Chamber and committees

Operational decisions about the provision of childcare services within Scotland’s colleges are the responsibility of each individual college. Colleges must determine how best to secure their own sustainability, for instance through providing childcare services, while continuing to deliver provision to meet regional needs.

The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities to deliver 1140 hours of high quality early learning and childcare (ELC) to all eligible children. Our ELC delivery model is provider neutral, recognising that decisions about ELC service delivery remain for local authorities to make based on their understanding of local demand. Under this model, college childcare services can apply to deliver funded ELC provided they meet the conditions set out in the National Standard for funded ELC and meet the usual requirements.

The Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Strategy sets out our commitment to No Compulsory Redundancies.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to the National Fraud Initiative and looks forward to hearing the results of the data pilot currently being run with local councils in London on this issue. The Scottish Government will await confirmation from Audit Scotland who run the National Fraud Initiative in Scotland if it intends to undertake a similar pilot exercise in Scotland.

On 22 December 1999 in Larkhall, Lanarkshire an explosion destroyed the dwellinghouse at No. 42 Carlyle Road. All four occupants of that dwellinghouse, including two children, were killed. Criminal proceedings were taken against Transco PLC in relation to the explosion on 22 December and the deaths of the four individuals, with the company being charged, in the first alternative, with the common law offence of culpable homicide and, in the second alternative, a contravention of sections 3 and 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Prosecution on the culpable homicide charge was unsuccessful. The trial proceeded on the charge under sections 3 and 33(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the jury unanimously found the company guilty of that offence on 25 August 2005. A fine of £15 million was imposed.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 created a new offence of corporate homicide in Scotland.

COPFS Health and Safety Investigation Unit leads the investigation and prosecution of all work-related deaths and all health and safety cases across Scotland. It provides advice, support and direction to investigators from Police Scotland, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Local Authorities and other regulatory agencies from the very earliest stages of an investigation.

Every fatality at a place of employment or fatality that occurs as a result of a work-related activity in Scotland is investigated as a potential corporate homicide. The very nature of this category of case means that detailed and lengthy investigation, often involving technical and medical issues and expert opinion, may be required. The Work Related Death Protocol for Scotland – which has been signed by COPFS, Police Scotland (ACPOS), British Transport Police and HSE - ensures that when a work-related death occurs, a thorough, co-ordinated and multi-agency investigation takes place allowing all possible offences to be considered.

Once reported each case is carefully considered by lawyers within the COPFS Health & Safety Investigation Unit and turns on its own facts and circumstances. Corporate homicide is considered in every work-related death reported for prosecution, and lines of investigation in connection with corporate homicide are explored regardless of whether or not such a charge was reported in connection with the death.

Since 2008 16 cases have been reported to the Crown in respect of corporate homicide as well as other charges. Of those cases two remain under consideration by the Crown. Two cases, reported in 2011 and 2016, were marked for no proceedings. In the remaining cases all have resulted in guilty convictions in a solemn court. Whilst there have been no convictions under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 the cases have resulted in guilty pleas to breaches of either section 2 or section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or maritime health and safety legislation. The Court has the same sentencing powers available to them for these offences as for the offence of corporate homicide. The fines issued in these cases range from £4,000 to £234,000.

Official designations of party affiliations are held in one central system and shared across many other parliamentary systems. There are technical considerations about making this change across these systems, including the fact that the change would not be retrospective. Parliamentary officials will explore options with you as to how the designation could be represented in an appropriate manner.

I visited China between 22 – 29 November. The programme concentrated on the three pillars of the Scottish Government’s focus with China: tackling climate change and biodiversity loss; encouraging people-to-people links in areas such as education, culture and tourism; and promoting trade and investment links where mutually beneficial and in keeping with our values and national security interests.

As part of the visit, I met with senior government representatives, where I discussed the importance of human rights, emphasising the Scottish Government’s values and the importance of applying them to what we do, including in our relationship with China.

A constructive relationship with China is mutually beneficial, where consistent with our values and overall national security. This includes raising human rights, where appropriate, as I did during my visit.

The extreme conditions of Storm Babet had significant impacts on a number of local communities in Scotland, particularly Brechin and the Angus Council area.

Given the unprecedented nature and scale of the storm’s impacts, a Ministerial Taskforce was established to encourage co-operation between local recovery groups and co-ordinate Scottish Government actions where they may support locally-led recovery efforts.

There has been 1 fatality as a result of road accidents on the A90 between Dundee (Emmock Roundabout) to Stonehaven, where Slug Road crosses the A90 since 1 April 2021.

Text messages have been used routinely and positively for many years in NHS Scotland. Scottish Government’s Information and Risk Assurance Team has been working extensively with Health Boards and other NHS delivery partners in assessing the proportionality of using text messages for different purposes, including appointment reminders, medication adherence, health education, and remote monitoring.

The benefits often identified across different NHS organisations include reduction in non-attendance, improved patient engagement, increased adherence to treatment plans, and cost-effectiveness. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have previously stressed the importance of wording text messages appropriately and advice was given during the COVID-19 pandemic on messages not adding unnecessary confusion and being easy to read. We also recognise that the use of text messages is limited by critical privacy and security requirements and potential for misinterpretation.

The national Connect Me programme has been well received in allowing patients to report information like blood pressure readings via text message to receive feedback based on their condition. Alongside web and mobile app access, this importantly supports public choice in how they engage with NHS services whilst reducing the need for unnecessary appointments.

The Health and Social Care system continues to face a number of pressures across finance, performance and workforce coming out of the pandemic and meeting high levels of demand across all parts of the system.

The NHS Scotland Support and Intervention Framework is one of the key elements of evidence-based approach to monitoring performance and managing risk across the NHS in Scotland .

All NHS Boards have recently been reviewed against the framework for finance purposes. Four of the 22 NHS Boards now sit at level three of this framework which is the first formal escalation stage. Those Boards are NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Borders, NHS Highland and NHS Orkney.

We will discuss the specific support required for these Boards, as well as across all NHS Boards to support financial sustainability across the system.

We continue to prioritise investment in frontline services, supporting services in the immediate and the essential reform required to deliver sustainable services, providing an increase of £730m (6%) for NHS Boards in 2023-24.