Chamber and committees

As set out in the Programme for Government 2021 - 22, published on 7 September 2021, the Scottish Government is committed to establishing a dignified and compassionate miscarriage service by the end of 2023. This commitment includes ensuring women’s services have dedicated facilities for women experiencing unexpected pregnancy complications.

As part of delivering on this commitment, we will carry out a scoping exercise to establish current service provision across all 14 Health Boards and host a series of roundtables to discuss with stakeholders what more can be done to improve miscarriage care and support for women who experience complications during pregnancy. The first roundtable will take place in early 2022.

Decisions on local staffing requirements and recruitment are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards. However, Scottish Government officials are continually engaging with NHS Boards to identify particular areas of concern.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are delivering a number of campaigns to fill vacancies and to recruit additional staffing. The Board are recruiting 222 Band 3 Health Care Support Workers (HCSW) to their Health and Social Care Partnerships and are targeting the recruitment of a further 200 HCSWs into Acute settings, as well as 20 Band 5 and 20 Band 6 Critical Care nurses. The Board have also recruited over 577 newly qualified nurses who have been commencing throughout October and November with some planning to commence in early 2022.

As a result of local and national efforts to recruit staff in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s staffing levels are up 4.7% or by 1,608.3 whole-time equivalent, since March 2020.

Source: NHS Education for Scotland Official NHS Workforce publication, data at June 2021.

There are no shortages of the COVID-19 booster or seasonal flu vaccines.

Scottish Government officials are working closely with Health Boards and Integration Authorities to deliver the current autumn/winter vaccination programme, with NHS Boards using a delivery model which is most suitable for their local circumstances, whilst maintaining a COVID-19 safe environment and maximising efficiency.

The draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which was laid in the Scottish Parliament on 10 November, sets out how our approach to planning and development will achieve a net zero, sustainable Scotland by 2045.

The draft NPF4 proposes a new policy which will ensure significant weight be given to the Global Climate Emergency in planning decisions. It also includes green energy policies which support renewable energy development other than in National Parks and National Scenic Areas, subject to an assessment of their impacts on a case by case basis. Through the draft NPF4, we are also proposing to designate a national development which would establish the need for a large increase in renewable energy generation and substantial reinforcement and expansion of grid infrastructure throughout Scotland.

Full details of how to access your Covid Status can be found on NHS Inform. This includes downloading the NHS Scotland Covid Status App or accessing your status on the existing online portal. From this portal, you can generate a downloadable PDF or request a printed copy to be posted out to you. See https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine/after-your-vaccine/get-a-record-of-your-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-status/ .

The full contract notices are published on Public Contracts Scotland. See https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=NOV432052 and https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=NOV432062 . I also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03620 on 17 November 2021. 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 .

Supply Chain Development Statements (SCDS) are a required component of the ScotWind Leasing process and are therefore administered by Crown Estate Scotland. Crown Estate Scotland will publish the SCDS Outlook documents once Option Agreements are signed by successful applicants. In addition, Crown Estate Scotland will confidentially share the commercially sensitive SCDS Narrative Documents of successful applicants with the Scottish Government and enterprise agencies. The Scottish Government and enterprise agencies would not expect to publish documentation of a commercially sensitive nature.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh have provided a full list of 2021 RSE Saltire Research Awards on their website. This includes 13 Scottish higher education institutions, across the 93 awardees:

• Edinburgh College of Art
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• Heriot Watt University
• Queen Margaret University
• University of Aberdeen
• University of Dundee
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Glasgow
• University of St Andrews
• University of Stirling
• University of Strathclyde
• University of the Highlands and Islands
• University of the West of Scotland
  

The Scottish Funding Council Saltire Emerging Researcher Scheme awarded 9 Scottish university consortia funding to promote mobility between Scotland and European research partners:

• EaSI-CAT (East of Scotland Industrial Catalysis) Doctoral Training Programme
• Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities
• Scottish Graduate School of Social Science
• SAGES – Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment & Society
• SICSA – Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance
• ScotCHEM – Scottish Universities Chemistry Research Pool
• SULSA – Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance
• SUPA – Scottish Universities Physics Alliance
• MASTS – Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland

Crown Estate Scotland administer the ScotWind seabed leasing process. Crown Estate Scotland have stated an intended announcement date of mid-January 2022

More people than ever in Scotland are being offered the free flu vaccine to help protect as many lives as possible this winter. The flu vaccination programme commenced on 6 September and will run until March 2022.

We are seeking to offer the flu vaccine at the same time as providing COVID-19 boosters for everyone eligible, 6 months should have passed since a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before a booster is administered. However there is some flexibility to offer a booster vaccination to the most vulnerable groups after five months.

This means that this is the biggest and most complex vaccination programme there has ever been, and has led to some people being offered their flu vaccine slightly later than normal but they will still receive them within the recommended timescale.

We remain on track with Scotland’s autumn/winter vaccination programme which has been prioritising the most vulnerable by either inviting them to come forward for a vaccination or by visiting in settings such as care homes.

The online self-booking portal for adults aged 50 to 59, those over 16 who are unpaid carers and household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals launched on 15 November, with 1,940,611 people having received their flu vaccine in Scotland by week commencing 21 November