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The number of undergraduate medical school places available since 2007, broken down by University, has been provided below. It should be noted that these include international students and reflects the places available; rather than the eventual entrants.

The Scottish Government is providing a range of recruitment support, as well as training and development activity to assist Health Boards with securing the right mix of new and experienced staff for their NTCs.

Detailed plans relating to the size and composition of the workforce for each NTC site has been or will be developed by the relevant territorial NHS Board and submitted to the Scottish Government as part of the wider planning and approval process for the site in operation.

I refer the Member to my statements in Parliament on 5 October 2021 and 4 October 2022 where I set out details of new international recruitment targets. Boards undertake this recruitment focussing on key areas with current vacancies.

The Scottish Government has recently conducted an Allied Health Profession Education & Workforce Policy Review. The recommendations of this review will be published shortly with an implementation plan published thereafter. The National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy has a commitment to undertake a scoping review of Healthcare Science education and to this end have recently conducted and published the first baseline review of the provision of Healthcare Science education.

Healthcare science - education and training provision: baseline review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

‘The Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) has been awarded the contract to develop anti-racist training resources for NHS staff, by end of 2024. These resources will have a specific focus on

• Understanding and identifying systemic and structural racism both in general and within health and social care settings in particular;
• The impact of racism on mental and physical health of both the victims and the witnesses;
• Racialised health inequalities;
• Intersectional racism, including islamophobia, and prejudice affecting specific groups such as minority ethnic women, asylum seekers and refugees;
• Reporting of incidents; and
• Support structures and resources across NHS Health Boards in Scotland.

CRER will work in collaboration with the NHS National Ethnic Minority Forum, NHS employers and other key partners to ensure that the resources developed are relevant to the experiences of staff and patients in Scotland.’

The Scottish Government funded places offered since 2007 can be seen in the following table.

Scottish Water does not maintain this information by parliamentary region and is only able to provide information for the closest equivalent operational area (South Region Water Operational Area). The following figures include both leaks reported by customers as well as those identified separately by Scottish Water as part of their active leakage management. This data is only readily available from 2016-17 financial year.

Scottish Water does not maintain information by parliamentary region and is only able to provide information for the closest equivalent operational area (South Region Water Operational Area). There were 488 reports in December 2022 in this large geographical region compared to 256 reports in December 2021. This would include both leaks reported by customers as well as those identified separately by Scottish Water as part of their active leakage management.

In December 2022, Scottish Water experienced a significant increase in the number of burst water pipes as a result of a freeze and rapid thaw, and Scottish Water operatives worked tirelessly in freezing conditions during this time to respond to the issues which occurred on the water network. During this period Scottish Water also saw an increase in bursts on customer private supply pipes and internal plumbing, which had a significant impact.

Scottish Water has an annual campaign to raise awareness about how important it is for customers to protect their pipes by taking appropriate measures. More information about this is available on their website at Winter Wrapped Up - Scottish Water and Protect your Pipes - Scottish Water .

South Region Water Operational Area includes: Dumfries & Galloway, Scottish Borders, East Lothian, Midlothian, City of Edinburgh, West Lothian, South Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire.

The Fair Work in Social Care Group organised itself into four workstreams on Pay; Terms and Conditions; Effective Voice; and Sectoral Bargaining. The workstreams meet 1-2 times per month, most recently on 17 January 2023.

The Fair Work in Social Care Group is now overseen by a Joint Ministerial Group, co-chaired by myself and COSLA Health and Social Care Spokesperson. The Joint Ministerial Group met on 3 November 2022 and is scheduled to meet again in February 2023.

The evaluation of the national induction framework will remain open until at least the end of March to allow as many people as possible to take part.

As the regulator for social services, the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) have also designed and implemented a feedback mechanism which will remain in place to enable continuous improvement to the framework.