Chamber and committees

We have recruited a multi-disciplinary cross-agency working group, including a broad spectrum of individuals involved in planning and commissioning services, to develop and implement a quality assurance programme for the General Standards for Neurological Care and Support. This has been led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and will support health and social care providers to identify what they are doing well and where they can improve.

Undertaking this work will identify areas of good practice and improvement across NHS Scotland and help to drive forward better standards of care for people with neurological conditions.

We are also in the process of engaging with local leads in all Scottish health boards and Health & Social Care Partnerships, and exploring with them local priorities and scope for establishing leadership groups and a national practice sharing forum for neurology.

In 2021 we supported the Neurological Alliance of Scotland (NAoS) to produce three new ‘What to Expect’ information guides for carers of people with neurological conditions. These guides include information on carers’ rights under the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 and comprise:

• What to expect when you are new to caring
• What to expect from advocacy services
• What to expect when planning ahead

The guides were endorsed by the Coalition of Carers and are available at the NAoS website: https://www.scottishneurological.org.uk

We are currently supporting the NAoS to undertake a project in early 2023 to work with carers centres assessing current resources and identifying gaps that still need to be addressed regarding information, training and signposting.

In 2019, we published a Neurological Care and Support – a National Framework for Action 2020-25 , with a vision to ensure everyone with a neurological condition can access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms.

The aims include improving the provision of co-ordinated health and social care and support, developing sustainable workforce models and ensuring high standards of person-centred care.

Since October 2020 we have we have awarded £2.1 million across three rounds of funding to 35 projects by NHS Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and third sector organisations working to achieve better outcomes for people living with neurological conditions.

I refer the member to the Neurological Care And Support: A Framework For Action 2020-2025 – Midpoint Progress Report , which contains details of work to support personalised models of care.

I refer the member to the Scottish Government’s second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan which committed to offering up to 500 apprenticeship opportunities across NHS Scotland in 2022/23.

NHS Boards deliver a wide range of employability programmes, following the ‘No One Left Behind’ overarching approach which is place-based, needs-led and person-centred. Programmes delivered in 2022-23 have focused on a wide range of groups, including: young people at risk of long-term unemployment, care leavers, veterans and service leavers, and lone parents over the age of 25.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) are taking steps to introduce Flying Finish across NHS Boards, to benefit the workforce and the service. Work has already taken place to put in place a national Retire & Return policy within the NHS.

On 30 August 2022 the Interim National Arrangements on Retire & Return was announced, which offers a process that supports retiring employees to return to employment in their health board on a part time basis, should they wish to do so. The process enables retiring employees to continue employment that is suitable to them and the service, taking a person-centred approach which supports and manages the retirement in a tailored and individual way.

Equally Safe at Work is an innovative employer accreditation programme developed by Close the Gap, Scotland’s policy advocacy organisation working on women’s labour market equality. It supports employers to improve their employment practice to advance gender equality at work and prevent violence against women.

Public Health Scotland, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and Healthcare Improvement Scotland are taking part in this pilot which commenced in July 2022 and will take approximately one year to complete. A further five Health Boards, NHS Borders, NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney, National Education Scotland and NHS Fife, are part of the shadow group.

In November 2022, Public Health Scotland published a report analysing the 2022 survey of the General Practice workforce. This publication is available at General practice workforce survey 2022 - General practice workforce survey - Publications - Public Health Scotland . Following this work in 2022, the Scottish Government has committed to undertaking the workforce survey on an annual basis.

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

We will continue to support SFRS as they continue to work in partnership with the FBU and Professor Anna Stec to build on the existing work of their dedicated Contaminants Group.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider any related proposals from the FBU or SFRS as a result of this important research.

Decisions on the allocation of its capital budget, including how to prioritise fleet, equipment or buildings is a matter for SFRS.

The Scottish Government is in regular contact with SFRS to ensure it has the resources it needs to keep communities safe. SFRS is currently undertaking an assessment of the risks faced by communities and the assets which are needed to deal with those risks and this will inform future discussions on both capital and resource budgets.

The Scottish Government has made significant funding commitments to protect and restore our biodiversity and is committed to invest an additional £500 million in our natural economy over the course of this parliament. Our recent funding package of £2.9 million for biodiversity projects comes on top of a £65 million commitment for nature restoration. This additional funding includes £1.3m for Atlantic rainforest restoration to fund the first phase of a rainforest restoration programme; £0.5m for ‘Species on the Edge’; and £200,000 to expand nature networks.

As set out in the new draft Scottish Biodiversity Strategy we are committed to developing a Biodiversity Investment Plan, to mobilise public, private and philanthropic finance, closing the estimated £20 billion finance gap for nature this coming decade.