Chamber and committees

The civil service are the primary source of health and wellbeing policy advice provided to Scottish Ministers. The costs of the Scottish Administration are published in the Scottish Government’s accounts.

The Scottish Government values the independent advice of the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Pay Review Body. We will take a view at the appropriate time as to whether to continue to access advice from the current body, or whether a Scottish specific body would best serve the needs of Scotland.

NHS pay is set with reference to the recommendations of the NHS pay review body (for Agenda for Change staff) and the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (for doctors and dentists). The Scottish Government values the advice of these UK bodies and would anticipate continuing to make use of either these or equivalent bodies going forward, although no specific discussions have taken place with the UK Government on this issue.

With regard to direct pay bargaining, Scotland already has highly developed NHS partnership arrangements. Any direct negotiation on pay is already taken forward through these structures and this will continue to be the case in the future.

Terms and conditions for social care workers in Scotland are currently a matter for individual employers. We have no plans to change this.

The Scottish Government values the independent advice of the NHS pay review body. We will take a view at the appropriate time as to whether to continue to access advice from the current body, or whether a Scottish specific body would best serve the needs of Scotland.

This is an operational matter for NHS 24, they have provided the following table which sets out their spend on IT systems in each financial year since 2007-08.

The Scottish Government has established two working groups to support partnerships in bringing together a workforce for integration. The first, the Workforce Development Strategic Group is looking at the culture, behaviour and language of the workforce and the second, the HR Working Group, is looking at the technical complexities of bringing a workforce together.

The Scottish Government values the independent advice of the NHS pay review body. We will take a view at the appropriate time as to whether to continue to access advice from the current body, or whether a Scottish specific body would best serve the needs of Scotland.

As part of the Local Delivery Plan (LDP) process NHS 24 agree with the Scottish Government the annual performance levels they are expected to deliver. The 2013-14 LDP can be found at:

http://www.nhs24.com/AboutUs/NHS24Board/Local-Delivery-Plan

NHS boards are accountable for their performance to patients and the public, and to Scottish Ministers, and each year undertake a public annual review and publish an annual report. Information related to this, including the NHS 24 self-assessment document and the follow-up letter from the annual review can be found at:

http://www.nhs24.com/AboutUs/NHS24Board/AnnualReview

http://www.nhs24.com/AboutUs/NHS24Board/AnnualReport

This information demonstrates that NHS 24 have consistently achieved or exceeded almost all of their performance targets over recent years.

The information sought is not available for the time period requested. However, NHS 24 advises that they have recorded such complaints as formal grievances since January 2010 and the numbers are set out in the following table.

I meet with the chairs of all NHS boards on a monthly basis, this includes the chair of NHS 24, and Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with the NHS 24 senior management team about a range of matters.

Specific information about ministerial meetings and engagements is published periodically and can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/People/14944/Events-Engagements