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Information on how many nurses have been employed in the NHS in each of the last three years, also broken down by NHS board, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at:

NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

Forecasts provided by the recipients of the Green Jobs Fund awards estimated projects will support up to 4,462 full time jobs over the life of the individual project.

The “Provision of Education Workforce Modelling and Analysis” is an external exercise I am commissioning to help inform decisions on education workforce planning for future years. This work will bring together a range of factors including current teacher numbers, pupil teacher ratios and the projected decline in the number of school-aged children.

We need to consider all of these issues holistically and ensure we will have an education workforce in place that enables us to progress our commitments to reducing teachers’ class contact time, raising attainment overall, closing the poverty related attainment gap and improving additional support for learning, while delivering maximum value for money.

The Invitation to Tender was published on 15 September and I anticipate the successful bidder being appointed later this month, with a view to reporting by the end of December 2023.

An update will be provided once this work has concluded and been fully considered.

The Scottish Government recently convened a Multi-Agency Co-ordination Group in July 2023, in response to a cybersecurity incident at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). The group was comprised of officials from the Scottish Government, UWS, NCC Group, the National Cyber Security Centre, the Scottish Local Government Digital Office and the Scottish Cyber Co-ordination Centre.

The Group was subsequently stood down once the initial attack and response work had come to an end, with communication lines remaining open in case any further assistance is required.

As at October 2023, the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Directorates (HSCD) have 8 specialist advisors procured under a Service Level Agreement from NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

Although the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) collates data on students who declare a Mental Health condition, neither it or the Scottish Government gather information on the number of students accessing mental health services in colleges and universities.

Information on the proportion of P1, P4, P7 and S3 children achieving the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels in literacy and numeracy is available from 2016-17 from Table 1 of the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) publication which can be found on the Scottish Government website: www.gov.scot/publications/achievement-curriculum-excellence-cfe-levels-2021-22/

Between 2011 and 2016 the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) was used to monitor national performance of school children at P4, P7 and S2 in literacy and numeracy in alternate years. The SSLN provided information on reading, writing and listening & talking individually but not for literacy as a whole. Reading, Writing and Listening & Talking data for 2014 and 2016 can be found in table 1 and Numeracy data for 2013 and 2015 is in table 2.

The data collected via the SSLN differed from that collected via ACEL. The SSLN reported on the proportion of pupils "performing well or very well" at the relevant CfE level. Data was collected through a sample survey rather than for all pupils and was based on the results of assessments completed by participating students as opposed to being based on teacher professional judgements, as is the case for ACEL. As a result SSLN results are not directly comparable with ACEL results.

Table 1: Proportion of pupils performing well or very well in Reading, Writing and Listening & Talking, 2014 and 2016

The latest data available on admissions and length of stay for people in Mental Health Hospitals is collected as part of the Mental Health & Learning Disability Inpatient Census and Out of Scotland NHS Placements Census, 2022 .

At the census point 11 April 2022, 152 adults with a diagnosis of autism were inpatient within an NHS Scotland hospital. In addition, there were 9 patients under 18. There were a further 11 adults with a diagnosis of autism inpatient outwith an NHS Scotland hospital. These individuals also may or may not have a co-occurring diagnosis for a learning disability.

Data on the numbers of people with a diagnosis of autism who have been admitted to hospital for treatment following offending is not collected.

There were 24 patients with a diagnosis of autism who have been in an NHS Scotland hospital more than a decade, with an average length of stay of 16 years and 10 months. There are fewer than 5 further patient(s) with an autism diagnosis who have been treated outwith NHS Scotland more than a decade. These individuals also may or may not have a co-occurring diagnosis for a learning disability.

The latest publication of the Mental Welfare Commissions Mental Health Act Monitoring Report covers the period 2021-22 and provides some information on compulsory treatment under criminal proceedings and you may wish to ask if they have further information on disaggregated data.

The R100 programme comprises of three strands of activity – the R100 contracts, R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and continued commercial build.

The R100 contracts are gap funded meaning that the Scottish Government subsidises Openreach to deliver connections to premises which would not otherwise be commercially viable. Subsidy is only paid to Openreach once premises have been delivered and delivery milestones have been achieved.

Suppliers to the R100 SBVS can only claim their evidenced costs, up to a maximum of the voucher value, once the installation work is completed and the voucher beneficiary is able to receive, as a minimum, a superfast broadband service.

The Scottish Government does not have a remit to intervene should a broadband provider choose not to proceed with their commercial build plans.

As at October 2023, our records show that across the whole of the Scottish Government there are currently 155 individuals procured to provide specialist services under a Service Level Agreement.

The Agreements that are put in place stipulate the length of the service period, and so will often set that Agreement in place for a period of two years, or more. Some Agreements have been established with short service periods, such as 6 months, but the norm is for two to three years. Agreements are reviewed annually to consider the service being provided and whether there is a business need for that service continuation.