Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for individual employers.

Scottish Government is supporting Scottish Care with their front-line worker project, which includes workers from both the private and voluntary sectors. Part of the programme of work will look at the emotional, personal and physical welling of staff.

In line with the Scottish Government’s evidence-led approach to unconventional oil and gas, only boreholes to extract core samples are not included in the moratorium. Boreholes for test fracking or hydrocarbon flow testing are prohibited under the terms of the moratorium. Core sampling allows analysis of data including stratigraphy and rock properties.

Any proposal for a borehole would also need to demonstrate that it will be undertaken in collaboration with an independent research body (such as the British Geological Survey) or academic institution.

A company seeking to drill a borehole to acquire a core sample would also need to obtain all the necessary regulatory consents. These would include planning permission from the relevant planning authority and an environmental permit from SEPA. It would then be for regulators to determine whether or not the site is acceptable and whether drilling should be allowed.

The Scottish Social Services Council is responsible for the publication of official statistics on social services workforce data. Their recently published Scottish Social Services Workforce Data Report 2015 reports that the workforce has increased to 203,200, an increase of 1.8% on the previous year. 31% of workers are employed in the public sector, 28% in the voluntary sector and 42% in the private sector (note that due to rounding, the percentages sum to more than 100%).

In December 2015 Scottish Government published the Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care (SFA) which sets out a range of commitments to help achieve our vision that by 2021 everyone who needs palliative and end of life care will have access to it.

One of the commitments set out in the SFA is to support the workforce by commissioning NHS Education for Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council to develop a new palliative and end of life care Educational Framework.

The scope of the framework will include all workers in health and social care across public, third and independent sectors, including GPs, who may be involved or come in contact with people with palliative care needs, their families and carers.

Scotland’s Freedom of Information regime is widely recognised as being strong and progressive. Compliance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 is a matter for the independent Scottish Information Commissioner.

Breakdowns of the number and types of exemption applied by the Scottish Government before 2013 is available from the FOI Annual Reports which are published on our website at: http://www.gov.scot/About/Information/FOI/Reporting. For 2013 onwards, this information is available on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/ScottishPublicAuthorities/StatisticsCollection.aspx

Information about the number of appeals made to the Scottish Information Commissioner in relation to the Scottish Government requests, and their outcome, is available from the FOI Annual Reports which are published on our website at: http://www.gov.scot/About/Information/FOI/Reporting.

Information about the number of requests made to the Scottish Government, and how many were answered within 20 working days, is available from the FOI Annual Reports which are published on our website at: http://www.gov.scot/About/Information/FOI/Reporting.

Similar information about requests made to other public authorities is published on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/ScottishPublicAuthorities/StatisticsCollection.aspx

The Scottish Government has no plans to raise the £600 exemption threshold.