Chamber and committees

The shortened midwifery programme was a pilot designed to meet short term workforce shortage in the North of Scotland. This is only one of the education programmes which supplies newly qualified midwives to the North of Scotland. Our latest workforce projections suggest that it is unnecessary to commission a third cohort at this stage and we will continue to monitor the progress of the current two cohorts on the pilot programme. This will be kept under review as we work in partnership with our health and care services and universities to assess midwifery workforce requirements and pre-registration education provision across Scotland in the coming months.

Midwifery is a controlled subject and in December 2019 we announced an increase to student intake of 5% in 20-21 bringing the commissioned number for 20-21 to 270. This is over 65% greater than the commissioned number in 2014, and almost 50% more than in 2016, the year in which students who most recently entered the workforce commenced their studies.

The Scottish Government provides a package of support for paramedic students that is worth more than the £5,000 announced by UK Government. We provide free tuition for eligible undergraduate students where paramedic students in England are expected to pay up to £9,250 per year in tuition fees. In addition we provide funding for placement expenses, uniforms, disclosure and health checks.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29601 on 23 June 2020, this sets out the current position. 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

Detail of funding for the Lothian parliamentary region is set out in the following table.

Tradebe Healthcare opened its clinical waste treatment site at Bellshill in December 2019 to support the national clinical waste contract. A small portion of clinical waste will be sent to England or Wales for high temperature treatment that is not available in Scotland.

Since 22 June 2020, compliance of wearing face coverings by passengers on public transport in Scotland has been high. Transport Scotland officials continue to work closely with operators across all travel modes to monitor and encourage appropriate passenger behaviours and compliance.

The powers are in place, through the legislation, for fixed penalty notices to be issued, if required, to enforce compliance.

The Scottish Government has not issued any new guidance on the prescribing of opioids for pain relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government’s “Quality Prescribing for Chronic Pain – A Guide for Improvement” covers the period 2018 – 2021 and Scottish Government is in the process of drafting an update, a process which includes discussion with and input from doctors’ representatives, patients and other health organisations.

The Scottish Government has convened a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) to look at Prescription Medicine Dependence and Withdrawal. This SLWG is considering the findings of the Public Health England Prescribed Medicines Review in a Scottish context. We expect to report on the SLWG findings in the autumn and the recommendations will centred around the actions required to assists patients who are prescribed drugs known to have dependence effects, including opioid pain medication. Scottish Government is in the process of reviewing its “Quality Prescribing for Chronic Pain – A Guide for Improvement” – this stresses the need to proactively review patients who have been prescribed opioids.

Scotland’s college and universities remain welcoming and open places for staff and students from across the world. Staff and students will have to comply with guidance for residents or visitors travelling to the UK. Those travelling from a country not yet exempt from quarantine requirements should complete a passenger locator form and self-isolate for 14 days. These provisions will be reviewed on a 3 weekly basis. Students who are travelling to Scotland from overseas should check the Scottish Government website for the latest advice.

We have worked in partnership with universities, trade unions and student representatives to develop guidance (published 29 June) for universities, which sets out the measures institutions can take (including physical distancing) to operate safely. Universities and colleges are playing a vital role in communicating directly with, and supporting international students in relation to this and other matters throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The overall budget for Public Dental Services for 2020-21 will be equivalent to 2019-20.

Management information collected by the Chief Dental Officer indicates that as of 12 July 2020, 929 practices, from a total of 1024, had reopened. The majority of remaining practices have a confirmed date for reopening and practices are required to certify to their NHS Board that they are fully compliant with current guidance, which is delivered by NES through the ‘practice recovery toolkit’, before reopening. No NHS Board has informed SG that financial concerns are the reason for not having reopened.

The financial support measures are in place to ensure the health and safety of all patients and staff attending dental practices as they reopen remains the primary consideration and in taking a phased approach the government is seeking to balance the overall risk of infection with the needs of patients to be seen by dentists and ensure dental practices are funded appropriately throughout.