Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government works with Homes for Scotland and other housing organisations on a regular basis to discuss options for support and development of the housing sector.

Help to Buy (Scotland) is a demand-led scheme, intended to support people to buy new homes, to support industry and to stimulate sustainable economic growth.

The scheme has been successful with high demand levels. Recognising this, ministers increased the funding available this financial year by a further £50 million. Continued demand from members of the public has resulted in all available funding being allocated – although the associated purchases will continue to be completed throughout the financial year.

Ministers are not in a position to bring forward funding from 2015-16. A budget of £100 million remains available to support purchases to be completed from 1 April 2015.

All applicants looking for assistance to purchase a new home under Help to Buy (Scotland) up to close of business on 18 July 2014 are being assessed for support under the scheme.

If their applications meet the requirements of the scheme rules, they will receive support to complete their purchases.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is responsible for trainee recruitment. In May 2014 NES advertised and filled all available 30 ST1 core emergency medicine vacancies for accident and emergency departments.

In terms of consultancy vacancies, the most recent published information collected from NHSScotland boards as of 31 March 2014 indicates there were 16.0 whole time equivalent (WTE) consultant vacancies in emergency medicine.

The funded establishment of consultants as a whole has increased from 3,896.9 WTE as of 30 September 2006 to 5,018.4 WTE as of March 2014. This includes the specialism of emergency medicine, which has increased by 119.9% over the same period.

In terms of recruitment into trainee emergency medicine posts in Scotland, information gathered from NHSScotland boards following the end of national recruitment indicates that from 21 Scottish specialty trainee 4 (ST4) posts advertised, six were filled with 15 vacancies remaining at ST4 level. Boards are actively recruiting to fill these posts.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of British Sign Language (BSL) to the deaf community in Scotland. BSL is a vital means of communication for deaf people.

Scottish Government agencies and public bodies support the duties under the Equality Act 2010 which states that in most circumstances, service providers must make reasonable adjustments to remove any barriers – physical or otherwise – that could make it difficult or impossible for disabled people, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing, to use their services.

We have taken a range of action to support deaf people to find employment or enter training programmes. For example:

In June 2013, Skills Development Scotland, in partnership with the National Deaf Children’s Society published a ‘Template for Success’, a resource aimed at improving the post-school transition for young deaf people;

Skills Development Scotland staff can request BSL interpretation and other communication support for individuals as required;

We continue to fund Donaldson’s College project for deaf school leavers. ‘Future Focus’ supports deaf young people aged 16-24 into further education and supported or mainstream employment,

At college and university, the Scottish Government ensures that all students with disabilities are supported to enable them to participate fully in further or higher education. This is through individual support from the institution as well as targeted support, such as the Disabled Students Allowance.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of British Sign Language (BSL) to the deaf community in Scotland. BSL is a vital means of communication for deaf people and contributes to their ability to live fulfilled and independent lives.

While employment remains reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government nonetheless has provided significant funding to the deaf community in Scotland across a range of organisations. Total funding of £2,707,657 is being provided for the period 2012-15.

Communication support workers are not required to be registered therefore exact numbers are not known.

Through Principles of Inclusive Communication - an information and self-assessment tool for public authorities, the Scottish Government recognises that a person who requires communication support may need information to be provided in a different format and may require communication support workers to enable them to communicate.

We want to make sure that the public are as well informed as possible about the content of Scotland’s Future and the huge opportunities offered by independence.

To facilitate this, the Scottish Government has organised a full programme of public engagement events across all of Scotland. This will cover as many local authorities as possible.

As at 1 July 2014, the programme of Scotland’s Future public meetings has attracted an audience of over 3000 people.