Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13624 on‎ 20 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 Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) recommended the establishment of a National Social Work Agency (NSWA) for oversight of professional development of social workers and it is our intention to establish a NSWA as part of the National Care Service.

It’s objectives will be to support and invest in the profession by providing national leadership and overseeing social work – ensuring we attract and retain the right people, developing them in their roles and raising the status of social work as a profession. The NSWA is to be established as part of the National Care Service infrastructure, at a national level, given the important links and function that social work has within the wider National Care Service structure and given the important relationship between social work, social care and community health.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is the professional regulator for the social services workforce in Scotland.

The SSSC will begin work this year to establish what further groups of social service workers should be considered for professional regulation.

On completion of this work SSSC will report to Scottish Ministers who will then decide on what groups should be brought into the scope of professional regulation.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13150 on 17 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 .

Secondary breast cancer – breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body – is recorded on the Scottish Cancer Registry if it has occurred when the diagnosis is first made. The Scottish Cancer Registry uses a variety of sources of information to confirm stage at diagnosis and the quality of this work is assessed through audit and external quality assurance.

Public Health Scotland is part of an ongoing JRC-ENCR (Joint Research Centre – European Network of Cancer Registries) short life working group to improve and standardise collection of information on cancer recurrence. The aim of this work is to improve collection of secondary cancers that occur some time after the initial diagnosis. This will add to the information about secondary breast cancer at the time of diagnosis.

Several new and better sources of data on secondary cancers are being integrated into the national cancer intelligence platform at Public Health Scotland (PHS). For example, Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy data for the whole of Scotland are now collated at PHS and these include information on whether treatments for breast cancer are for primary or secondary disease.

The National Cancer Quality Steering group have overseen the development of a newly proposed QPI on 'Recurrence Following Breast Cancer Treatment' in 2022.

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has continued the commitment to support SFRS service delivery and reform with a further uplift of £10m resource for 2023-24, which will bring the total budget to £362.7m.

I am aware that SFRS has been engaged with the FBU and the work of Lancaster University for a number of years and its well established contamination working group has taken action across all aspects of operations to reduce exposure to harmful contaminants. This includes investment in new fire appliances and fire station facilities.

This continues to be a priority for SFRS and the contaminants group will continue to consider the research and take appropriate action.

The public consultation on developing a Scottish tax to replace the UK Aggregates Levy was open from 26 September to 5 December 2022. This was thought to be a sufficient window considering the issues in question, plans for concurrent stakeholder engagement, and the relatively recent review of the UK levy.

A total of 25 consultation responses were received. These are now being analysed to help inform our next steps, and a formal consultation report will be published in due course.

I visited Inverclyde Royal Hospital on 4 July 2022. All Ministerial engagements, including visits, is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .

The safety and wellbeing of all fire and rescue officers is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government.

We will continue to support SFRS as they continue to work in partnership with the FBU and Professor Anna Stec to build on the existing work of their dedicated Contaminants Group.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider any related proposals from the FBU or SFRS as a result of this important research.

The achievement of Fair Trade Nation status for Scotland, first in February 2013 and once more in March 2017, signals to the world that Scotland takes an active leadership role in challenging global poverty and recognising the dignity and rights of producers, through a commitment to fairness in international trading.

The Scottish Fair Trade Forum, which has received core funding from the Scottish Government since 2007 to take forward our work on Fair Trade, continues to engage across all sections of Scottish society from schools, colleges and universities to faith groups, businesses and charities, to raise awareness of the plight of farmers and producers in the developing world and build support for our status as a Fair Trade Nation.

This year sees the 10th Anniversary since Scotland first achieved the accolade of Fair Trade Nation status, and events are planned up and down the country during this year's Fairtrade Fortnight to mark the occasion.