Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomed the findings in the Review which was funded through our £14.3m North East Economic Recovery and Skills Fund (NEERSF). The Review clearly demonstrates that, with the right investment, the North East of Scotland could support 9,000 more offshore energy jobs by 2030 than it currently does.

The just transition to a net zero economy is one of our greatest economic opportunities. Scotland has the potential to be a net zero global energy hub, that leaves no one behind by supporting existing oil & gas roles into the renewables and low carbon roles of the future.

The Scottish Government previously provided a response advising where the £12 million to support the wellbeing of people working in health, social care and social work was allocated and what was spent. https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-08799

A breakdown of the funding provided by the Scottish Government for each service is as follows;

In the financial year 2021/22, £12 million was allocated to support the wellbeing of people working in health and social care of which £11.5 million was spent. We allocated £1,145,895 to the Workforce Specialist Service to deliver psychological and psychiatric support to regulated practitioners who provide care to others. £921,029 was allocated on formal psychological interventions that formed the Workforce Development Programme and £366,650 was allocated to the NES Coaching for Wellbeing service. To ensure staff have access to support when they need it, £138,666 was allocated to the National Wellbeing Helpline and £175,142 on the National Wellbeing Hub.

The Workforce Wellbeing fund was set up to support staff who work in adult social work and social care. This fund has been managed outwith the Scottish Government by Inspiring Scotland and the total allocated on this wellbeing initiative was £1,100,000. In addition, £12,332 was allocated to Programme Support and £93,525 in further wellbeing services which include CRUSE Grief and Loss Counselling, Elite Training, Awesome Postcards and a workforce respect marketing campaign. A total of £7,561,432 was directly allocated to Boards and HSCPs. This money was to be spent on, but not limited to, spiritual care, psychological first aid, catering and rest facilities to further support the wellbeing of the workforce.

We continue to work with boards and stakeholders to evaluate the impact of funding and how it meets the needs of the workforce.

The Vaccination Transformation Programme (VTP) covers all routine immunisations that are delivered in Scotland. GP practices no longer provide any vaccinations under their core contract from 1 April 2022. Health Boards have assumed overall responsibility for the delivery of vaccination programmes, which are being facilitated through national digital solutions.

Health Boards developed their plans, tailoring these to meet their local population needs, while providing a safe and effective vaccination and travel health service.

Health Boards have determined how best to deliver all vaccination programme, with models varying across Scotland to align with local requirements. Health Boards may continue to utilise GP premises to provide vaccination services, with their own staff delivering vaccinations. This allows Health Boards the flexibility to arrange mass vaccination centres at community venues, delivering through existing health teams (such as Midwives or Community Pharmacies), or establish new clinics to meet local needs.

The Scottish Government continues to support Health Boards on their transfer of routine vaccination delivery from GPs under the VTP.

The Vaccination Transformation Programme (VTP) reforms the delivery of vaccination services by supporting locally designed and delivered services by all NHS Boards and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) in Scotland.

The VTP allows individual Health Boards the flexibility to determine and implement a delivery model that best suits their local population and needs. This would ensure that vaccination services are patient centred, locally and easily accessible and tailored ensuring equitable access across Scotland.

Though the vaccination services delivery models would change as per the needs and requirements of local area. The VTP ensures consistent management of National Immunisation programmes and applicability of national standards ensuring that high standards of vaccination delivery are duly met.

The following table shows all superfast broadband connections delivered to properties in the North Lot via the R100 Programme each month from 1 January to 31 July 2022. As requested these are broken down by local authority area.

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

I know that many consumers across Scotland are facing long waits for energy meters to be installed and this has been a source of much frustration.

Regulation of energy markets, including in relation to the installation of meters, remains reserved to the UK Government meaning that the Scottish Government's potential actions in regards to this are limited.

My officials have raised this issue with Ofgem, the energy regulator.

The Scottish Government published an update to the 2018 Climate Change Plan in 2020, including over 200 policies and proposals which will drive our delivery of emissions reduction between 2020 and 2032.

The Scottish Government is currently in the process of developing the next climate change plan which covers the period from 2025 to 2040. The Scottish Government has committed to fully costing the next Climate Change Plan as set out in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019.

Our focus now is on delivering the existing plan as well as the polices that have been developed since to achieve our climate objectives. The challenging nature of delivering these targets will depend on a national endeavour, with action from all sectors of society. The updated plan sends a clear market signal which should give businesses the confidence to act, invest and achieve our climate targets, driving new green jobs, growing a thriving sustainable and fair economy.

All these actions require co-operation from the UK Government to maximise action in reserved actions. Our updated Plan set out the main asks of the UK Government and calls on them to match Scotland’s climate ambition in a credible way. As we develop our next plan and the vision for 2040, we will be required to go further and require reductions in currently reserved areas to achieve the 90% reduction by 2040.

Energy markets are reserved to the UK Government. As part of our response to the rising cost of energy, the Scottish Government has raised concerns that many consumers who are not registered directly with a licenced energy supplier may not receive a £400 energy rebate. Although no solution is currently in place, the UK Government has advised that, this Autumn, it intends to widen support to include those consumers who are not currently reached through the Energy Bills Support Scheme such as park home residents.

Hospital at Home services have been developing in Scotland for a number of years, with the first service established in Lanarkshire in 2011, followed by Fife in 2012 and the Lothian Partnerships between 2013 and 2016, and Dundee in 2018.

To further support development the Scottish Government commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) to develop the Hospital at Home Guiding Principles, which were subsequently published in January 2020 ( https://ihub.scot/project-toolkits/hospital-at-home/hospital-at-home/ ). In April 2020 HIS began providing improvement support to partnerships developing a Hospital at Home service, supported by Scottish Government funding. To date, this support has increased the number of partnerships in Scotland providing a Hospital at Home service to 20.

The following table provides details of the number of patients supported by a Hospital at Home service, by Financial Year and Health Board between 2014-15 and 2021-22.