Chamber and committees

When the Agenda for Change terms and conditions system was being discussed in partnership during the early part of the last decade, it was recognised that formulating a unified on-call system would be challenging because of the number and complexity of on-call arrangements in place around the country. Not wanting to delay the implementation of Agenda for Change, therefore, on-call provisions were de-coupled from the main body of the Agenda for Change system when this was introduced in 2004. The Agenda for Change agreement protected staff’s previous on-call arrangements until 31 March 2011 to allow time for an alternative unified system to be negotiated and put in place.

Discussions continued at a UK level through the NHS Staff Council. However, the staff council were not able to identify an appropriate unified system. Instead, in 2010, they agreed a set of general principles within which local agreements should operate. The matter was then devolved to local systems. In Scotland, it was decided this should be the whole country and a Scottish working group was set up under the auspices of the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee with a remit to negotiate and agree a unified system for Scotland. It was recognised that further time would be needed to progress talks in Scotland and an extension of protection for previous on-call arrangements until 31 March 2012 was sought by the working group and granted.

Discussions remain ongoing and I would not wish to prejudice these by commenting further at this time other than to say that all sides remain committed to finding an appropriate way forward by the end of the present protection period.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Since 2007, the following meetings between Scottish and UK Ministers took place, at which kinship was discussed.

Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop met with:

Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 29 April 2008

Tony McNulty, Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, 22 November 2008

Jim Knight, Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, 25 August 2009

Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 17 November 2009

Cabinet Secretary Mike Russell met with:

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, 30 September 2010

Minister for Children and Early Years, Adam Ingram met with:

Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, Schools and Families, 15 July 2008

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met with:

Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,15 September 2011.

The approximately 150 jobs announced are new posts which will be created as a result of this agreement. These will be over and above any current vacancies.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Emergency calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service are not categorised under these operational definitions, I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05187 on 6 February 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Funding Council has indicated that it intends to allocate £84.2 million to further education student support in the academic year 2012-13.

This maintains the baseline for academic year 2011-12, protecting college students from the reductions we have been forced to make elsewhere as the result of the swingeing cut which the UK Government is making to Scotland’s block grant.

The Scottish Funding Council letter of 2 February provides detail on college teaching grants and the regional allocations.

The SFC provided colleges with indicative funding allocations on 2 February 2012.

Employer’s Liability Insurance is a reserved matter. All employers are obliged to hold this type of insurance to cover any harm to an employee arising out of their employment. Other insurance provision is a matter for the private clinic.