Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomes the focus of the research and is committed to increasing the representation of racialised minorities in the public sector. The research estimates that 2.8 per cent of public sector employees identified as belonging to a “black and minority ethnic group”, 76.5 per cent were white and 20.7 per cent were marked as “unknown”, which included “not completed”, “don’t know” and “prefer not to say” responses.

The report acknowledges it does not function as a perfect census of Scotland’s public sector workforce. The Annual Population Survey by the Office of National Statistics notes that from January to December 2022, the proportion of public sector workers in Scotland aged 16 and over who are minority ethnic was 6.2 per cent. This is higher than the proportion of the population aged 16 and over who are from minority ethnic groups (5.5 per cent in 2022).

As an employer, our Race Recruitment and Retention Action Plan published in 2021, supports the Scottish Government and its agencies to increase the representation of racialised minorities, across all grades, to be reflective of the working age population. We are making progress in this regard, with an estimated 4.1% of staff in the Scottish Government and its agencies identifying as a racialised minority (December 2022). This is almost double the figure from 2017 (2.2%).

The Scottish Government published A Fairer Scotland for All: An Anti-Racist Employment Strategy in December 2022 which sets out a series of actions, including those recommended in the report. We will be piloting the use of an anti-racist workplace training framework with employers; supporting employers in their use of positive action measures; and continuing to engage with public sector leadership on recruitment and representation, data and understanding institutional racism.

We are also reviewing the operation of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland with a view to improving the Scottish Specific Duties, including data reporting on ethnicity. We have consulted on proposals which include extending the existing gender pay gap reporting duty to ethnicity and disability, with listed public authorities required to make more evidence-based decisions on the information they publish.

NHS Scotland takes a multidisciplinary approach to tackling Osteoporosis through Fracture Liaison Services. These services provide vital support in identifying factures and supporting patients requiring osteoporosis medications.

This is a long standing service which helps ensure patients also have access to consultants and pain specialists.

We continue to support NHS Ayrshire and Arran in the development of the Full Business Case (FBC) for the new National Treatment Centre facility at Carrick Glen and look forward to receiving the case for consideration during 2023.

The food and drink industry has been through significant turmoil in recent years, and Scottish Government support has been vital in ensuring the industry has been as resilient as possible during these times. As a key member of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership, the Scottish Government has been integral in the collective decision making and financial support for the previous Industry Strategy (Ambition 2030) and the subsequent Recovery Plan in place during Covid.

Today, we are delighted to announce year 1 funding of £5m, supplemented by £1m from Industry themselves, towards the new Food and Drink Industry led strategy – Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World – which sets out short-, medium- and long-term goals developed in collaboration with food and drink producers with a focus on stability amidst turbulence from global events including the war in Ukraine.

During the Cannich incident, SFRS liaised with Forestry and Land Scotland, RSPB and the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, who provided personnel and specialist equipment throughout the incident. The involvement of gamekeepers, farmers and other partners at wildfire incidents is always welcomed by SFRS and provides a great deal of capacity and knowledge for Incident Commanders. SFRS is utilising this valuable resource at incidents and recognising the skills, experience and equipment that partners bring to this incident type.

At recent significant wildfires the involvement of partners has been instrumental in successfully managing the incidents, and SFRS will seek to learn lessons from this to identify what worked well, as well as where improvements can be made to ensure it continuously improves. SFRS has contributed to the North of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership’s recent seminar on response to severe weather events (heat in particular) and is in the planning stage of providing the same to the East of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership.

The Scottish Wildfire Forum (SWF), chaired by SFRS, has Civil Contingency Advisors from Local Authorities, Regional Resilience Partnerships and other Agencies as members. The SWF created the Wildfire Risk that is now contained in the Scottish National Risk Assessment. This now requires the Regional and Local Resilience Partnerships (which includes all Local Authorities) as part of the Risk Preparedness Assessment Process to consider the risk, score it for their region/area and consider what mitigation actions can be taken to reduce the risk as well as how the wider consequences of the risk will be managed.

ChargePlace Scotland’s charging assets are owned by over 400 separate organisations across the public, private and third sectors and therefore are not all in public ownership. These organisations are responsible for procurement, maintenance and commercial decisions relating to their own charge point assets.

ChargePlace Scotland is a charge point management service paid for by the Scottish Government under a Framework Agreement to provide back-office, frontline call-handling and fault management functions on behalf of the charge point owners. The current contract to operate the back-office service runs until at least 2025.

On 20 June 2023 the Scottish Government’s vision for the future of Scotland’s electric vehicle charging network was published. This new vision places people and businesses first and outlines the accessible, affordable and reliable public network required for the future.

Our vision emphasises the need to attract greater private investment to deliver infrastructure at scale and pace across the whole of Scotland, as the public sector cannot deliver this alone. That’s why our Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund aims to draw in £60 million of public and private investment to double the size of the public charging network to 6,000 charge points by 2026, including areas of the network where private investment may be less viable, such as in our rural and island areas.

Through our Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund we are supporting Local Authorities to develop public electric vehicle charging strategies and expansion plans, encompassing their urban, rural and island areas.

The Scottish Government has undertaken an Island Communities Impact Assessment for the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill. The findings from our assessment are published in the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill: island communities impact assessment on 25 May 2023.

Yes, the Scottish Government has received complaints and concerns regarding private first aid companies operating at events. Where appropriate, officials have followed this up with relevant organisations.

Scottish Government officials are currently undertaking further work and engagement with stakeholders to scope the potential extent of issues raised by unregulated private first aid companies and consider the most appropriate and proportionate next steps.

Transport Scotland’s joint report with Scottish Futures Trust published in July 2021 highlighted the opportunities to leverage the investment, skills and resources of the private sector to grow Scotland’s public electric vehicle charging network at the scale and pace required. This report also recognised the opportunities for partnership working between Scotland’s local authorities and private charge point operators, as well as the potential for existing ChargePlace Scotland assets to form part of future partnering arrangements.

Through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund, Transport Scotland is supporting local authorities to develop public electric vehicle charge point strategies and infrastructure expansion plans, to identify and take forward the opportunities to work with the private sector to grow Scotland’s public charging network.

There is an established and growing number of well-capitalised private charge point operators across the UK. Transport Scotland’s joint report published with Scottish Futures Trust in July 2021 indicated that investment costs in growing Scotland’s public charging network could reach £100 million per annum by 2030. It is encouraging, therefore, to hear the recent pledge from industry body Charge UK that its members will invest £6 billion in public charging infrastructure across the UK by 2030. Our focus is on encouraging that investment to spread across all of Scotland. That’s why our Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund aims to draw in £60 million of public and private investment to double the size of the public charging network to 6,000 charge points by 2026, including areas of the network where private investment is less viable.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance which sets out steps an employer should take to ensure the training their first aiders receive is adequate and appropriate.

The recommendations outlined in Volume 1 of the Manchester Arena Inquiry falls to the UK Government for consideration as this is a reserved matter. The UK Government have published a draft Bill – The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) (previously referred to as Martyn’s law) for pre-legislative scrutiny on 2 nd May, ahead of a full Bill being introduced to UK Parliament in the next UK parliamentary session.

Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government in the development and progression of this Bill, which aims to enhance public safety at Publicly Accessible Locations and Events across the UK, including Scotland.