Chamber and committees

Regulatory policy officials are in regular contact with the GDC and The Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care is scheduled to meet with the regulator's Chair and Chief Executive in early September.

Officials work closely with their counterparts in the Department for Health and Social Care and I myself have recently written to UK Government Ministers, with an offer to work together to explore how we can improve the take-up of overseas applicants across the four countries of the UK.

In terms of action taken this far in addressing the backlog of applicants, this Parliament agreed on Wednesday 25 January 2023 that the Dentists, Dental Care Professionals, Nurses, Nursing Associates and Midwives (International Registrations) Order 2022 be approved, with it subsequently coming into force on 8 March 2023.

This UK Statutory Instrument gives the General Dental Council (GDC) powers to amend international routes into registration without the approval of the Privy Council, subject to consulting on proposed changes. The GDC launched such a consultation on 4 July 2023 with proposals to enable registration processes to continue to be effective for internationally qualified dental professionals in the medium term, and plans to consult again in due course on longer term arrangements.

In its immediate response to the current demand for the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE), the GDC announced on 16 May 2023 that it has worked with its providers to triple the number of places available for Part 1 of the ORE from 200 to 600, and has committed to maintaining that additional capacity into 2024.

We will continue to work closely with the GDC, UK Government and other stakeholders, to assist wherever possible in smoothing the path of international dental graduates into UK practice.

The Scottish Government regularly discusses net zero policy and progress towards targets with the UK Government. The primary vehicle for our engagement with the UK Government is the Net Zero Inter-ministerial Group (IMG), which meets regularly and involves all four governments of the UK. In the last year, the Net Zero IMG has met on 26 October 2022, 27 April 2023 and 28 June 2023.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government regularly corresponds with the UK Government regarding net zero issues to assure continued progress in achieving our gas emission targets. For example, I recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport, on 12 July 2023 to highlight the role Scotland could play in the production of Sustainable Aviation (SAF) - which could help to significantly reduce emissions - and to ask whether the UK Government intends to provide a form of price support mechanism for the substantially higher costs of SAF. Likewise, the Circular Economy Minister recently met with the Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience in June 2023 to discuss the future of deposit return schemes (DRS) across the UK following the UK Government’s decision to refuse an exemption for Scotland’s DRS from the Internal Market Act.

Throughout our engagement with the UK Government, the Scottish Government continually advocates for the greater ambition required in reserved areas in order for both UK and Scottish emissions targets to be met. The Scottish Government agrees with the Climate Change Committee’s recent UK progress report, which emphasises that greater urgency is required from the UK Government if emissions targets for 2030 and beyond are to be met. We support the Committee’s calls for further and faster UK Government action in a range of crucial reserved areas such as hydrogen, electricity grid upgrades and decarbonisation of the gas network. We will continue to press for more ambitious action in these areas in our discussions with the UK Government.

Colleges are responsible for their own operational decisions, including course provision, and must adapt and respond to the current economic constraints flexibly.

The Scottish Government, despite the unprecedented fiscal challenge, has maintained college and university resource budgets at last year’s levels and I understand that Fife College will continue to offer counselling courses in Academic Year 2023-24.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19700 on 31 July 2023. 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 Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 is an emergency response to provide additional protection to people who rent their home during the cost crisis. It aims to ensure that the majority of tenants - including those who are part of a joint tenancy in the private rented sector - are protected by the temporary emergency measures, by capping in-tenancy rent increases.

Joint tenancies are subject to the cap on in-tenancy rent increases. The Scottish Government do not hold details of the turnover of joint tenancies in Scotland so are unable to estimate or model how many such tenancies may be ended due to some joint tenants moving out while others remain in the property.

NHS Scotland Assure are conducting a survey programme which will confirm how many buildings in the NHS Estate contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Once the extent of the programme is determined, the condition will be assessed, thereafter it will be possible to establish the management and removal plans that may be necessary. This means however, that it is not currently possible to assess what these plans might cost until the survey work is complete.

Maintaining the safety of buildings is the responsibility of building owners. Our focus remains on engagement with public sector organisations to gauge awareness and response to this issue. This will include receipt of information on the status of buildings in the public sector. A decision on whether there is a need to establish a register of buildings would be based upon the information received and subsequent input from our Ministerial Working Group on Building and Fire Safety.

The Scottish Government has not undertaken an inspection for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the Core SG Estate since 2021 and as such has not identified any reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the core SG estate.

A specialist has been appointed to support the development of a scope to undertake building inspection surveys which will also assist in identifying the presence of Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in the Core Estate. The Core Estate is defined as those sites/buildings where SG Directorates operate from.

Pupil Equity Funding allocations are updated and published annually to take into account new, closed and merged schools of that year. The 2023-24 Pupil Equity Funding allocations are currently being finalised and will be communicated to local authorities shortly with publication in due course thereafter. All previous allocations can be found here: Pupil attainment: closing the gap - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scotwww.gov.scot) .

For 2022-23, over £130m of Pupil Equity Funding was to allocated to 97% of schools in Scotland, schools in South Lanarkshire Council received over £8.9m, and of which £1,916,375 was allocated to schools in the G74 and G75 postcodes. The breakdown of 2022-23 allocations for these schools can be found in the following table.

The Scottish Government has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) to identify treatment options for patients across Scotland, including in NHS Tayside, who are currently on waiting lists for the following urogynaecology procedures:

• Urethral Bulking
• Laparoscopic Colposuspension
• Fascial Sling

Working Collaboratively with clinical colleagues across NHS Scotland and CFSD we have agreed a plan that sets out how and when these patients will be treated by adopting a national approach to clear the waiting list. We aim to ensure all patients requiring a procedure is appointed and treated by late summer.

To provide future resilience, the national unit, based in CFSD, will support increased capacity for treatment within NHS Scotland and enable the development of training to build future sustainability within this highly specialist clinical area.

In terms of NHS Tayside, there are eleven patients waiting who required fascial sling surgery. These patients now have a treatment plan and will be seen by Spire Healthcare, Edinburgh. Spire Healthcare is expect to be able to treat all eleven patients by the end of August 2023.