Seòmar agus comataidhean

I recognise the potential impact of industrial action by the RMT and ASLEF unions on the culture sector at a time when it has been seeking to recover from the Covid19 pandemic.

Officials are continuing to monitor the situation closely, including through engagement with organisations representing hospitality, cultural and events stakeholders.

There is positive progress being made on pay negotiations with ASLEF in Scotland, and I am hopeful that additional services will be added in the near future.

As set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, £33 billion is the estimated total gross capital cost of converting our entire building stock, domestic and non-domestic, to zero emissions heat. This estimate is purely indicative and based on a single technology pathway, with cost assumptions derived from the best available evidence including research published by the Climate Change Committee. The Scottish Government continues to keep cost estimates under review, incorporating new evidence as it becomes available.

We agree that everyone should have fair and equitable access to high quality care. It remains an unwelcome reality that communities experience health, quality of life and even life expectancy differently across our society.

The Scottish Government is supporting rural, remote and island communities to address the unique health and social care challenges they face, ensuring that patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has been commissioned to write a business plan detailing how the Health Board will create and host the National Centre of excellence for rural and remote health and social care, which is due to be operational by spring 2023. The National Centre will coordinate, facilitate, fund and promote excellence under the following Four Pillars: ‘Recruitment and Retention’, ‘Ideal Practice and Evaluation’, ‘Training and Education’, and ‘Research and Innovation.’ This will ensure that the issues impacting remote and rural areas in Scotland are given the focused attention necessary to be addressed innovatively and effectively.

With regards to cancer services, our National Cancer Plan advocates a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to cancer services and will help to ensure that access to care and treatment is equitable across Scotland. The Scottish HepatoPancreatoBiliary Network (SHPBN) is a key partner in improving cancer services to ensure equity of care for all patients living with liver cancer. Under the National Cancer Plan, the SHPBN has been awarded £653,000 over two financial years for the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and pancreatic cancer (PC) Patient Pathways Improvement Project to redesign the pancreatic and liver cancer pathways. The key aims of this project are to shorten the time taken to stage and decide the best treatment for patients, streamline patient pathways and improve communication with patients, carers, primary care & health professionals.

The 2019 Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) estimates that 56% of social housing is in EPC band C or better. This is the most recent data available from the SHCS.

Following the suspension of face-to-face interviewing in March 2020 to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, there was no SHCS data collection in 2020. The 2021 SHCS was carried out by an external-only inspection, supplemented with alternative sources of data (e.g. from the Energy Performance Certificate) and the householder providing information to surveyors via telephone.

This approach was designed to provide as reliable as possible estimates of key statistics, including on fuel poverty, energy efficiency and external repairs, while maintaining no contact with the household. No data was collected on internal aspects such as room repairs and aspects of housing standards.

It is expected that the key findings from the 2021 SHCS will be published in February 2023.

The 2022 SHCS returned to full in-home surveying in April 2022.

Scottish Ministers and officials from the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland have been engaging closely with stakeholders in the hospitality, cultural and events sectors on the impact of the reduced Scotrail timetable. This has included discussions through the Events Industry Advisory Group. Officials have continued this engagement on the impact of the industrial action.

I recognise that the industrial action by the RMT and ASLEF unions is having an impact on the culture sector at a time when it has been seeking to recover from the Covid19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government has provided financial support to the culture sector to support their recovery from the pandemic. This includes £3.2m for a recovery fund for independent cinema and £20.8m for a recovery fund for cultural organisations.

Officials are continuing to monitor the situation closely, including through engagement with organisations representing hospitality, cultural and events stakeholders.

The current guidance for General Practice is Appendix 22 - Community Infection Prevention and Control COVID-19 Pandemic which was first published on 29th June.

The pandemic has been the biggest shock our NHS has ever faced. It has necessitated the imposition of Infection Prevention Control measures in order to contain its spread, particularly prior to the vaccination programme being fully rolled out. These measures, which have recently been deescalated, changed the way GPs see their patients. As Covid has not gone away yet some precautions remain in place.

The Scottish Government wants to see greater availability of face-to-face appointments and is working with the BMA and RCGP to ensure this happens as quickly as possible. We are clear that where clinically necessary face-to-face consultations will always be available to those who need them.

We must continue to move toward a position where choice is being offered routinely, and the Scottish Government welcomes the GMC’s proposed changes to the Good Medical Practice guidance placing a greater emphasis on shared decision-making between GPs and their patients.

Many GP practices did offer patients video or phone consultations as well as in-person face-to-face consultations before the pandemic changed the balance and we expect a number of patients will wish to continue afterwards with video or phone consultations rather than travel to their GP practice. Ultimately, what is most important is that appointments are agreed through shared decision making, balancing patient choice and clinical judgement.

The Scottish Government firmly opposes the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. Although zero hours contracts fall under employment law, which is reserved to the UK Government, we are committed to avoiding inappropriate use of zero hours contracts throughout Scotland.

We are taking action to tackle insecure work through Fair Work First, the Scottish Government’s policy for driving high quality, fair work. In May 2022, we published updated Statutory Guidance setting out how public bodies can address Fair Work First requirements in relevant public procurements, including no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts and payment of the real Living Wage.

Fair Work First guidance - for those who are involved in the award and delivery of public sector contracts - makes clear the benefits of secure contracts to both workers and employers. Employers using zero hours contracts should be able to credibly explain their exceptional circumstance which leads to them using such contracts. Employers should also be able to explain the steps they are taking to review their business model to eliminate the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts.

Information on the number of complaints regarding the use of restraint in schools and care settings is not collected at a national level by the Scottish Government. Under existing guidance, any use of physical intervention in schools, including restraint, must be recorded and monitored by local authorities. The Care Inspectorate also gathers information on all incidents of restraint in care settings and reviews selected cases to ensure best practice is followed. This is in addition to the inspection roles of carried out by the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland.

The Scottish Government encourages all concerns or disagreements in relation to service provision to be resolved at as local a level as possible, where that is appropriate. Complaints can also be submitted in line with the service’s complaints handling procedure, with referrals made to the local authority, public services ombudsman and the Care Inspectorate, where appropriate. Where there are concerns about the professional conduct of a teacher registered with the GTCS, these can be referred to the GTCS for further examination. All children and young people, and their families, should be informed of all the routes available to them to make a complaint.

In all settings, police or social work should be informed without delay if there are concerns that a child or young person has suffered harm as a result of restraint. A child protection referral can run in parallel to local complaints handling and disciplinary procedures. Child protection procedures will be initiated when police, social work or health determine that a child may have been significantly harmed or may be at risk of significant harm.

We expect all Councils to take appropriate action in response to any complaint from an employee through their policies and practices.

Councils are independent corporate bodies responsible for the management of their employees and the Scottish Government has no power to investigate reports or allegations of this nature.