Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12747 on 24 November 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The Scottish Government welcomes this report, which builds on our existing fostering and adoption evidence base in Scotland. In relation to your enquiry, the Care Inspectorate report states that in 2016 20% of sibling groups placed in either local authority or independent foster placements were separated. Although this is a slight overall improvement from 2015 (24%) we remain absolutely clear that secure attachments, such as children have with their siblings, are central to healthy development and wellbeing.

At this time we are considering the findings in the Care Inspectorate report. However, I acknowledge that the report highlights a need to make sure the best interests of the child are at the heart of all decisions and the complexities faced by professionals involved in each case to work together to find the best immediate and long-term outcome for each child. Separation of sibling groups occurs as a result of a number of considerations; all undoubtedly difficult, and we would always encourage Local Authorities to place siblings together when it is in the best interests of all siblings concerned.

The independent Care Review - being led by children with experience of care - is looking at Scotland’s underpinning legislation, practice and culture to identify where policies need to be improved.

The Scottish Government is taking a range of actions to help increase the number of student teachers.

We have:

• committed £88m this year to make sure every school has access to the right number of teachers with the right skills;

• provided support to universities in developing new innovative routes into teaching;

• recently announced STEM bursaries of £20,000 for career changers to train to become teachers of priority STEM subjects, which includes maths, starting in August 2018;

• launched the second phase of our “Teaching Makes People” recruitment campaign on 30 August and

• created a new route into teaching specifically designed to attract high quality graduates in priority areas and subjects. The tender exercise for this closed on 16 November and the evaluation process will commence shortly.

Student teacher numbers have risen by 7.5 per cent overall from 3,591 in 2016 to 3,861 in 2017. With these measures now in place we expect to see the number of people training as teachers continuing to rise.

The Borders Health and Social Care Partnership is responsible for tackling delayed discharges from hospital. The Scottish Government provides the partnership in Borders with £640,000 per year specifically to deal with this issue.

It is clear that to eradicate child poverty, we must tackle a range of social and economic drivers. Income, however, is the key underlying factor. That’s why the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the Child Poverty (Scotland) Bill on 8 November, setting in statute four ambitious income-based targets for 2030.

To reach these targets will require a range of action to be taken across government portfolios, and we will publish our proposals for this within the first action plan due by April 2018.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12315 on 20 November 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

We are taking significant action to reduce waiting times, that is why I made an additional £50 million available to NHS Boards earlier this year.

I announced on 29 August the setting up of an expert group to reduce waiting times and improve the way elective care services are provided. The Elective Access Collaborative programme is bringing experts from the Scottish Government, NHSScotland and the Royal Colleges together in providing support to NHS Boards and will be crucial in bringing about sustained delivery of waiting times. This approach has seen us deliver improvements in unscheduled care. I will be making a further announcement on the early progress the collaborative has made in the coming weeks.

Part 1 of the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan, published on 28 June 2017, reflects Audit Scotland’s recommendation and is clear on the need to develop capacity to project future supply and demand. Further work is proceeding at local, regional and national levels via NHS Education for Scotland and other NHSScotland bodies to develop a scenario planning model which can be implemented nationally, regionally and locally.

The Scottish Government already requires NHS Boards to undertake an annual workforce planning and projections process, and factors the information provided by NHS Boards into its financial plans.

Part 1 of the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan published on 28 June 2017 made specific recommendations on strengthening available NHSScotland workforce data; The Plan commits to increasing training places for nurses and midwives by a further 1,600. That is 2,600 additional nursing and midwifery training places over this Parliament The Plan goes further and increases the number of medical training places by up to a further 100 over the lifetime of this Parliament.

On the need to respond more proactively to changing service and demographic demand, for example by using scenario planning; and on working with NHS Boards to reduce the overall use of agency staff through use of Regional and National Staff Banks.

These recommendations are being taken forward with NHS partners and stakeholders, with strategic oversight from the National Workforce Planning Group.