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Pandemics and infectious disease threats feature in both Scottish and UK risk assessments which are used to inform our response to these risks.

The Scottish Government monitors a range of data sources on job vacancies in Scotland, as part of wider analysis of labour market trends. These include official and experimental statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and data from external partners.

In November to January 2023, Scotland’s employment rate was 76.5 per cent and it was the second highest since the series began in 1992. The unemployment rate was 3.1 per cent, down 0.6 percentage points since December 2019 to February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and the inactivity rate was 21.0 per cent, down 0.6 percentage points since pre-pandemic.

ONS produce experimental job advert indices at Scotland level, using online job postings from Adzuna. This source indicates that online job postings in Scotland in the week to 3rd March 2023 47.1% higher than February 2020. This data source is available at:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/datasets/onlinejobadvertestimates

ONS also produce experimental estimates of labour demand volumes in Scotland by profession and local authority, based on analysis of Textkernel data on online job adverts. The most recent data suggested that there were 78,925 online job vacancies in Scotland in December 2022. Of these, 13 per cent were classified as Healthcare job postings, while 9.4 per cent were classified as Information & Communication Technology postings. This data source is available at:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourdemandvolumesbyprofessionandlocalauthorityukjanuary2017todecember2022

The Scottish Government also monitors labour demand through the RBS Report on Jobs, which provides an overview of changes in recruitment demand by sector in Scotland as reported by recruitment consultancies. In February 2022, permanent staff demand growth was strongest in the monitored sectors of Nursing/Medical/Care and IT & Computing. For temporary staff demand growth remained strongest in IT & Computing. This data source is available at:

Royal Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs – February 2023 | NatWest Group

The review undertaken by Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie was conducted in his capacity as an independent reviewer. The programme of engagement resulted in around 70 meetings with the Board and other key stakeholders. Due to the number of meetings, confidentiality and level of engagement no formal agendas or minutes were taken however progress was captured and fed back to NHS Highland and the relevant community groups. It would not be the place of the Scottish Government to publish these documents due to the nature of the review. However, Professor Ritchie and officials visited Portree again in May and November 2022. Minutes of these meetings are available via the Implementation Group and NHS Highland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15536. on‎ 17 March 2023. Any update of progress of this independent review would require to come from NHS Highland as the responsible agency for implementation.

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

Programme for Government 2021/22 committed an additional £20 million investment, over the life of this Parliament, for the Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme to improve early detection rates. So far investment has been made into the development of a new behaviour change campaign to reduce fear of cancer, launched 6 March 2023.

Through the Programme, there’s a firm focus on lung cancer which remains a national priority. This funding has included supporting implementation of Scotland’s optimal lung cancer diagnostic pathway (published December 2022); exploring the role of artificial intelligence in expediting those identified as higher risk; continuation of the University of Edinburgh’s LUNGSCOT study; and establishing a National Bronchoscopy & EBUS Training Programme for NHS Scotland.

A new earlier diagnosis vision is expected to launch in Spring 2023, as part of Scotland’s new cancer strategy – this will be supported by a 3 year action plan, the delivery of which will be supported by this Detect Cancer Earlier (DCE) Programme investment.

The Scottish Government is aware that Sir Lewis Ritchie intends to undertake further visits to Skye, Lochlash and South West Ross, within the coming 6 months, to engage with clinical colleagues, members of the local community and NHS Highland officials This will likely include virtual meetings as well as in person visits.

The Scottish Government is aware that there is still some substantial work to do to fully implement the recommendations of the review and would continue to encourage NHS Highland and the local communities to work together to achieve this.

The supply of medicines is a reserved matter for the UK Government. Scottish Government officials are regularly updated on any supply disruptions which may arise and will provide advice to the NHS in Scotland on options to address any shortages that may arise, including the use of alternative products if clinically appropriate.

Information regarding employment in the creative industries is publicly available on the Scottish Government’s website and can be found at Growth Sector Statistics Database . The relevant data is included in Table 2.5.

The employment data in the Growth Sector Statistics Database does not provide coverage of businesses and self-employed workers operating under the VAT threshold, which are of particular significance to creative and cultural employment, given that many work freelance or in small businesses. As part of ongoing work to develop our approach to measuring the size and performance of the sector within the National Performance Framework, we are currently undertaking work to improve our estimates of employment in the sector to include additional cultural, heritage and creative activities and to allow for better coverage of freelancers.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on future employment growth in this area.

Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for a new outpatient attendance and inpatient or day case appointment at NHS Board and specialty level are published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) up to 31 st December 2022 and can be found using the following links:

New Outpatients - https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/18024/newop_feb23.xlsx

Inpatients/Daycases - https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/17838/ipdc_feb23.xlsx

The statistics published in the tables above include the median and 90th percentile waits in days for:

• New outpatients waiting (‘1.1 Table’)
• New outpatients seen (‘1.2 Table’)
• Inpatients/day cases waiting (‘2.2 Table’)
• Inpatients/day cases seen (‘2.1 Table’)

We continue to work intensively to clear long waits, which have been exacerbated by the impact of the global pandemic and are determined to provide NHS Boards with support necessary to drive improvements. This includes targets announced in July 2022 to address the backlog of planned care, maximising theatre productivity, optimising Golden Jubilee National Hospital capacity, and the delivery of the £1 billion NHS Recovery Plan to support sustainable improvements and new models of care, such as the National Treatment Centre Programme.

We are also working with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CFSD) and boards to embed regional and national working to ensure that long waiting patients can access treatment more quickly.