Chamber and committees

Regulation of occupational health and safety is an issue reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government has not had any discussions in relation to Primary Authority Schemes in regard to occupational health and safety.

Non-IT Agency Staff

Information about non-IT agency assignments is only held for current and previous calendar years, and therefore no detailed data on agency staffing prior to 2015 is available.  Since the beginning of 2015, the lengths of assignment undertaken were:

IT Agency Staff

Since the beginning of 2011, the lengths of assignment undertaken were:

Notes: Until 31 March 2014, VAT was recovered on agency invoices.  From 1 April 2014 VAT has only been recovered on agency invoices by exception (charges for £37,299 in 2014-15, £70,167 in 2015-16 and £21,598 in 2016-17 were VAT recoverable). Projected outturn for 2016-17 is based on actual costs to end November and projected spend to year end.

Permanent or fixed term contract opportunities with the SPCB are, with very limited exceptions, advertised through fair and open competition, either internally or externally.  Subject to the SPCB’s normal approval process for filling vacancies, the majority of permanent vacancies are recruited to on a permanent basis as they arise. For temporary requirements the decision on how they are filled is made on a case by case basis depending on the following factors:

The predicted length of assignment, with longer term vacancies being more suited to a fixed term recruitment exercise

How urgently the vacancy needs to be filled, and whether there is time to carry out a fixed term recruitment exercise

The skills and experience required for the post, and whether the requirement would best met by engaging specialist agencies or through an SPCB recruitment exercise

The need to cover vacancies whilst permanent or fixed term recruitment exercises are undertaken

The need to increase capability quickly by bringing in experienced practitioners whilst our own staff are developed

A requirement to flex capacity in response to demand

Where there is a requirement specialist skills that cannot be accommodated in the SPCB’s pay and grading structure, for instance where the market value is higher

Whether the requirement is foreseen to be long term and predictable or more irregular

Whether the requirement can be met internally

Whether there are any organisational factors that need to be taken into account, for instance an office or service review that makes committing to an SPCB contract undesirable

From 2016 staff on the SPCB’s Apprenticeship Programme have filled temporary vacancies upon qualification, prior to them securing permanent employment with the SPCB, as an alternative to using agency staff.  In addition as part of the SPCB’s temporary resourcing strategy, the organisation is reducing its use of agency workers through a variety of measures, including advertising fixed term appointments which would previously have been filled on an agency basis, the creation of an SPCB temporary resourcing pool of candidates who may be offered fixed term contracts, internal staff transfers and more use of interchange and secondments with other organisations.

Provision has also been made for investment in our in-house IT capacity, the cost of which will be partially offset by a reduction in the use of IT agency staff within projects.  A number of these new posts have been filled on a permanent basis in the current financial year, with further posts proposed (subject to approval on the basis of a robust business case).

The SPCB does not contract directly with agency workers, but goes through employment agencies, who then place workers on assignment with the SPCB.  IT and non-IT agency staffing arrangements are managed separately, and the information is therefore split in to the two categories below.

Non-IT Agency Workers

Information about non-IT agency assignments is only held for current and previous calendar years, and therefore no detailed data on agency staffing prior to 2015 is available.  The average number of non-IT agency workers on assignment has, however, been published in the SPCB annual accounts since 2013-14:

(Average of full time equivalent agency staff on assignment at the end of each month in the reporting period.)

IT Agency Staff

The information we hold on IT agency staff is based on the number of assignments worked, rather than the number of workers.  Information on the number of assignments worked between 2011 and 2016 is shown below. This includes assignments which began before 2011 but continued into, or ended in, later years; assignments that started and ended during years (reflecting the higher turnover of agency staff); assignments by workers who had more than one assignment in a year or over the period; and part time assignments.

The Government remains committed to publicly funded comprehensive school education that delivers excellence and equity for all children and young people. The current Governance Review, which commenced on 13 September 2016, seeks views on how best to achieve this.

The Scottish Government is keen to strengthen diplomatic, economic, educational and cultural ties with other countries including Qatar. Disclosing the details of discussions with the Qatari Government, particularly without their consent, is likely to undermine their trust in the Scottish Government and other Scottish partners which could inhibit progress in developing these relationships.

The Scottish Government’s main response to food poverty is through the £1 million per annum Fair Food Fund. The Fund is intended to reduce reliance on emergency food provision by supporting projects that give people opportunities to access fresh and healthy food, share a meal, or develop new skills. It has two elements:

1. Discrete funding for innovative projects that are helping people access affordable food, such as Centrestage Communities in Ayrshire, and continuing support for FareShare which redistributes surplus food to projects and charities, such as the Vennie in Livingston which engages with children and young people, especially those who are socially excluded. It has a community garden that opened in August 2015.FareShare also delivers food to the Cyrenians farm in Kirknewton, which provides a range of opportunities for vulnerable young people, aged 16-30, to develop skills in growing and cooking, moving towards a settled lifestyle whilst improving their health and well-being.

2. The Fair Food Transformation Fund which is supporting community projects to develop services that exemplify the dignified food principles identified in the Independent Short Life Working Group’s report Dignity – Ending Hunger Together in Scotland. In particular, we are seeking to support emergency food providers to transition away from traditional charitable approaches to emergency food provision.

In addition, the Good Food Nation Fund, which supports the Good Food Nation vision and objectives provides around £97,000 support to six food poverty projects, as part of a wider portfolio of projects. Existing Community Food Networks in Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and Aberdeen are supported with £75,000 grant funding, along with £10,000 provided to develop a network in Glasgow.

Both the Good Food Nation Fund and the Climate Challenge Fund support Beechbrae Community Garden with around £94,000 in total. The Garden provides the community with a growing space, training to show people better ways of using the land to grow food, and activities to reduce food waste.

We are also providing around £1.3 million this financial year through the People and Communities Fund to support 19 projects which have food poverty amongst the focus of their activities.