Chamber and committees

Attracting more people from a care-experienced background to further and higher education continues to be a priority for Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). SFC have a National Ambition for Care-Experienced Students for the college and university sectors.

Our vision is to see no difference in the outcomes between care-experienced students and non care-experienced students by 2030. The work we are currently doing is taking us toward that vision. The SFC’s Report on Widening Access reported that in 2020/21 care-experienced students at Scotland’s colleges and universities accounted for 1.9% of Scottish-domiciled entrants to undergraduate courses. That’s up from 1.7% in 2019-20 and represents an increase of 215 students. SFC has an established a Care Experience National Policy Group. The last meeting of that group was 26 January 2023 and included Student Ambassadors.

The following table shows the number of entries to the Rural Skills National Progression Award at SCQF Level 5 for the 2022-23 academic year broken down by centre.

Entries to Rural Skills NPA at SCQF 5, 2022-23

I welcome this report and the valuable insight it has given us. The report highlighted that pension taxation was the main driver for Consultant’s seeking early retirement, which is why we continued to press the UK Government to resolve this issue. I am pleased they listened and brought forward changes at the UK Budget on 15 March to the annual and life time allowances that resolve this issue for the vast majority of Senior Doctors, ensuring they have an alternative choice to retiring early and leaving the service.

The report gives NHS Employers a clear understanding of the issues facing our highly valued Consultant staff. It will allow us to work in partnership with BMA Scotland and NHS Boards through our established structures to address the issues raised in this report, ensuring that NHS Scotland is able to attract and retain doctors at all stages in their career.

We have already established the Improving Medical Retention Advisory Group who have made recommendations to improve the retention of senior doctors and are continuing to implement these actions.

The Scottish Government provides baseline funding to NHS Boards, which Boards use to best meet the healthcare needs of their resident population. Funding is not ring-fenced for cancer services. It is not therefore possible to provide this proportion of the budget since 2007-08.

We continue to engage with retailers of all sizes regarding Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, and have set up a new operational group with retailers to resolve any outstanding issues to allow the scheme to launch successfully on 1 March 2024.

This obligation is not new and has been in place since 2020. We have, however, published regulations that will remove the obligation to take back containers bought online from the vast majority of retailers. Only the very largest supermarkets are being asked to provide this service, which will benefit those who are physically less able to access a return point. While we recognise this creates a challenge for large retailers, we consider it to be fair, proportionate, and important as it will mean that everyone has access to Scotland’s deposit return scheme.

Retailers still have the flexibility to provide their own takeback service or have a third party deliver it for their customers, and we have been clear that we will continue to work with them to explore the possibility of a centralised takeback service.

The UK government, who are developing their own plans for Deposit Return Scheme, have also made it clear that online takeback will be required from the start of the scheme, particularly for large retailers.

Home haemodialysis is provided for people who need this. Any reimbursement for increases in utility bills as a result of home haemodialysis would be the responsibility of the NHS Board. Individuals who wish to pursue reimbursement of living costs should contact their local NHS Board in the first instance.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund – established in 2020 and tripled to £30 million for 2023 to 2024 - is a critical plank in our support to people who are struggling with their energy costs.

I refer the member to my answer to S6W-17651.

The detailed schedules to collect scheme products, and pay deposits and handling fees are a matter for Circularity Scotland, the not-for profit scheme administrator, their logistics partner and return point operators.

Working with partners we have refreshed the system-wide governance for the Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland (DRS) for the implementation stage of the programme. This now includes a Ministerial Strategic Assurance Group which will meet for the first time during May 2023 and sectoral groups representing producers, retailers, hospitality and the public sector, most of which have already had their first meeting.

The Construction Advice and Support Service was funded through ERDF and ended in 2021-22 . The Green Islands Fund was partially funded through ERDF and ended in April 2021.

The Digital Prescribing and Dispending Pathways Programme is currently in the planning and development stage, and I expect to be able to confirm the timetable for full roll out in due course.