Chamber and committees

Keeping the Promise requires a collective approach across all of our services, including care, health, education and justice. The Scottish Government requires to lead from the front, working with partners across local government and third sector, to bring the transformational change required. The actions and commitments we will take are set out in our Promise Implementation Plan published in March 2022.

The Promise Oversight Board includes members with lived and professional experience and is responsible for holding Scotland to account on whether the Promise is being kept.

The Promise Scotland has been established to support organisations across Scotland to Keep The Promise. The Promise Scotland published its set up year report in July 2022. This includes a helpful timeline of work undertaken from the point The Promise Scotland was established.

The Scottish Government has published a child friendly version of the Promise Implementation Plan, developed with the support of Who Cares? Scotland and other stakeholders which is available on the Scottish Government website .

The Promise Bill will be introduced to Parliament before the end of this Parliamentary session to make any further legislative changes required to Keep The Promise.

The National Trauma Training Programme (NTTP) consists of a range of training resources, including a framework which details the knowledge and skills required at each of the four practice levels. This Framework was created in part to enable organisations to deliver their own training or identify suitable training providers. As such, there will be a wide range of NTTP-aligned training that has been delivered to many members of the workforce that we do not hold central information about.

Training delivered by NES (NHS Education for Scotland) central team and the Transforming Psychological Trauma Implementation Coordinators (TPTICs) is recorded. Two different processes are used for monitoring and recording information about numbers accessing training, as set out below:

1) Monitoring and recording processes for face-to-face or screen-to-screen training across all four levels (informed, skilled, enhanced and specialist levels)

All information about face-to-face and screen-to-screen training at any level delivered by TPTICs and the central team is recorded by the TPTIC or central team member via an MS form. This includes information about the type and level of training, by whom and where it was delivered, duration, the number of people attending and their area of work. Because of the multi-agency focus of the NTTP, many of the training sessions bring together professionals working across various organisations and agencies. Reporting focuses on broader numbers and areas of work of attendees (whether justice, health, education, etc.), rather than by organisation, and as such does not differentiate between NHS and other public sector workers.

This information is collated centrally, and numbers of staff trained at each of the four levels are reported quarterly for performance tracking purposes.

2) Monitoring and recording of delivery of online training resources across Informed and skilled levels.

Informed (Level 1)

At the Informed level, the use of NTTP animations Opening Doors and Sowing Seeds, and the recorded workshops that accompany them are monitored through the number of views as indicated on the Vimeo platform. The numbers of views of the animations and workshops, and registrations for the workshops notes and tools are measured on a monthly basis.

This information is collated centrally, and numbers of staff accessing each of the informed training resources are reported quarterly for performance tracking purposes.

A key focus of developing the informed, online resources has been on making them easy to access. The animations and recorded workshops are freely available, meaning people accessing them do not need to supply their email address or employer. Likewise, the training resource for the Informed level will have been shown at in-person/online events, and uploaded to/ watched through various platforms, so it is not possible to capture exact numbers and details as to who has accessed this resource and whether they work for the NHS, another public sector organisation or elsewhere.

Skilled (Level 2)

Four modules to support Skilled practice training are provided on NHS Education for Scotland's Turas platform. To access these modules, it is necessary to have a Turas account.

The number of staff completing each of the four skilled workshops is collected from the Turas system on a monthly basis. This information is collated centrally, and numbers of staff completing each of the skilled modules are reported quarterly for performance tracking purposes.

In addition, Turas can provide further information about registered users who have accessed the modules. Two data sources are used by NES to monitor who has a Turas account. First, any individual can register for Turas and upon registration, and they may provide details of their sector, professional role and organisation. Second, richer data is available for the majority of NHS Scotland staff where Turas draws data from workforce information systems – these provide an accurate and up to date information about job role, department and organisation.

Enhanced (Level 3) and Specialist (Level 4)

There are no online training resources at the Enhanced and Specialist level, as this is intensive skills-based training which is delivered face-to-face/screen-to-screen.

The Scottish Government’s ambition, shared with COSLA, is for a trauma-informed and trauma-responsive workforce and services across Scotland. We want anyone who has been affected by trauma in Scotland to be supported by trauma-informed services that are built on safe and trusted relationships, which support recovery and do not cause any further harm or re-traumatisation.

Over £6million has been invested in a National Trauma Training Programme since 2018, including £3.2 million which has been distributed to all local areas to further develop and embed trauma informed approaches. Support for training and implementation, across all sectors of the workforce, is provided by a team of Transforming Psychological Trauma Implementation Co-Ordinators (TPTICs). In 2021, a network of ‘Trauma Champions’ was also established, this includes senior leaders from across local authorities, health boards and key community planning partners who work collaboratively to influence change across local areas. The Trauma Champions network is supported by the Improvement Service.

The Scottish Government do not make any specific assessment about the training of staff in trauma-informed practice before awarding funding to an organisation. Work is currently underway to develop a Quality Improvement Framework, due for publication in Spring 2023, which will further support any organisation to track their own progress in developing and embedding trauma-informed approaches.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13189 on
‎ 5 January 2023. 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/questions-and-answers

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) is the health body for the provision of evidence-based advice, guidance and standards for health and care professionals to provide safer, more effective care. HIS carry out their statutory duties according to the Operating Framework which is the primary accountability and governance document between Scottish Government and HIS – you can find the full Operating Framework at https://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/previous_resources/policy_and_strategy/sg_his_operating_framework.aspx

The Framework sets out the ongoing relationship between the Scottish Government and HIS, guidance on performance management (including the Annual Review process) and the lines of accountability from HIS to the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the public.

In addition, HIS are taking a number of steps towards becoming a trauma-informed organisation. For further detail, I refer the member to the answer to question

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) has taken a number of steps to ensure all staff are aware of, informed about and trained in trauma-informed practice and principles. The organisation has:

1. Signed up to the National Trauma Training Programme’s (NTTP) Leadership Pledge of Support, demonstrating their commitment to:

The Scottish Government’s response to the Commissioner’s intervention is documented by the three progress reports which the Commissioner has produced during the intervention. These set out the progress which has been made and the areas in which the Scottish Government still requires to make further improvement. The Scottish Government published its Improvement Plan 2022-23 in July setting out its action plan to address these areas of improvement.

As the member is aware, the Government pivoted to respond to the Covid pandemic in early 2020, and the subsequent redeployment of staff to critical areas, has affected the delivery of improvements. As the Civil Service itself recovers from the pandemic, we are taking the time to ensure that we embed continuous improvement in the structures which facilitate and deliver information access to ensure sustained improvement.

The Government’s ‘on time’ response rate over several months remains comparable with the wider public sector in Scotland. This performance has been sustained despite higher year on year request volumes (as at the end of October 2022, requests are up 48% on the previous three years), and increasing complexity of cases. The Government is committed to achieving the 95% target set by the Information Commissioner.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Commissioner’s progress report in May. The Scottish Government published its Improvement Plan 2022-23 in July setting out the actions we are taking to address each of the areas where the Commissioner identified a need for further improvement – including in relation to records management in request handling. The Government continues to work on standardising its records management practice and engagement with all staff is ongoing to ensure compliance with appropriate legislation and guidance.