can access good jobs once their time in the military is over. These include more opportunities for veterans to work for the Scottish Government and a campaign working with the business community to help employers understand the benefits that veterans bring to the workforce, to help increase employment opportunities for veterans. This campaign will launch early next year.

In addition, this year the Scottish Government commissioned See Me to develop a public awareness campaign to tackle the stigma associated with veterans mental health and encourage veterans in Scotland to speak up about mental health and get help when they need it. The campaign, known as The Guard, launched in late November.

We have expanded our Single Building Assessment programme to more than 100 buildings which will be assessed as part of the expanded pilot programme. We are in contact with the representatives of those buildings to plan next steps. Twenty-one of those buildings currently have ongoing active assessments.

The requested information on what percentage of NHS staff have been (a) full- and (b) part-time in each year since 1999 is not centrally held. Information on how many NHS Scotland Staff currently in post, broken down by (a) full time and (b) part-time in each year since 2012 can be found in the following link:

NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

As at 1 st October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 th December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland ).

The Scottish Government does not hold figures for how many GP Practices have closed. However, the slight decrease in practice numbers shown in the report is largely driven by practice mergers and a trend towards larger practices with more GPs serving a larger number of patients.

The requested information is not centrally held. Data is published annually, by NHS Education for Scotland on the total medical agency spend by NHS Scotland Boards; and the total WTE hours and cost for Nursing and Midwifery bank and agency staff, but this data does not specify start dates. This information can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The Scottish Government has no direct role in placement of students in accommodation or in the provision of student accommodation, whether that is university halls of residence, private purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) or private rented tenancies .

As such we do not hold information in respect of student accommodation buildings. The statistical information held in respect of new build starts and completions does not capture anything specifically on student accommodation.

The Scottish Government’s priority is to ensure that displaced people from Ukraine are able to stay in appropriate temporary accommodation and get the right support ahead of moving into safe, sustainable longer-term accommodation.

We do not want people to spend any more time than absolutely necessary in temporary welcome accommodation. That is why, we are taking action to match those on board the ships to longer-term accommodation and private host homes, with matching teams operating on board both ships. We are also supporting guests to secure longer-term accommodation through other means, such as private rental.

At present, the MS Victoria I is accommodating around 1,250 displaced people from Ukraine, including families and children. Further to this, the ship has accommodated many more people over the past four months who have now been matched to longer-term accommodation or supported to make alternative decisions about where they would like to live. More detailed data on the number of people who have moved on from the MS Victoria I will be provided as part of our Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: statistics publication in due course.