Chamber and committees

The Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group undertakes an annual review of medical training establishments (the number of established training places in each specialty) and makes subsequent recommendations to Scottish Ministers around the need to expand in order to meet increased service demand and future anticipated consultant need. This annual review process has led to year on year increases in additional training places being created across multiple different specialties since 2014, including 47 new specialty training places that will be created in 2025.

Scottish Government marketing teams do not specify inclusion of any specific media outlets to media agencies who prepare the media strategy and schedules based on audience to ensure advertising is as effective as possible and delivers high levels of reach for the investment. Therefore campaign budget is also a critical factor in media agencies determining whether smaller outlets, which deliver lower levels of reach in general, will be added to a media schedule.

While exact data on the percentage of Foundation Year 2 doctors who applied for NHS specialty training who were offered a place is not available, the General Medical Council education data tool shows the proportion of doctors in training each year following completion of Foundation Year 2 from 2012 to 2023: https://edt.gmc-uk.org/progression-reports/recruitment-from-f2

The theft of railway materials is an important issue. It is for the police to enforce criminal laws such as theft and the Scottish Government fully supports the police taking the necessary action to hold perpetrators to account.

In terms of the resale of stolen railway materials, attempts may be made to sell these to metal dealers.

There is a licensing scheme for metal dealers and itinerant metal dealers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (“the 1982 Act”). The Scottish Government has taken action to raise standards within the industry, and make it more difficult for metal thieves to convert the proceeds of crime into cash. These changes were made via the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”), which amended the 1982 Act, strengthening and modernising the existing regime.

The 2015 Act provided new definitions for metal dealer and itinerant metal dealer, thereby extending the scope of the regime. It tightened record keeping arrangements and required proper identification of customers. It also increased penalties for licensing offences.

In more detail, the 2015 Act raised the penalties for failure to have an appropriate metal dealer or itinerant metal dealer licence, or failure to comply with licence conditions. The maximum penalty on summary conviction for operating without a licence without reasonable excuse, or for operating in breach of a condition of a licence, was increased to a fine not exceeding £20,000 and/or imprisonment of no longer than six months. The 2015 Act also amended the 1982 Act to provide for forms of payment that may be accepted by a metal dealer or itinerant metal dealer. This permits payment by bank transfer or cheque and means cash is not an acceptable method of payment.

The Scottish Government contracts experienced media planning and buying agencies to create media strategies and to buy media schedules. The media agency will recommend the best combination of media channels based on the aims of the campaign, allocated budget and audience. The media agency will take into account the following factors:

Please see below for a breakdown of the collective advertising spend given to community radio stations over the past five financial years, as the 2024-25 financial year is not yet complete the information is not included. This breakdown includes a list of the stations that received advertising spend within each year. Information on individual spend per radio station is not available to us as this is deemed commercially sensitive.

Recruitment to specialty training is undertaken on a UK-wide basis and managed by NES in Scotland. The number of posts advertised by NES each year is determined by two factors: (i) individuals who have vacated their post and whose posts are therefore available for new applicants for apply for, and (ii) whether any additional posts have been created.

The Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group – membership of which includes the Scottish Government, NHS Education for Scotland, British Medical Association, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and various Health Board representatives including regional workforce planners – undertakes an annual review of medical training establishments and makes recommendations to Scottish Ministers on the need to create additional training places in order to meet increased demand and future anticipated consultant need.

A copy of a table which shows how many NHS specialty training places have been available in each of the last 10 years, broken down by speciality, has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 65598).

The table referred to in PQ S6W-33144 on 21 January 2025, which is held in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (BIB number 65598), gives a breakdown of the numbers of specialty posts available for recruitment and vacancies after recruitment for the past 10 years.

NHS Education for Scotland, in collaboration with wider stakeholders, are taking action to support recruitment into underfilled specialties including cancer and psychiatry. These actions include initiatives to promote these specialties through recruitment campaigns; increase exposure to these specialties, particularly during medical school and early career stages through Foundation placements and programmes, careers fairs and training days and; supporting recruitment in specific regions.

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 data below shows that 1083 Foundation Year 2 doctors have returned to training in Scotland since 2020.