Chamber and committees

Specific rates of pay for workers in the offshore wind and decommissioning industries are a commercial matter and the Scottish Government has no powers to compel employers to provide such data, as employment law is a specifically reserved under the Scotland Act 1998. Despite Scottish Ministers calling for the devolution of employment law under the Smith Commission process, the Scottish Government has not undertaken its own assessment of pay workers in either industry.

However, in respect of the wider position in the economy, we are currently considering all available options to promote fair work practices, including collective bargaining and payment of the National Minimum Wage and, where possible, the Scottish Living Wage, through Scottish Government procurement contracts.

We have had no recent discussions with the UK Government on this matter following its publication of the latest guidance in May 2018.

Scottish Ministers have written to the Home Secretary following publication of our further powers paper, Scotland’s Population Needs and Migration Policy, seeking a meeting to discuss how the migration system could meet Scotland’s distinct needs.

We remain very concerned of the importance of a cap on migration, which does not reflect Scotland's needs, as we are aware the Tier 2 cap is causing great difficulties to employers in meeting emerging skill gaps that cannot be met through local recruitment.

I have raised the issue of Brexit impacts on the labour market for workers of energy related services roles, and of the wider impact on the energy sector, including Oil and Gas and offshore wind subsections; most recently with UK Ministers via the Joint Ministers Council process on 3 December 2018.

The Scottish Government has not had any specific discussions with the UK Government regarding the number of seafarers who are resident in Scotland and employed in the offshore wind and oil and gas industries. Although the impact of Brexit on Scottish domiciled offshore wind and oil and gas services activities and workers was discussed with Claire Perry, Minister of State for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy at the Joint Ministerial Council on 3 December 2018.

Scottish Ministers last wrote to the UK Government on matters effecting seaforces pay and conditions on 27 September 2018 following the UK Government’s publication of corresponding revised guidance; " Guide to the application of the Equality Act 2010 and National Minimum Wage for seafarers". In that correspondence, Scottish Ministers urged the UK Government to go further and consider the introduction of legislation for seafarers working solely in UK waters, thus ensuring that protection is afforded.

The Scottish Government has invested £20.4m over the three year period 2015-2018 from the Primary Care Fund to recruit pharmacists in to GP practices. All Health Boards are making progress in recruiting these pharmacists and to date Boards have indicated they have appointed 201.1 whole time equivalent (wte) pharmacists and 47.7 wte technicians in to general practice.

Further funding from the Primary Care Improvement Fund has been released to NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to continue to support recruitment during 2018-19.

Community pharmacy owners are independent contractors and are responsible for the recruitment of pharmacists working in community pharmacy.

Work is underway to strengthen pharmacy workforce data, including in community pharmacies. This will help to inform future iterations of the Primary Care Workforce Plan, in order to help ensure the right workforce is in place and to take action, where necessary, to meet future service models and demands.

The number of newly qualified pharmacists entering the workforce is difficult to predict as pharmacists can come to work in Scotland from other parts of the UK as well as other countries. However through the NES Pre-Registration Pharmacist Scheme (PRPS) approximately 200 newly qualified pharmacists are available to enter the Scottish workforce each year.

The following table shows the number of students enrolling on to the MPharm undergraduate degree in the first year at the two schools of pharmacy in Scotland.

Scottish Ministers last wrote to the UK Government on 27 September 2018 following the UK Government’s publication of corresponding revised guidance; " Guide to the application of the Equality Act 2010 and National Minimum Wage for seafarers". Scottish Ministers urged the UK Government to go further and consider the introduction of legislation for seafarers working solely in UK waters, thus ensuring that protection is afforded to all seafarers who operate on our shores.

The Scottish Government has not had any discussions with the UK Government regarding the number of seafarers who are resident in Scotland and employed on passenger or freight ferries. Please see the reply to S5W-20563 on 20 December 2018 for details of correspondence with UK Government regarding the National Minimum Wage implications for seafarers working in UK waters.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Future payments for phases of this project are subject to a number of factors and therefore payment amounts can vary. Aberdeen City Council administers payments to Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) each month. The payments Transport Scotland makes to Aberdeen City Council are published in monthly expenditure reports and are available at: https://www.transport.gov.scot/about/expenditure/ .

Payments for phases of this project are subject to a number of factors and therefore payment amounts can vary. Once a payment has been certified, as part of the governance arrangement for the AWPR/B-T contract, Aberdeen City Council administers payments to Aberdeen Roads Limited (ARL) each month. The payments Transport Scotland makes to Aberdeen City Council are published in monthly expenditure reports and are available at:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/about/expenditure/ .