Chamber and committees

The increase in operational budgets of overseas offices in 2024-25 predominantly reflects how running costs for Scotland House London are attributed from a budgeting perspective as well as a minor amendment to IFRS 16 adjustments, and does not reflect an increase in the costs of its activities. Aside from these, there are adjustments across all offices to reflect a smaller increase in staff costs for the pay award announced by the Scottish Government in June 2023.

The Scottish Government greatly values the positive effects that twinning can offer to communities home and abroad and the opportunities it can provide to maintain close international relationships with partnering countries.

With the financial challenges we currently face, there are no current plans for the Scottish Government to provide financial support towards town twinning in the near future.

However, the Scottish Government and the international network will continue to work with partners at home and abroad to support and promote meaningful and valuable twinning arrangements.

Overall, more trainee doctor posts have filled in 2023 than any other year on record. 18 posts were advertised in Clinical Oncology at ST3 level and 5 (or 27.78%) filled successfully. These figures are accurate as of 25 July and pertain only to the initial recruitment rounds of 2023; end-year data for all UK nations and specialties will be published by NHS England in the coming weeks. It should be noted that recent uplifts in Clinical Oncology (4 posts in 2022 and 2023) led to a greater number of posts being advertised. We continue to work closely with our partners in NHS Education for Scotland and Health Boards, to consider ways of improving fill rates across all specialities. Examples in Clinical Oncology include:

• We are funding uplifts in Internal Medicine Training (IMT) with 22 posts set to be created in 2024. IMT is a pre-requisite for Clinical Oncology (among several other specialties) and increasing front-end supply should therefore improve the sustainability of services in the longer term.
• NHS Education for Scotland (NES) colleagues have been promoting Clinical Oncology at undergraduate level and at various careers events across the country. The West of Scotland Oncology Team, for example, is hosting a careers event at the Beatson Cancer Centre in January 2024 for IMT trainees.
• A national oncology teaching programme has also been signposted to IMT trainees which is accessible via monthly MS Teams sessions.

The Scottish Government collates data by job family rather than by position, and as such, does not hold the information on recruitment to positions. As the employer, Health Boards hold individual responsibility for recruitment to ensure appropriate staffing levels to deliver services.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-24197 on 19 January 2024. 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

Overall, more trainee doctor posts have filled in 2023 than any other year on record. 14 posts were advertised in Geriatric Medicine at ST4 level and 7 (or 50%) filled successfully. These figures are accurate as of 25 July and pertain only to the initial recruitment rounds of 2023; end-year data for all UK nations and specialties will be published by NHS England in the coming weeks. We continue to work closely with our partners in NHS Education for Scotland and Health Boards, to consider ways of improving fill rates across all specialities. Examples in Geriatric Medicine include:

• Increasing the number of Internal Medicine Training (IMT) posts in the system. IMT is one of two primary routes into Geriatric Medicine. 22 additional posts will be created in 2024 to feed supply into Geriatric Medicine among other specialties.
• The Geriatric Medicine team within NHS Education for Scotland arranged a national teaching session in December for IMT trainees which focused on progression opportunities in the specialty, and a virtual ‘Geriatrics for Juniors’ conference was run in November which included career advice sessions.

Overall, more trainee doctor posts have filled in 2023 than any other year on record. 15 posts were advertised in Emergency Medicine at ST4 level and 5 (or 33.33%) filled successfully. These figures are accurate as of 25 July and pertain only to the initial recruitment rounds of 2023; end-year data for all UK nations and specialties will be published by NHS England in the coming weeks. It should be noted that recent uplifts in Emergency Medicine (10 posts in 2023) led to a greater number of posts being advertised. Another 12 posts will be added this year. Steps have been taken by NHS Education for Scotland to fill the 10 vacant posts: 5 are being filled through IDTs (Inter-Deanery Transfers), 1 has been converted to an ST1 post and the other 4 are have been converted to LAT (Locum Appointed to Training) posts.

There is no minimum required number of medically-trained NHS 24 call handlers, as call handlers are classed as healthcare support workers and are not medically trained.

Call handlers operate under clinical supervision at all times with a minimum level of one clinical supervisor for every five call handlers. Each call has clinical supervision input at an appropriate level, depending on acuity and outcome.

The Scottish Government is committed to the development of a Scottish Seabird Conservation Strategy in partnership with stakeholders, to drive forward and prioritise action aimed at improving the conservation prospects of our internationally important seabird populations.

With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) continuing to have a devastating impact on wild birds, including some of our seabird populations, the Scottish Government, Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies and partners have focused their resources on monitoring and responding to the outbreak, taking action where appropriate to minimise impacts. This included the development of a Scottish HPAI in wild birds response plan which was launched by the Minister for Energy and the Environment in August 2023.

The resource required to respond to HPAI has meant that the strategy has yet to be published. However, actions continue to be taken. This action is important now more than ever with the impacts of HPAI and the results of the recent Seabird Census published in December 2023.

Through the Future Catching Policy, Ministers will be delivering on their obligations to minimise and, where possible, eliminate bycatch of sensitive species as part of a wider effort to ensure the sustainability of our fisheries. As our priority, we will take firm measures to increase selectivity by introducing additional technical measures to reduce unwanted catch and bycatch of sensitive marine species, working with stakeholders to explore and deliver solutions.

The Scottish Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network, including our Seabird Special Protection Areas (SPAs), protects and enhances our marine environment, supporting ecosystem health, improved livelihoods, economic prosperity, social inclusion and wellbeing.

Work on the strategy is moving at pace and targeted stakeholder consultations are expected to take place in spring 2024.

Overall more trainee doctor posts have filled in 2023 than any other year on record, (data correct as at 25 July 2023). Within that overall context there will always be a number of posts which do not fill. Rehabilitation Medicine ST3 is a small specialty with only 1 post advertised in 2023, therefore, as this post has not filled, the fill rate appears as 0%. We continue to work closely with our partners in NHS Education for Scotland and Health Boards, to consider ways of improving fill rates across all specialities.