Chamber and committees

The Fair Work Action Plan : Becoming a Leading Fair Work Nation by 2025 and the new Anti-Racist Employment Strategy – A Fairer Scotland For All , will both be published today.

It is this government’s ambition for Scotland to be a place where every person has the same opportunities to enter, sustain and progress in a safe, diverse and inclusive labour market.

Fair Work is a model for innovation and success, with many employers in Scotland already implementing fair work practices, addressing labour market inequalities, providing safe and secure working environments, and promoting inclusive workplace cultures. Through these practices, employers reap the benefits of a fairly rewarded, respected, diverse and inclusive workforce, in their performance, innovation and productivity.

Our ongoing work to reduce the Gender Pay Gap and the Disability Employment Gap is now incorporated within the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan, ensuring we better align on common issues such as pay and workers’ rights, whilst also allowing for action to be taken on discrete issues for respective protected characteristics.

The Anti-Racist Employment Strategy seeks to respond to the scale and complexity of the challenge of institutional racism, and will put anti-racism at the heart of what we do. Commitment to diversity and inclusion will not only help us to build a well-being economy, but it will also help us towards becoming a Fair Work nation, benefiting employers, workers and wider society.

Links

The Fair Work Action Plan : Becoming a Leading Fair Work Nation by 2025 - https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805252870

Anti-Racist Employment Strategy – A Fairer Scotland For All - https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781805252887

This is a matter for Public Health Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally.

Regulation of the medical profession is reserved to the UK Parliament and the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12413 on 9 December 2022. 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

The requested information on what percentage of NHS staff have been (a) full- and (b) part-time in each year since 1999 is not centrally held. Information on how many NHS Scotland Staff currently in post, broken down by (a) full time and (b) part-time in each year since 2012 can be found in the following link:

NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The requested information is not centrally held. Data is published annually, by NHS Education for Scotland on the total medical agency spend by NHS Scotland Boards; and the total WTE hours and cost for Nursing and Midwifery bank and agency staff, but this data does not specify start dates. This information can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The legislative changes recommended by the completed review of the Storage and Spreading of Sewage Sludge on Land in Scotland (‘The Sludge Review’), are being implemented via the forthcoming Integrated Authorisation Framework (IAF) regulations.

The proposed changes are designed to strengthen SEPA powers to ensure effective management practices are implemented and followed by operators within the industry.

A consultation on proposed IAF regulations is due to be published early next year and stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the proposals relating to sewage sludge.

The Scottish Government does not hold recorded information on the number of leakage incidents of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) from onshore and offshore power generation sites that have been recorded in the last three years.

The Scottish Government is aware of the impact of this potent greenhouse gas on the environment and of the risk of leakage incidents. We are currently working with the UK and Welsh Governments to review the F-gas Regulation. We have already done a retrospective assessment of the Regulation and will publish an assessment report on the findings in the coming weeks.

Following the report, we will jointly consider policy options to ensure our regulations continue to support our ambitious Net Zero targets. As part of this, we will also consider other important issues including leakage. We expect to publish a joint consultation on these future policy proposals in due course.

We are working closely with NatureScot and Scottish Forestry in exploring the best approach to developing a new National Register of Ancient Woodlands. A new National Register of Ancient Woodlands is part of a suite of initiatives that will be underpinned by a new biodiversity strategy which we recently consulted on this summer.

The Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office invests through NHS Research Scotland in research infrastructure in Health Boards that allows them to host and participate in clinical research studies and trials. Health Boards make individual decisions about participating in the trials that are offered to them, subject to the trials that are already being supported within each Health Board, and the research expertise and capacity available to take on additional trials. Scottish Health Boards are continuing to participate in a number of trials of medicines for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 disease, providing opportunities for their patient populations to enrol in these studies, although none currently include Evusheld. Should a trial sponsor organisation approach Scottish Health Boards about participating in a trial of Evusheld, participation would be considered by Health Boards with participation subject to the research expertise and capacity available.