Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14332 on 7 February 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website .

An additional £2.5 million has been re-allocated to the Scottish Welfare Fund from the proposed £5 million addition to the Discretionary Housing Payment budget during 2022-23. This additional funding is an exceptional measure in response to the cost of living crisis, and will enable local authorities to provide more flexible local support through Crisis Grants and Community Care Grants. This can include payments to individuals and households who are experiencing financial challenges, including the effects of the cost of living crisis and food or fuel insecurity.

In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises the clinical and cost-effectiveness of newly-licensed medicines. Following a full submission from the submitting company, Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd, the SMC published “accepted for restricted use” advice for Health Boards on the routine use of Keytruda ® for the treatment of persistent, recurrent, or secondary cervical cancer in NHS Scotland on 13 February 2023.

The decision to prescribe a medicine for an individual, and which medicine to prescribe, is entirely for the clinician in charge of an individual’s care, having taken into account their clinical condition, safety considerations and any relevant clinical guidance.

The Scottish Government is a Living Wage accredited employer. As of 30 September 2022 9150 staff were directly employed by the Scottish Government and all are paid a salary at least equivalent to £11.48 per hour.

We are working closely with NHS Boards to support a range of local initiatives designed to meet the basic and practical needs of junior doctors, and their teams. This includes access to quiet spaces to support health and wellbeing, the installation of lockers and further support to facilitate out of hours catering.

The Scottish Government is determined to deliver the recommendations of the Expert Working Group’s report on junior doctor wellbeing and have begun introducing further improvements to working conditions. We have met the key recommendation of limiting consecutive days of long shifts, with 100% compliance achieved in December 2022. We will continue to work with NHS Boards and employers to monitor and ensure this continues in the long-term.

In February 2023 we invited Boards to consider the purchase of small hot food appliances for all Doctors in Training in Secondary Care. We encouraged Boards to liaise with their local BMA rep around the specifics of the ask and are currently in the process of allocating budget to cover the purchase of appliances.

The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (“ACCC”) has previously welcomed significant progress made by Scotland in addressing the concerns identified by the ACCC. In response to decision VII/8s, issued by the ACCC in October 2021, the UK submitted an action plan to the ACCC on 1 July 2022. Work is in progress in relation to the areas of concern raised by the ACCC in order to strengthen Scotland’s compliance. The Scottish Government has now introduced an exemption from court fees for Aarhus Convention cases in the Court of Session. The Scottish Civil Justice Council is undertaking a review of court rules relating to Protective Expenses Orders, and this is currently underway. Policy development is ongoing in relation to a new Human Rights Bill, which is to include a human right to a healthy environment. The Scottish Government is committed to introducing legislation to reform legal aid in the course of the current Parliament. This work is informed by ongoing engagement with stakeholders. The deadline for addressing areas of concern set out in the Action Plan is October 2024. The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention.

The Scottish Government, Health Boards and National Services Scotland (NSS) maintain regular contact on reducing single-use items in healthcare settings through the Sustainable Procurement Steering Group, which supports Boards transition to more circular supply practices.

A programme of work has been established to review the use of reusable alternatives and reduce the amount of single use Personal Protective Equipment used by Health Boards. This work looks at existing stock within NSS warehouses, current decontamination guidance and the capability of Health Board infrastructure to process reusable products. Where the use of reusable products is not possible, we aim to increase the number items that can be recycled at the end of their use.

National uniforms, bedding and textiles are all reusable and are laundered in house through NHS Scotland laundries, or in the case of uniforms and workwear, staff may launder at home.

Regulation of the nursing profession is reserved to the U.K. Parliament. Making the word “nurse” a protected title in law is problematic due to its historical use in a broader context than today’s graduate profession, as regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Such protection would require an amendment to the Nursing and Midwifery Order (2001). SG is working closely with DHSC on a programme to modernise regulation of healthcare professions and the protection of titles will be carefully considered within this agenda.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing opportunities to participate in shaping inclusive policies that promote mitigation of climate change in line with our Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change. We are aiming to engage with stakeholders and members of the public during 2023 to inform the development of the next Climate Change Plan. This is in advance of a public consultation which will commence when the draft Climate Change Plan is laid in Parliament later in 2023 for a period of at least 120 days of scrutiny.

We are engaging on the next Climate Change Plan with stakeholders through a variety of means including the Climate Change Plan Advisory Group (CCPAG) and the Climate Policy Engagement Network. The CCPAG includes representatives of academia, NGOs, business and industry and trade unions, and meetings are planned to take place up to October 2023. The Climate Policy Engagement Network will consist of representatives of key sectors of interest, organisations and relevant experts to enable meaningful participation in delivery of climate change policy. Additionally as the draft Climate Change Plan continues to be developed, we will continue engagement at a sectoral level with stakeholder representatives and we are exploring other opportunities to engage with other relevant interests.

Every child growing up in Scotland, regardless of their background, should have an equal chance of attending university and participating in higher education.

More students than ever have a place at university, and will benefit from free tuition – saving them up to £27,750 of student debt, compared with their counterparts in England. We continue to invest nearly £2 billion per year in Scotland’s colleges and universities, enabling them to continue to deliver high-quality education and training.

Average student support provided per full-time student was £6,140 in 2019-20 (the latest data available), an increase from £6,010 in 2018-19.

Latest HESA statistics demonstrate the continued strength of our university sector with record numbers of Scottish Students in 2021-22.

Once again, we have a record high number of students from deprived areas with 5,595 Scots entering university (+80 on previous year) - up 41% since the establishment of the Commission on Widening Access by this Government. This illustrates the important work achieved in supporting people into Higher Education.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in placement of students in accommodation or in the provision of student accommodation, whether that is university halls of residence, private purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) or private rented tenancies.

However, we are determined to improve supply, accessibility, affordability and standards across the private rented sector; and our review of purpose built student accommodation, which is looking at issues including supply and affordability, is nearing conclusion. We look forward to receiving the recommendations of the cross-sectoral PBSA Review Group in due course.

We are also committed to introducing new prevention of homelessness duties as part of a forthcoming Housing Bill. The bill will include new duties on public bodies to ‘ask and act’ about housing situations. We are exploring what is possible in relation to colleges and universities to be part of this. It will also include changes to existing legislation to allow local authorities to intervene at an earlier stage to prevent homelessness.

In line with the action from the Drug Death Taskforce 'Changing Lives' report that the Scottish Government should work with NHS naloxone leads and pharmaceutical companies to ensure sufficient supplies are available to meet demand we are working closely with these bodies, as well as others involved in the supply and distribution of Naloxone, to ensure sufficient supplies are available and to monitor demand and any increases.