As set out in answer S6W-38507, Scottish Government recognises that throughout their career, employees, including radiologists and oncologists, will face differing demands on their time and energies at home as well as at work which may lead to them leaving the workforce below the age of 50.

The national ‘Supporting Work Life Balance’ workforce policies provide staff with a range of flexible working options to help them to balance their lifestyle whilst maintaining and promoting the best possible service to our patients and service users.

Further, Scottish Government are supporting staff throughout the NHS, including radiologists and oncologists, through funding of over £2.5m annually to support staff wellbeing. Evidence shows that positive wellbeing enhances staff retention and engagement, which in turn raises standards of patient safety and quality of care.

This funding provides our workforce with access to psychological interventions and therapies, self-service resources through the National Wellbeing Hub and the National Wellbeing Helpline delivered by NHS 24. Registered staff also have access to confidential mental health services through the Workforce Specialist Service (WSS).

The Scottish Government has a number of contingent liabilities, which are disclosed in its consolidated accounts each year. The Scottish Government seeks the prior approval of Parliament, via the Finance and Public Administration Committee, before entering into any specific contingent liability unless it arises in the normal course of business or the sum of the risk is £2.5m or less.

The Scottish Government seeks to manage the impact of contingent liabilities crystallising within existing departmental budgets, in line with portfolio accountabilities. Only where necessary would these be funded centrally.

The budget treatment of crystallised contingent liabilities depends on the nature of the underlying transaction, in line with HM Treasury’s Consolidated Budgeting Guidance and accounting regulations. At present based on the latest contingent liabilities, if these were to crystalise there would be more call on capital over resource budgets.

We are committed to developing Just Transition Plans that provide certainty for workers and communities. To that end, we published our draft Transport Just Transition Plan in February, our Grangemouth Just Transition Plan in June, and we intend to publish the consultation on our Land Use and Agriculture plan later this summer.

The judgements and issues we are considering will be informed and influenced by recent developments in the UK Government’s energy policy and court decisions. We are taking time and care to analyse the impact of these developments on Scotland. Our just transition planning to date will also be reflected in the next Climate Change Plan, which will be published in draft form later this year.

The Scottish Government recognise that there may be occasions where Health Boards require access to agency workers in order to supplement their workforce. In keeping with our national approach, such workers should only be deployed by exception.

Where such exceptions are met, the Scottish Government expects Health Boards to use one of the approved suppliers on the relevant National Procurement Framework (such as Staffscanner) to obtain temporary staff.

For care services, it the statutory responsibility of local Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to ensure that appropriate social care support services are in place to provide people with the right care, in the right place and at the right time.

According to the Employee-Owned Business Census Scotland 2024, undertaken by Co-operative Development Scotland, there were a total of 286 employee-owned businesses operating in Scotland as of 31 March 2024. This represents a 47% increase since 2022. A new Economic Democracy Group has formed to drive growth in social enterprises, co-operative business and employee owned firms. The Group held its first meeting in April and will take stock of the journey to the 2030 target, examining what action may be required.

The information requested on how many dermatology service staff are employed by each NHS board is not held centrally.

Information requested on how many dermatology consultants are employed by each NHS board can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at: NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the scale of organised child sexual exploitation. External agencies such as Police Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and local authorities collect and record concerns and/or offences related to child sexual abuse and exploitation tailored to their statutory and operational responsibilities.

Ensuring accountability and value for money is a key priority for the Scottish Government and Scottish Development International (SDI).

To support this, several oversight mechanisms are in place for export and investment support policies, with all programmes designed to support the Scottish Government’s growth strategies, i.e. our Inward Investment Plan and A Trading Nation. These include:

1.Regular Performance Reporting: Mutually agreed bimonthly and quarterly reporting tracking both quantitative and qualitative metrics e.g. number of businesses supported, markets accessed, and the forecasted return on investment of these. As part of this there are project management reviews and programme boards at both operational and strategic levels.

2.Independent Evaluation: Partner and delivery agencies, including SDI’s performance were assessed through external independent evaluations of both Trade and Inward Investment, which was published in 2023.

3.Transparent Reporting: Annual results, research and insight reports, including case studies, are published on Scottish Enterprises website.

The Scottish Government will continue to actively evaluate its trade and investment support programmes through structured internal assessments and independent evaluations to ensure that our package of support remains effective, impactful, meets business need and provides value for money. Updated evaluations have already been commissioned for both inward and export support/promotion and are expected to be completed this financial year.

Social Security Scotland recognises and values a wide range of diverse groups beyond the nine protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010, including a strong commitment to the armed forces community – veterans and their families.

The supply of medicines and the associated legislation are a reserved matter for the UK Government and the Scottish Government continues to engage with them on all medicine supply issues. The UK Department of Health and Social Care have stated that while the medication is currently unavailable, the anticipated resupply date is mid-august 2025. An alternative medication named Naldemedine (Rizmoic) remains available in 200 microgram tablets and can support increased demand. Those affected by the shortage are encouraged to discuss alternative treatments with their clinical team.

Scottish Government officials continue to monitor the situation for any further developments and are maintaining a close dialogue with all Health Boards to help manage this medicine supply disruption.