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The Scottish Government is acutely aware of the importance that our social work workforce has on Scotland’s community, particularly in the lives of our most vulnerable individuals. In order to fully support our community, the capacity and skill level of our social workers is of vital importance.

Although no specific campaigns have been run to raise awareness of the potential to study in the social work field, social work degree courses are often found to be oversubscribed year on year. There are currently nine universities in Scotland who deliver social work programmes. The number of individuals applying for these courses continues to exceed the number of places available, with an overall increase of almost 100 individuals in the last three years. This is shown by 629 applications in 2018-19 versus 720 applications in 2021-22.

As part of their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) on behalf of Scottish Ministers developed the Temporary Social Work Register. This was a public campaign which called for anyone who had left the social work profession in the last five years, as well as final year social work students, to re-join the field on a temporary basis to help alleviate some of the pressures which the pandemic caused. This initially encouraged an influx of almost 300 applications to re-join the sector, with many finding employment.

Whilst no public campaigns were run for employment specifically in the social work field, the Scottish Government has undertaken three phases of the ‘CaretoCare’ campaign, which encourages individuals into a career in Adult Social Care, therefore raising awareness for the social services sector as a whole.

Local authorities have discretion over whether they provide the £150 cost of living payment as a credit to the council tax accounts of eligible households or as a cash payment, with the overriding objective being that payments are made by the end of April 2022. Eligibility is not determined by the age of those present in the household but is based on whether the home is in council tax valuation bands A, B, C or D, or, in any council tax band and the household is in receipt of a council tax reduction. Additionally, certain types of household exempt from council tax are eligible to receive this payment, including where properties are unoccupied because the resident has gone to someone else's home to provide care or the resident receives care elsewhere .

Table 1 presents the number of patients covered by the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) waiting for a hip or knee replacement procedure within an inpatient or day-case setting by NHS Board at 31 st December 2021.

Table 1: Number of patients waiting for a hip or knee replacement procedure 1,2 as an inpatient or day case at 31 st December 2021, by NHS Board.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published a National Workforce Strategy on 11 March 2022. This Strategy sets out a new framework to shape Scotland’s Health and Social Care workforce over the next decade; which places training, wellbeing, job satisfaction and the principles of Fair Work at its heart.

The Scottish Government has not engaged with this organisation specifically but a collaborative partnership approach has been taken to develop the Strategy. We have engaged with key partners across Health and Social Care, including NHS Boards, Local Authority representation, third and independent sector and staff-side representation through the National Workforce Planning Group and the Scottish Partnership Forum.

Moving forward with implementation of the strategy, we have committed to continuing to work jointly with partners across Health and Social Care.

The Strategy commits to publishing new workforce growth projections in the autumn, once we have had the opportunity to consider Health Board and Health and Social Care Partnerships' three year workforce plans. The staffing needs for services and professional specialties across NHS Scotland will be, in partnership with stakeholders, factored into the development of those projections.

A procurement process is underway for a web-based PROMS system to track the condition of long-waiting patients. Information and resources are being updated on NHS inform, and some joint work is ongoing with Versus Arthritis.

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government announced an extra £240,000 through the Chronic Pain Winter Support Fund to help 13 Scottish Government-funded projects across Health Boards, third-sector and other partners to enhance the support available for people with chronic pain. The money will go towards a range of services for people experiencing painful conditions, including those with knee pain, and also provide support to help people remain physically active.

There are currently no plans to add fluoride to the public water supply nationally. However, the Water (Fluoridation) Act 1985 continues to enable Health Boards, with the support of local communities, to ask Scottish Water to introduce water fluoridation. Where a Health Board with the support of its local communities wishes to ask Scottish Water to fluoridate the water supply, Scottish Government would be supportive of such a move.

Financing for retrofitting will be largely dependent on the ownership of the buildings.

There are a number of potential sources of financing including those referenced in our Infrastructure Investment Plan published in February 2021 and the latest Infrastructure Investment Plan Programme Pipeline Update from September 2021.

The number of flights operating between Scotland and Heathrow in the future will be determined by demand, capacity, and competition from airlines serving other global hubs and how successful Scotland is in growing direct international connectivity. Similarly the environmental impact of these flights will depend on the type of aircraft and fuel used, with aerospace companies aiming to develop the first zero-emission commercial aircraft by around 2035. Detailed forecasting has not yet been carried out in respect of the possible future scenarios due to the high level of uncertainty around the different variables, for example the long term impact of COVID-19 on travel patterns, including demand for air travel.

I refer the Member to the answer to question S6W-06655 on 14 March 2022. 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

Reducing health inequalities is a clear priority for the Scottish Government and one of the biggest challenges we face, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Providing people with the right support locally and connecting them to the right services is crucial if we are to improve their wealth and their health.

The SG established a Short Life Working Group (SLWG) in October 2020 in acknowledgement of the key role of Primary Care in relation to tackling inequalities. The purpose of the group was not to conduct an academic or systematic review of the literature but to draw on the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders with extensive experience in this field. The group has also worked closely with an expert reference group of people who have lived experience of suffering the impact of health inequality first hand.

The SLWG’s remit was to identify service improvements and actions specifically for Primary Care to help reduce health inequalities and improve health equity. The report of the Primary Care Health Inequalities SLWG can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804351642 . It makes a series of recommendations which cover a range of short-term and long-terms actions, which will tackle health inequalities and inequity head-on in primary care settings and wider communities. These include actions to improve equalities data in general practice, strengthening the focus of inequalities through the GP contract and a new Enhanced Service for the first time focussed on activating practices’ full potential to proactively support vulnerable people at risk of poor health outcomes.

I intend to give detailed consideration to the recommendations made and implementation options. I also wish to place on record my sincere thanks to the SLWG and the Chance to Change Group, both of whom gave considerable time and energy to this key priority during Covid-19.