Chamber and committees

Whilst responsibility for recruitment and retention of pharmacists in community pharmacies is a matter for individual community pharmacy contractors, Scottish Government is increasing the number of pharmacist pre-registration training places by 120 over 5 years from December 2019, to create the opportunity for more pharmacists to enter the profession. To date we have increased places by 66, with the remaining places due to be available by 2024-25.

In addition to ensure the competencies required of pharmacists to meet future workforce demands, the pharmacy regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), has introduced new standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists to ensure pharmacists are equipped for their future roles. These changes include: incorporating the skills, knowledge and attributes for prescribing in order to enable pharmacists to independently prescribe from the point of registration; introducing a new set of learning outcomes to assess the full five years of education and training (undergraduate and pre-registration) and which can link into post-registration education; and making the fifth year of initial education and training a pre-registration foundation training year with strengthened supervision and support and collaborative working between higher-education institutions, statutory education bodies and employers.

In order to aid retention of pharmacists in community pharmacy we have developed a Community Pharmacy NHS Post Registration Foundation Programme, which sees up to 130 places made available for a two and a half year programme for early career pharmacists. The programme is an experiential learning programme designed to develop confidence in pharmacy practice specific to Scotland, building on the skills and resilience established during the pre-registration Foundation Training Year. A Scottish NHS community pharmacy contractor will employ post-registration pharmacists qualifying in the summer of each year as pharmacists in a permanent role.

The Scottish Safer Buildings Accord is an ambitious attempt to secure the cooperation of Scotland’s leading developers to address the cladding problem. It is a complex and commercially sensitive negotiation. The Scottish Government has held productive discussions with Homes for Scotland and developers in recent months and subject to satisfactorily concluding negotiations the Accord will be agreed and signed in the coming weeks.

Work is currently underway to develop an updated Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses Framework.

The Scottish Government has set up a steering group to bring together key stakeholders from across the sector to ensure that the new Framework is fit for purpose and supports ambitions to preserve Scotland's capability to deliver world-leading sexual health services, whilst also identifying key priorities which will require dedicated focus over the coming years.

The steering group, which includes representatives from NHS Boards, Public Health Scotland and third sector organisations, has been consulted on the content and format of the updated Framework, and they will continue to be called upon to comment on the document at all stages of development.

Broader consultation will also be undertaken during the drafting process, to ensure a wide range of stakeholder views can be heard.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is the statutory body for qualification awarding and regulation in Scotland. As an awarding body, SQA develops, maintains, and improves a range of SQA qualifications. These can be gained through learning at Scotland’s schools, colleges, employers and training providers.

In addition, SQA’s Accreditation Unit approves all awarding bodies operating in Scotland that deliver SQA qualifications. A list of these can be found on their website: SQA Accreditation - Approved Awarding Bodies .

However, SQA approval is not required to operate in Scotland (only to deliver SQA accredited qualifications). As such, a range of other awarding bodies operate in Scotland, delivering assessed learning and awards. We do not hold a list of these bodies.

Furthermore, there are currently several Credit Rating Bodies that, along with the SQA’s accreditation unit, have been approved to assign a Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level. The list of CRBs (mainly colleges and universities) are available on the SCQF website: SCQF Database | Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework

The Scottish Government offers funding to support upgrades of older oil and gas heating systems to low carbon alternatives, including in rural areas. This includes via the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme, the Home Energy Scotland cashback and loan scheme, local authority Area-Based Scheme, the SME Loan and Cashback scheme, the Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund and the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme.

Many of these support schemes include a rural and islands uplift to reflect higher delivery costs in more remote areas.

Warmer Homes Scotland offers fully funded grant support for replacement heating systems for those at risk of fuel poverty impacts, offering gas boilers only where a zero emissions heating system is not feasible.

The Scottish Government committed to publishing a refresh of the 2017 Energy Strategy in the Programme for Government and as part of the Bute House Agreement. Following the Scottish Government's response to the Just Transition Commission, we committed to publishing a Just Transition Plan for energy, which will be integrated with the forthcoming Energy Strategy Refresh to ensure a cohesive and joined up framework for action.

In parliament on 29 March 2022, I announced that the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) would be published in Autumn 2022 for consultation.

We intend to publish the draft ESJTP for consultation in the coming months.

The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) discussed the Deposit Return Scheme with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy on 24 March 2022 and myself on 31 October 2022. Scottish Government officials also meet regularly with small brewers’ representatives, most commonly through the DRS System-Wide Assurance Group, of which SIBA is a member.

No modelling has been carried out to ascertain the impact of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) on donations of drinks to charities and other good causes.

As the scheme is cost neutral to consumers, provided they return their empty containers in order to redeem the deposit, we do not expect DRS to affect donation habits.

Save a Life for Scotland maintain a portal showing how many people have been equipped with CPR skills by partners in the delivery of the Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy.

Recent figures can be found here: Home - Save a Life for Scotland .

Beyond this, The Scottish Health Survey 2021 , published 8 November 2022, finds that nearly two thirds of adults have reported ever attending CPR training.

While the Scottish Government provides the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare, we fully expect NHS Board's to utilise funding, facilities and staff while taking account of national and local priorities to meet local health needs.

We expect NHS Boards to plan their facilities and workforce to deliver these services, ensuring the provision of safe, effective and high quality patient care, delivered by the right professional at the right time.

Spend on agency is around 2% of the total NHS expenditure. The majority of temporary staffing in NHS Scotland comes from staff banks; these are NHS staff, working on NHS terms and conditions.

The pandemic has had an impact on bank, agency and locum spend. The rising spend is not unanticipated.

Although bank and agency staff play a crucial role, it is important that we continue our long term investments to attract and retain permanent staff.