Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government and COSLA have today published a progress report on the development of a Fiscal Framework between the Scottish Government and Local Government. The document can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at the following link : https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781835217856

The report shows that while negotiations continue, we have jointly made good progress on a number of aspects of the framework and have already put these into practice, including improved pre-budget engagement and meaningful discussion about new fiscal levers.

I welcome the scoping study on historic forced adoption which has been published today and the important further contribution this research has made to helping us understand the needs of those affected.

It is clear that the historic practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies has resulted in lifelong pain and suffering for many of those involved. I am grateful to those people who shared their stories with bravery and dignity.

The Scottish Government will now assess the feasibility, including the financial, legislative and operational implications of the key areas of consideration and publish a response by the end of March 2024. In doing so we will continue to work with partners and importantly those with lived experience to consider options for service delivery and how best to implement the necessary improvements.

Unite’s Fair Hospitality Charter contains many important elements which the Scottish Government continues to promote through Fair Work First, such as payment of at least the Real Living Wage, appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice through trade union recognition and no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts.

Everyone should expect to be properly rewarded for their work and treated correctly with respect, free from any forms of harassment. The Scottish Government is committed to working with trade unions and industry to ensure Scotland is the best place to live, work, invest and do business, and Fair Work is the foundation to this.

There remain many challenges in our key sectors, therefore it is essential that we all work together – Government, employers, employees and trade unions – to create a hospitality industry with fair work at its heart and for all. The industry-led National Tourism Strategy; Outlook 2030 commits to support and enable the adoption of fair work practices in Scotland’s tourism and hospitality sector.

The outcomes and recommendations of the independent Fair Work Convention inquiry into hospitality, due in Spring 2024, will be reviewed to provide further insight into how we can increase the adoption of fair work practices for the sector.

The Scottish Government looks forward to continuing partnership working with unions and industry.

The consequentials associated with the UK Government’s policy of extending the 75% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure premises in England in 2023-24 were confirmed in the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022.

The Scottish Government provides over £2m of our Equality and Human Rights Fund to older people’s organisations to deliver work focused on tackling inequality and enable older people to live independent and fulfilling lives. These organisations deliver work to highlight abuse and neglect of older people, offering advice and help.

The concept of elder abuse is very broad. The World Health Organisation has defined it as ‘a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person' ( Elder abuse (who.int) ). The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 is designed to protect people; aged 16 years and over who are unable to safeguard their own well-being, property, rights or other interests; are at risk of harm; and, because they are affected by disability, mental disorder, illness or physical or mental infirmity, are more vulnerable to being harmed than adults who are not so affected.

While the Scottish Government doesn’t hold information on elder abuse, specifically, it does hold information on adults at risk of harm (or who have been harmed) by age; where an Adult Support and Protection investigation commenced. The figures, along with many data quality issues explained, were published on our website on 9 May 2023. The release indicated that, in 2021-22, about 40% of those subject to an ASP investigation were over the age of 75 (15% were men and 25% were women). These figures are national estimates due to differing local processes.

In addition, there are a number of data developments aimed at strengthening the information available, including:

• The Scottish Government has developed an improvement plan for adult support and protection which includes reviewing current ASP data to develop more robust, meaningful and comparable data. The review and development of an ASP minimum dataset is being taken forward by The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS). The minimum dataset will provide a clearer picture of Adult Support and Protection in Scotland.
• The Official Statistics on police recorded crime and criminal proceedings do not include details on whether the victim was an older person, or their relationship to the perpetrator. However, the new crime system will allow crime stats by victim age, therefore a measure of recorded crimes against older people.
• The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey are developing a new Fraud and Computer Misuse module. This module will help estimate the prevalence of victimisation from these crimes in Scotland for the first time and will allow for a breakdown by age.
• The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 requires information about police recorded hate crime and convictions data to be published annually, and with greater detail where known. When the Act comes into force it will, for the first time, introduce new protections against offences aggravated by prejudice towards a person’s age.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council’s mid-year registration data report covers a six-month period and reflects those with a Scottish address who have registered, it does not indicate actual employment in Scotland’s health sector. The report itself therefore cannot be used as a true reflection of recruitment in Scotland.

Whilst the report shows a 22% increase in registration in Scotland compared to a 27.7% increase in registration across the UK in the last six months relative to the same period last year, nursing and midwifery levels per head of population show that we have 8.4 qualified Nurses and Midwives per 1,000 population, compared to 6.3 in England, 8.2 in Wales and 9.1 in Northern Island. This means nursing and midwifery levels are 32% higher, per head of population in Scotland than in England. Overall Nursing and Midwifery staffing in Scotland is at a record high and remains the best paid across the UK.

In response to (a):

Table 1 shows the number of people admitted to hospital as an inpatient or day case as a result of paracetamol poisoning, which includes overdose. Note that these figures include overdoses that were coded as accidental, intentional and of undetermined intent.

Table 1: Number of people admitted to hospital for paracetamol poisoning

The UK Government has not provided any consequential funding to the Scottish Government to enable additional resources to be provided to NHS boards where the Home Office has chosen to procure contingency asylum accommodation. The Scottish Government provides funding to GP practices upon registration of new patients (including asylum seekers) for ongoing costs.

The extent of any potential pollution in the Grangemouth area would be dependent on the extent and depth of any flood event and any damage caused.

Public Health Scotland records inpatient admissions to hospital as a result of a dog attack.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21589 on 5 October 2023, which contains data from Public Health Scotland on the number of inpatient and day case admissions to hospital where a diagnosis of dog attack (bite or strike) was recorded, from 2010 to 2022, in Scotland.

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