Chamber and committees

Scottish Government officials are meeting with NHS Education Scotland on 27 September to explore primary care cancer education. This follows the recent cessation of Cancer Research UK’s Clinical Engagement Team that played a key role in delivering cancer education across NHS Scotland in recent years.

The Scottish Government is taking appropriate steps to ensure we have the necessary staffing in place to support our NHS services. Over the lifetime of this parliament we are committed to investing more than £11 million in further domestic and international recruitment to support NHS staffing levels.

Student nurses and midwives entering funded degree programmes will increase in 2022-23 to a total recommended intake of 4,837. This will be the tenth successive increase, doubling the number of students who were funded in the last decade.

To ensure appropriate shift cover where there is increased demand the majority [54.9%] of temporary staffing cost comes from the NHS Staff Bank. Bank staff are NHS staff, on NHS contracts at NHS rates of pay.

The usage of bank and agency staff was vital during the height of the pandemic, the most pressured time our NHS has ever seen. The use of short term staff in an organisation as large and complex as the NHS is inevitable and is not related to one specific issue.

Their use helps ensure service continuity during times of planned and unplanned staffing gaps including sickness absence and leave. Boards receive monthly agency spend reports and each Board has identified an Executive Lead to take overall responsibility for this area.

The Scottish Government is in regular discussions with Scottish Water on a wide range of issues. In relation to spill monitors, the first programme of installation has been focussed on proximity to bathing waters, particularly those that are at risk of failing to meet minimum water quality standards. In line with Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Route Map, it aims to install 1,000 new monitors by 2024. Scottish Water is continuing to define the priority locations for installation of monitors and it is expected that around 400 will be required to monitor overflows within 2km of bathing waters.

Scottish Water is working on developing a specification for the monitors by reviewing lessons learned from the roll out in England and Wales and by consulting with its supply chain. Scottish Water is looking to leverage maximum value from the monitors it installs so that overall intelligence in how the sewerage system is operating can be improved.

The £400 Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide important relief for consumers. However, the Scottish Government believes that much more action is required at UK Government level to help mitigate the impact of the energy price crisis, especially for those most vulnerable. The First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister ahead of her statement in the House of Commons on 8 September, making it clear that the UK Government must target additional financial support to those most in need, over and above measures already announced. We will continue to argue this case.

Japan is a key partner country to Scotland, with numerous shared interests, including renewable energy and the subsea/offshore industry. However, the Scottish Government position on nuclear power is clear – we do not support the building of new nuclear power stations in Scotland under current technologies.

The Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People in Scotland is set to run until 2026. This strategy is delivered by the Managed Service Network for children and young people with cancer (MSN CYPC). A progress update to the strategy will be developed by the MSN as part of its annual reporting cycle.

To date the Scottish Government has paid £160,000 to deliver the Young Islanders Network.

Table 1 on Crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, 2012-13 to
‎ 2021-22, from the National statistics on Recorded crime in Scotland, includes the requested information on theft of a motor vehicle. This is available within the supporting document and the associated excel tables at: Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2021-2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

If useful, a rolling annual picture is also available in the shorter quarterly releases of National Statistics on recorded crime, based on the most recent 5 years. Figures for the years ending June 2018 to June 2022 are available at: Recorded Crime in Scotland: year ending June 2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information on the number of people convicted for ‘theft of a motor vehicle’ is available in the Main tables (table 4b) of the National Statistics on Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2020-21 statistical publication available at Supporting documents - Criminal proceedings in Scotland: 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The latest available information is for the financial year 2020-21.

It should be noted that the national lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent court closures resulted in significant reduced activity in both the number of reports being referred to COPFS and the number of proceedings going through Scottish courts. Consequently the 2020-21 figures should not be considered indicative of any long-term trends.

Whilst the Scottish Government do publish data on both recorded crimes and criminal proceedings in Scotland, these are based on distinct and unlinked data sets. Care should be taken when comparing different data sources relating to the criminal justice system. Detailed information on why these two data sources are not directly comparable can be found in Annex C, paragraph 14 of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland: 2020-21 bulletin.

For example recorded crime statistics count crimes and offences at the time that they came to the attention of Police Scotland while criminal proceedings statistics report on cases which have concluded in court. This means that a crime may be recorded by the police in one year, charges brought and court proceedings concluded in subsequent years. In addition, a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime, or a set of crimes with more than one victim, in a proceeding, but only the main charge is counted in these court proceedings statistics. There is also the possibility that the crime recorded by the police may be altered in the course of judicial proceedings.

The Scottish Government and COSLA jointly developed and published the response to the independent report ‘A New future for Scotland’s Town Centres’. The ‘Town Centre Action Plan Review – Joint response from Scottish Government and COSLA’ sets out a new vision for town centres that ‘Towns and town centres are for the wellbeing of people, planet and economy’. The response outlines actions directed to better embed a ‘Town Centre First approach’ to ensure the economic, social and environmental health of town centres is at the heart of investment decision making. The response was agreed by all Council Leaders.

In addition, we have established the Place-Based Investment Programme to accelerate ambitions for place, 20-minute neighbourhoods, town centre action, community led regeneration and community wealth building. Investments are also expected to contribute to net zero, inclusive economic development, wellbeing, tackling inequality, and community involvement and ownership. Local government is a key partner in delivering this Programme and receive a funding allocation. All Council Leaders agreed to support the aims and objectives of the Programme.

We are all shocked by the devastating effects of the floods in Pakistan, with children reported to be the most vulnerable; UNICEF has reported that some 17,566 schools nationwide have been damaged or destroyed. The Scottish Government has made £500,000 in funds available to be split between the Disasters Emergency Committee and the Humanitarian Emergency Fund. This is a clear example of loss and damage caused by climate change, speaking to the importance of Scotland’s leadership in this area. It is important that we stand in solidarity with Pakistan, its people, and the diaspora community during this crisis. I met with the Pakistan Consul General in Glasgow on 7 September to hear first-hand the situation on the ground, and to offer Scotland’s support. We are working with the Pakistani community to ensure that we provide consistent messaging on how they might best assist the people of Pakistan during this time.