Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to establish the Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS) in November 2021 to support workforce capacity across NHS Scotland and to ensure it has the right people, in the right place at the right time. The CWS works collaboratively with health boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and other key stakeholders to support the implementation of innovative workforce initiatives which help tackle priority supply challenges. Over the next year, CWS will be leading work connecting with health boards such as Public Health Scotland, and NHS Grampian, with a view to understanding how population health, service demand, and workforce supply data, can be used more effectively in workforce planning.

NES have a range of resources and training programmes in place to support rural practitioners across Scotland including increasing the opportunities to train in rural Scotland, the GP Rural Fellowship and the new GMC Rural and Remote Health (unscheduled and urgent care) Credential.

We also commissioned the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care (NCRRHC) in 2023, again delivered by NES. The purpose of NCRRHC is to co-ordinate work to improve remote, rural and island healthcare recruitment and retention; to increase access to training; and to develop new models of service delivery, which are focused on improved outcomes for rural and island communities.

Further, the Scottish Government has convened a Remote, Rural and Islands Task and Finish Group which is developing a framework and sustainable operating model to plan sustainable services for rural and island communities, which will include workforce considerations such as recruitment, retention and training.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33681 on 27 January 2025. 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 Scottish Government has funded free universal NHS-funded eye examinations since 2006, and is committed to maintaining this policy - the only UK nation in which this is the case. The Scottish Government takes the view that this policy is a fundamental feature of ensuring equitable access to NHS eye examinations.

The Scottish Government is not aware of any workforce shortages in community optometry. NHS Scotland commissioned and published a National Ophthalmic Workforce Review report in May 2023 which is available at: https://www.nhscfsd.co.uk/media/pjwntap4/national-ophthalmic-workforce-review-may-2023.pdf

The Scottish Government is working with Higher Education Institutions to deliver a new UK-leading Master's optometry undergraduate degree. This will support all optometry graduates from 2029 to have the opportunity to qualify with Independent Prescribing.

There have been no official complaints logged regarding the overall condition of the A90 in the last five years. However, there has been a total of 171 individual complaints with resulting reports:

There are a total 4,552 road traffic signs on the A90 trunk road network. Of these, a total of 185 signs do not meet the current standards for visibility and effectiveness and are on a works programme for future replacement. Where regulatory signage and warning signage are noted as defective they are categorised as Category 1 defects. These are required to be made safe when identified, following which a temporary or permanent repair must be undertaken as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours following first identification. Where possible, Category 2 sign replacement is coordinated with other works on the network to mitigate disruption to road users.

A breakdown of fleet additions and disposals since 2019-20, broken down by vehicle and fuel type, is provided in the following tables.

2019-20

Fleet carbon emissions are published in our Public Bodies Climate Change report which is available on the Scottish Sustainability Network site. Additionally, SG holds the Carbon Trust to Net Zero Standard for year on year carbon reduction, with carbon emission data on the fleet independently audited by the Carbon Trust to ensure accuracy.

Pool cars are allocated to specific areas who have a business need for their use which cannot be met by public transport or other sustainable methods of travel. This includes conducting legislative and compliance inspections, animal and horticulture inspections, delivery of equipment and the transportation of Ministers.

We do not hold this information.