Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government expects all NHS healthcare workers in Scotland to follow best practice when providing care for people with UTIs, including recurring UTIs. In support of this, guidelines on management of suspected UTIs were developed by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) in 2020 and remain current. These support clinicians to provide advice to patients and carers on appropriate treatment, risks and lifestyle and behaviour issues which can support management and prevention of UTIs.

As part of our £70m Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal plan, national urology referral and management pathways for UTIs in adults, which includes recurrent UTIs, were published in August 2021 supporting clinicians to make the appropriate referrals for UTIs at the right time.

Where trade unions are recognised, evidence of the collective element of effective voice will be their recognition agreement. We expect in such cases that employer organisations will work with their trade unions to evidence meeting the other aspects of the new requirements and any wider Fair Work First commitments.

Our Fair Work First guidance provides an overview of some acceptable forms of evidence for employers to demonstrate effective voice and real Living Wage conditionality.

Grant recipients are asked, both at the application stage and on conclusion of the grant, to provide a statement confirming they are meeting all the Fair Work First criteria, this should be signed by a trade union representative or a worker representative where there is no formal trade union recognition agreement. It will be for the relevant grant administrator to monitor and ensure compliance, in line with normal grant management practice.

As part of the landmark Bute House Agreement between the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party, we are strengthening our approach to fair work conditionality in public sector grants.

The conditionality will apply to grants awarded across the public sector on or after 1 July 2023 and introduces a requirement to pay at least the real Living Wage to all employees, and provide appropriate channels for effective voice.

Limited exceptions may apply to ensure the conditions remain proportionate, and our Fair Work First guidance provides further detail on this. The conditionality does not apply retrospectively to public sector grants awarded before 1 July 2023, and will apply to recipients of eligible agriculture grants awarded on or after 1 April 2024.

The Scottish Government expects public sector grants awarded before 1 July 2023 which involve multi-year funding to incorporate this conditionality as part of the grant agreement for any subsequent funding years for the project concerned. We have published updated Fair Work First guidance to assist grant recipients and funders with implementing this stronger conditionality.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18200 on 1 June 2023. 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

Rainforest expansion and restoration is a key Scottish Government priority. Scottish Forestry manages the Woodland Carbon Code which offers opportunities to expand and restore Scotland’s rainforests in line the Scottish Government’s Interim Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital, which can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/interim-principles-for-responsible-investment-in-natural-capital/ .

Whilst there are no imminent plans to commission a report similar to the one for peatland, Scottish Forestry have also just appointed a new Rainforest Action Co-ordinator and one of the tasks is to develop a framework of potential funding sources. Part of that work will be to further encourage private investment where possible, working closely with partners and stakeholders such as the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest, and commission work as required.

Membership of the workforce short life working group established by the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC), includes representatives from the MSN CYPC, Scottish Cancer Network, Scottish Government, NHS Tayside (Finance; HR; Health and Staffside representative) NHS National Services Scotland (Scottish Cancer Network; HR) and The Teenage Cancer Trust.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) take the protection of (a) raptors, (b) red squirrels and (c) other protected woodland fauna within our woodlands very seriously, and when appropriate conduct our operations outwith their breeding seasons to avoid disturbance.

FLS adhere to the industry guidance set by the Scottish Government forestry regulator, Scottish Forestry, and where necessary apply for and follow the species licencing process regulated by NatureScot.

FLS have rigorous planning systems, checks and procedures with accompanying guidance to ensure all regulations and licence requirements to protect species are followed.

In June 2022, Scottish Government officials discussed the subject of community and co-operative ownership with Danish officials in the context of heat network ownership models, where officials received a presentation outlining different ownership types and their relative proportions in the Danish market whilst noting that community owned co-operative heat networks are responsible for a small proportion of delivered heat compared to larger municipally owned heat networks in Denmark. No further discussions have been held on the subject of community or co-operative ownership since.

Scottish Government officials will be meeting Danish officials in June 2023 to review activity taken place during the past financial year under the Memorandum of Understanding.

Scottish Government have not transferred any documents to the National Records of Scotland for archive since the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister.

The rights of responsible non-motorised access to land established through Part 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 mean that access to local outdoor spaces, such as forests, should normally be free of charge.

There is a very limited range of circumstances where charges for access can be applied, for example where specific byelaws have been introduced. However, land managers may raise revenue through service provision such as car parking and toilets.