Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing the need to practice restraint and seclusion. Across all settings we are clear that the use of restraint should only be used as a last resort in exceptional circumstances when it is the only practicable means of securing the welfare or safety of the child or another person.

A statutory framework covering all settings, including secure and residential care, health services and education settings would not be the most effective way of achieving a reduction of restraint and restrictive practice. Any scaffolding and support for children and young people in relation to restraint and seclusion, is best considered and addressed by each area independently to ensure that any support, training, guidance and reporting meets their needs in those particular settings.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with key partners, including the Children and Young People’s Commissioner and the Scottish Physical Restraint Action Group, to continue to reduce the use of restrictive practices through embedding transformational practice change and supporting developments in trauma responsive care.

About 1 million people in Scotland live with hearing loss and an estimated 70% are over 70 years old. Unaddressed hearing loss can cause distress due to cognitive decline and reduced social interaction, communication and education. Hearing loss is often accompanied by tinnitus, vertigo and balance problems and can be a contributing factor in dementia. Deaf people and people with hearing loss are less likely to be employed and have a lower household income than people with normal hearing. Hearing loss may also be a contributing factor to early retirement and could cost the UK economy £38.6 billion by 2031 (NHSE, 2017).

I can advise Parliament, that today, I’m launching the roll out of a new National Planning Skills Commitment Plan. This involves a co-ordinated skills and recruitment drive for the planning sector, being led by the Scottish Government and underpinned by a partnership approach across the built and natural environment. Over 100 people, across almost 60 organisations, will collectively contribute to the delivery of the Commitment Plan.

Delivery will take place through a range of actions to be progressed for, and by, people from a broad range of sectors and interests. In supporting skills development, industry representatives are contributing their time and knowledge to participate. The Commitment Plan also adopts a more direct approach to recruitment to attract the next generation of planning professionals. That will include steps to help modernise the image and reputation of the planning profession, as a positive force for delivery of investment in the high quality development that Scotland needs now and for years to come.

Taking forward the committed actions, each month will have a dedicated theme for both skills development and recruitment. For example, in March 2025, housing is the key focus topic for training through webinars and hands-on learning. Meanwhile, to boost future recruitment, the Scottish Government is currently taking forward a Future Planners scheme, for 18 Post Graduates, and is about to launch an expanded Bursary programme, trebling the number from 10, last year, to 30 this year.

I believe that all sectors have a vital role to play in addressing the skills and capacity challenges in planning. Professionals are moving forward with a shared ambition to strengthen resilience across Scotland’s planning system and public services.

Details of the National Planning Skills Commitment Plan

https://www.ourplace.scot/resource/training-and-recruitment-opportunities.

Social Security Scotland carefully considers what information on counter fraud can be placed into the public domain to ensure it does not undermine the ability of Social Security Scotland to prevent and detect crime and protect the public purse. It does not disclose details of the size of the Counter Fraud Branch.

Counter Fraud Branch consists of officials who work closely together to prevent, detect, identify and investigate allegations of fraud against Social Security Scotland. The staff undertake fraud risk assessment, intelligence management and investigation activities and are located throughout Scotland.

The majority of the staff resources within the Counter Fraud Branch are fully engaged in delivering the Counter Fraud activities highlighted above. A small proportion work to understand, monitor and where appropriate investigate potential internal threats – which includes, but is not limited to, insider fraud. This team also provides specialist investigation support to other business areas within Social Security Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information because the statutory responsibility for managing and maintaining the school estate rests with local authorities.

However, through the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme, the Scottish Government will provide local authorities with substantial funding support to modernise their school estate, and also includes replacements for schools which were significantly damaged by deliberate fires. For example, we will provide funding support of £25.8m for a replacement Peebles High School in the Scottish Borders, and £40.2m for the new Greenfield Academy in Dundee which will replace Braeview Academy and Craigie High School.

I visited Salmar Aker Ocean’s Ocean Farm One, the world’s first offshore salmon farm, in Norway in August 2023, where I learned about high farmed fish survival rates, alongside reduced environmental impacts, made possible through farming in higher energy locations.

SalMar Ocean (previously Salmar Aker Ocean) has since met with the Scottish Government to discuss the consenting process for developing a salmon farm between 3 – 12 nautical miles.

Alongside work which builds on the fish farm consenting pilots aimed at delivering improvements to our consenting system, we have also been working to address regulatory gaps and to consider the long-term policy and regulatory framework required to support ‘offshore’ salmon farming in Scotland, as committed to in our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture.

This includes our recent consultation on proposals to extend marine planning zones, to allow developers to submit planning applications for aquaculture developments out to 12 nautical miles to the relevant local planning authority. Results of the consultation are currently being analysed and will be published in due course.

Due to the innovative nature of the proposed development, Scottish Government officials and aquaculture regulators have met with the business to advise on consenting processes.

a) Scottish Government has not made any budget provision in this or future years to underwrite private investment in nature restoration.

b) No capital allocation has been made in the 2025-26 budget to pilot blended finance models in nature recovery. Any payments associated with it will not finalised until the pilot progresses. Resource to take forward the pilot will be from within existing staff time.

There may be contingent liability implications to the agreements entered into as a part piloting blended finance models for nature restoration and these will be managed in line with the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

The deployment of medical agency staff, including locum psychiatrists, is a matter for individual NHS Scotland Health Boards. Health Boards should always be seeking to secure best value whenever they enter into arrangements regarding use of locums in order to maximise the impact that investment has on the quality and availability of patient care.

To address specific challenges in the recruitment and retention of permanent psychiatrist posts in Scotland, we have established a Working Group which is actively considering locum usage. The specific challenges facing psychiatry have been considered by the Medical Locums Task and Finish Group. The Psychiatry Working Group will make a series of recommendations and are expected to report to Ministers in Spring 2025.

Scottish Ministers have a number of mechanisms open to them to drive improvements in the delivery of services across NHS Scotland, with powers of direction under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 being just one of those.

Performance management procedures in place for Senior Civil Servants and for Civil Servants at delegated grades, are regularly reviewed and include procedure in relation to management of poor performance and dismissal.

While workforce and terms and conditions of employment for Scottish Government civil servants are delegated to Scottish Ministers, the terms and conditions of Senior Civil Servants (SCS) are reserved to the UK Government and any changes made by UK Ministers and their application will be considered by Scottish Ministers in due course.

It is important that we work closely with leaders in the Psychiatry profession to address the challenges they are currently facing and the Psychiatry Recruitment and Retention Working Group are currently working towards producing a series of recommendations which will be presented to Ministers in Spring 2025.

Whilst the working group has been ongoing, the Scottish Government has worked in partnership with the profession on a range of measures to support recruitment and retention in psychiatry. This has included funding and supporting recruitment stands at the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) international congress events (2023 and 2024); working with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) colleagues on improvements to psychiatry webpages to increase engagement and on the promotion of vacancies; ensuring that the specific challenges facing psychiatry were considered by the Medical Locums Task and Finish Group and; supporting the Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS) in their direct work with NHS Health Boards to address challenges in filling vacancies and on the promotion of careers in Scotland.

We also continue to work with NES and the RCPsych to encourage medical students to consider a long-term career as a psychiatrist. This work includes the Choose Psychiatry campaign, undergraduate taster sessions and improved psychiatric placements at Foundation level. Recruitment into Core Psychiatry has improved drastically in recent years, with the exception of one unfilled post in 2020, 100% of entry level posts have now been filled for the fourth consecutive year (up from 63% in 2018).