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It is clear that the changes in working practices and budgets will offer opportunities to right-size the portfolio and improve efficient delivery of services to the public. There are no details of any savings available yet as the multi-year programme has not started. The first phase of the programme will begin this year and will look to gather and validate existing estate information and to plan for a place-based approach across the public sector. Subsequent phases will identify opportunities to work towards an optimal, greener and interoperable public sector estate.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the sustainability of the NHS and in March 2022 we published, in partnership with CoSLA, the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care . The Strategy outlines our shared vision: a sustainable, skilled workforce with attractive career choices where all are respected and valued for the work they do. To ensure all Health Boards have sufficient capacity, planning guidance has been issued to support the production of new Three Year Workforce Plans, supported by local systems’ workforce data.

Staffing across NHS Scotland is at record levels, having increased by 23.5% under this Government. There are also record high numbers of nursing and midwifery staff, up by 14.8% since September 2006, and numbers of student nurses entering Scottish Government funded degree programmes will increase by 9% in 2022-2023, the 10 th successive increase in recommended student numbers.

We are investing £11 million over the next five years in new national and international recruitment campaigns and have established a national Centre for Workforce Supply to support the development and implementation of resource strategies and services across the system. We are also carrying out work to promote service innovation and redesign, such as utilisation of Associate Physicians, Advanced Nurse Practitioners and Health Care Support Workers; all of which will support maintaining appropriate staffing levels.

The National Treatment Centre (NTC) Programme will deliver the single biggest increase in protected planned care capacity ever created in NHSScotland. The network of 10 NTCs will deliver capacity for over 40,000 additional planned procedures and diagnostic care across 12 specialties.

Within the next 18 months, NTCs will open in NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Highland and at NHS Golden Jubilee specialising in orthopaedic surgery. On 13 April, we also announced £1.8m of funding to purchase a private hospital in Ayrshire (Carrick Glen) to be developed into a new National Treatment Centre specialising in orthopaedics.

As well as significant investment in new infrastructure, the new NHSScotland Centre for Sustainable Delivery is also leading work to explore new and innovative ideas to reduce In Patient / Day Case and Outpatient waiting times. Examples include:

• The rollout of Active Clinical Referral Triage, to provide patients with information about non-surgical interventions and self-management options;
• Patient Initiated Reviews, enabling patients to be escalated if their condition deteriorates and reduces routine appointments while supporting patients in a safe and clinically appropriate manner; and
• Enhanced Recovery after Surgery pathways, designed to support patients achieve faster recovery after surgery.

Scottish Ministers are committed to empowering our communities and engagement in regional marine planning partnerships. It is for each regional marine planning partnership to determine its own governance arrangements. Section 12 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 requires Scottish Ministers to ensure that the group of persons (to whom regional marine planning functions are delegated) comprises, so far as it reasonably practicable, representatives of persons who have an interest in the protection and enhancement of that marine region and the use of that region for recreational and commercial purposes. Decisions on applications for membership are a matter to be determined by each regional marine planning partnership. Should membership be declined, marine planning partnerships are required to provide reasons for the decision and the applicant is free to reapply if they wish to do so.

In the case of the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership (“CMPP”), they put on hold the consideration of all membership applications, which included the Clyde Coastal Community Councils’ application considered at the 17 th June 2021 CMPP member’s meeting, because the CMPP was undergoing a full-scale review of its governance structure and was, therefore, unable to consider new applications at that time. Clyde Coastal Community Councils were informed of this decision along with the reasoning behind it and that membership applications would be welcomed and fully considered once the governance review was complete. The review’s recommendations were informed by workshops which the Clyde Coastal Community Councils participated in during January 2022.

The governance review concluded that there is a need for increased community representation on the CMPP and proposes that community council/group representatives, such as from the Clyde Coastal Community Councils, be included in the Steering Group of the new proposed governance structure. Scottish Ministers welcome these proposals to address concerns regarding community representation. The proposed governance structure from this review was discussed and agreed in principle by the CMPP on 7 June 2022 and will be implemented in due course.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07994 on 6 May 2022. 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 Scottish Government has received £14.564 billion in Covid-19 related funding from the UK Government. Amounts received for 2020-21 were £9.752 billion and for 2021-22 are £4.812 billion. No Covid-19 funding has been received to date for 2022-23 and based on dialogue with the UK Government none is expected.

Details of the timing and split of funding received are included in the following table:

Good governance and regulation is not captured by a single number. We will work with public bodies leaders and other stakeholders in the coming months, to agree the optimal public body landscape for achieving improved outcomes, good governance and regulation. The spending review provides a platform for engagement ahead of the next budget. We do not intend to take the same approach as set out by the UK Government, but we do need to reshape and refocus. We will work together across the public sector to look creatively at reform in order to become more efficient and deliver better outcomes.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of day services to both those who use them and to their families and carers. We have been working closely with local areas to ensure that services are delivered safely. Revised guidance for buildings-based day services was published on 26 May 2022. The guidance says that such services should return to pre-pandemic capacity wherever possible, while operating safely in line with COVID-19 guidance.

The Scottish Government is working with a variety of key learning disability stakeholder groups and organisations who highlight concerns and issues. These are being addressed through relevant policy teams across the Scottish Government to ensure a joined-up approach. We are also working with strategic partners such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). HIS have been commissioned to gather and provide insights into different approaches to the redesign of learning disability day services, recognising the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created for service users, their families and service providers.

The Scottish Government does not require local authorities to record the grounds on which a tenant is evicted when they present as homeless.

Section 11 of the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 requires a landlord to notify the local authority when proceedings for possession are raised but there is no requirement for the local authority to record the grounds when it receives notice.

The Scottish Government’s code of guidance on homelessness recommends that on receiving notification, the local authority should take the most proactive approach possible to prevent homelessness occurring.

Local authorities can collect information on grounds for eviction when a household presents as homeless, especially if they can undertake activity which can prevent homelessness. Local authorities can also amend the section 11 notice to collect this information for their own purposes, in particular for the prevention of homelessness.

The Scottish Government launched a public consultation on the draft physical intervention in schools guidance on 21 June. The draft human rights-based guidance makes clear that restraint and seclusion should only ever be used as a last resort and when in the best interests of the child or young person.

The draft guidance is a result of our 2019 agreement with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2019 that non-statutory guidance be developed as a first step to improve practice in this area.

The draft guidance has been developed carefully, over time, with extensive input from over thirty working group members and partners, including the Children’s Commissioner, young people, parents, staff, local government and third sector organisations.

The consultation period has been extended to 25 October to allow all those with an interest in this sensitive area, including children and young people, to feedback their views. We will work closely with partners, following final publication, to ensure the guidance is followed.

Details of the membership and notes of the meetings of the physical intervention working group are available on the Scottish Government’s website: Physical Intervention Working Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .