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I announced on 15 January that fares on the Northern Isles and Clyde & Hebrides ferry networks will be frozen for six months.

Building on the 3 month freeze I announced in early November, ticket prices will be held at current levels until the end of September to help people and businesses in both Shetland and Orkney.

With the fares confirmed, Serco NorthLink Ferries will imminently be opening their bookings until the end of September.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13225 on 13 January 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government see good accessible workforce data as a key tool for effective future planning within the Primary Healthcare Workforce. We have a number of ways in which we do this.

In General Practice, Public Health Scotland published workforce planning data through the General Practice Workforce Survey in November 2022 that gives us access to the latest General Practice workforce wte data, this is followed by the General Practice Workforce and Population Survey that gives us accurate headcount data across General Practice, published most recently in December 2022.

Workforce data on general dental practitioners is published by NES biannually, the latest data was published in December 2022.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery intends to publish a report on workforce planning for the eyecare workforce by end March 2023.

Reporting arrangements are in place to monitor progress of Health and Social Care Partnerships against their Primary Care Improvement Plans (PCIPs). This includes progress on establishing Multi-Disciplinary Teams. Further information is provided in our annual statistical publication that published in March 2022.

As committed to in the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, we have been undertaking a data collection exercise to inform future decisions about workforce investment. This work is being led by the Scottish Cancer Network, which is engaging with local boards and professional representatives.

A final report, including recommendations, will be provided to the National Oncology Taskforce in the first quarter of 2023. The Taskforce is made up of NHS Board Chief Executives and Medical Directors, and will seek national solutions to ensure the longer term resilience of oncology services in Scotland.

All NHS boards have utilised the funding available to build the infrastructure in their recruitment teams and appoint an international recruitment lead.

I refer the member to the Scottish Government’s second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan which committed to offering up to 500 apprenticeship opportunities across NHS Scotland in 2022/23.

NHS Boards deliver a wide range of employability programmes, following the ‘No One Left Behind’ overarching approach which is place-based, needs-led and person-centred. Programmes delivered in 2022-23 have focused on a wide range of groups, including: young people at risk of long-term unemployment, care leavers, veterans and service leavers, and lone parents over the age of 25.

Scottish Ministers are already able to access advice and analysis which allows for the triangulation of workforce intelligence at national level. They are fully supported in this by other agencies and organisations, including NHS Scotland health boards and NHS Education for Scotland, which publishes quarterly official workforce statistics and provides associated analysis on the NHS Scotland workforce.

The Scottish Government also continues to work closely with NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to improve workforce planning, including the data and intelligence required to carry this out effectively at a local level.

The Scottish Government has established a Workforce Data Information and Intelligence Improvement Programme to support further improvement in data collation and evidence triangulation. This programme is focused specifically on improving the quality and granularity of existing data sets, alongside considering the requirements for gathering new or different data to support better decision making, workforce and service planning.

‘A Fairer Scotland for All: An Anti-Racist Employment Strategy was published on 9 December 2022 and sets out the actions the Scottish Government will take and how it will work with employers to help make Scotland’s workplaces more diverse, fair and inclusive.

The strategy will support NHS and other employers to:

• improve their collection of workforce data, including reporting their pay gap, and take action on the findings
• take an anti-racist approach to remove barriers in their recruitment, retention and progression practices to improve representation of workers
• drive cultural, attitudinal and organisational change through building an understanding of the impact of institutional racism and the processes and practices in an organisation that lead to the unfair treatment of people on the basis of race.’

In March 2022 the Scottish Government published The National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland. This Strategy sets out a framework to shape our health and social care which includes Allied Health Professionals and Healthcare Scientists, over the next decade, placing training, wellbeing, job satisfaction and Fair Work at its heart. As part of the Strategy’s work, the Scottish Government has undertaken an AHP Workforce and Education Policy Review and a Healthcare Science Baseline Education Review.

In November 2022, Public Health Scotland published a report analysing the 2022 survey of the General Practice workforce. This publication is available at General practice workforce survey 2022 - General practice workforce survey - Publications - Public Health Scotland . Following this work in 2022, the Scottish Government has committed to undertaking the workforce survey on an annual basis.