Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government believes effective voice is key to fair work and welcomes the CIPD’s contribution to highlighting the need for and the promotion of worker voice. We note their Working Lives Scotland report states that 19% of employees say they have no voice channel at work. More positively, it also notes the significant improvement in managerial openness among large organisations and public sector employees. We will continue to promote effective voice for all workers as the best way to ensure fair and democratic workplaces across Scotland, working in partnership with our stakeholders, including the STUC, employers, and the CIPD.

The Scottish Government expects all workers in Scotland to be treated fairly. Without control over employment law, we are using all the levers available to us to drive high quality and fair work, including effective workers’ voice, across the labour market.

Our Fair Work policy is underpinned by the Fair Work Convention’s Framework, which recognises effective voice as a critical dimension of Fair Work. We are working with our trade union partners and other stakeholders to promote and encourage wider fair work practices, including effective voice in various sectors, such as retail and hospitality. We are also working with stakeholders to deliver on our commitment in The Fair Work Action Plan, published in 2019, to work with the STUC to achieve increased collective bargaining focusing initially on four key sectors: social care; early years & child care; hospitality and construction.

Through our flagship Fair Work First approach, we are applying fair work criteria to public sector funding - asking employers to commit to providing appropriate channels for effective voice, such as trade union recognition along with adopting other fair work principles. In line with the Bute House Agreement , and subject to limits on devolved competence, we will strengthen conditionality yet further. By Summer 2022, we will make it a requirement for the recipients of public sector grants to provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice, such as trade union recognition.

The Scottish Government is committed to resuming the pause to self-referrals for those aged 71 and over as soon as it is feasible. The Breast Screening Programme Board (BSPB) agreed that the option for women over 70 to self-refer into the breast screening programme should resume once all screening centres are able to offer those aged 53-70 their breast screening appointments within 39 months of their previous screening. However, in recognition of the anxiety the pause is causing, the screening programme is exploring whether there are other options that will accelerate the restart without unduly impacting appointment times for the eligible screening population. Any decision will be informed by clinical advice and the on-going pandemic.

In the meantime, the programme is working hard to increase capacity, including by deploying additional mobile units and offering appointments at evenings and weekends.

Regardless of their age, women should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

a) There are six breast screening centres across Scotland. For women aged 53-70 years who were screened between 1st April 2020 and 31st January 2021, the average interval between screening episodes was 41 months across Scotland.

The average interval between screening episodes, broken down by screening centre, was as follows:

East – 46 months

North – 40 months

North East – 42 months

South East – 41 months

West – 38 months

South West – 39 months

b) It is not possible to provide information on the current longest interval between screening episodes; however, within the period between 1 April 2020 and 31 January 2021, 2% of those screened had an interval between screening rounds of greater than or equal to 51 months.

It should be noted that the data provided to answer this question is management information that has not been subject to quality checks applied on an official publication.

The data is not available in the format requested as the Scottish Breast Screening Programme (SBSP) is delivered from six screening centres, each covering a designated population. The SBSP should offer an appointment to women within 36 months of their previous screening episode.

On average, the West and South West screening centres are offering women aged 53-70 a screening appointment within 39 months of their last screen.

The National Screening Oversight, Scottish Screening Committee and Breast Screening Programme Board (BSPB) continue to work with health boards to increase the number of available appointments, including through deploying additional mobile breast screening units and providing additional appointments during evenings and at weekends.

It should be noted that this data is unpublished management data that has not been subject to the standard quality checks that are applied to statistical publications.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of cases of breast cancer that may not have been diagnosed as a result of women over 70 not being able to self-refer for routine breast cancer screening. However, in the 3 year period 2016-17 to 2018-19, 32,492 women aged 71 years and over used the option to self-refer for breast screening and 1.43% of these screens detected cancer.

The final report by Ernst & Young has now been received and Transport Scotland and Ministers are currently taking time to consider the review findings. I have already committed to inform parliament on publication of the report and planned next steps and intend to do so in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Ministers accept the summary judgement in the English court proceedings brought by CMAL against insurer HCCI.

This information is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government welcomed and supported the recommendation of the Virtual Trials National Project Board, which has the potential to deliver significant benefits for victims by reducing the traumatising impact of the court environment. The Report acknowledges that existing legislation with guidance issued by the Lord Justice General could support the further use of virtual trials. We will consider the need for legislation in a future consultation exercise.

National Record of Scotland (NRS) plan to publish the 1921 Scottish Census on the ScotlandsPeople Website ( ScotlandsPeople | Connecting Generations ) and in the ScotlandsPeople Centre as early as possible in the second half of 2022.