Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with partners including Higher Education Institutions, Health Boards, Skills Development Scotland, and the Scottish Funding Council on skills development, employability and widening access to NHS Scotland careers, including the development of progressive career opportunities for existing staff and the development of apprenticeship models to provide an ‘earn and learn’ pathway.

1. I refer the member to the recently published recommendations from the Scottish Government’s AHP Education & Workforce Policy Review, which made reference to developing sustainable "earn and learn" routes for the AHP professions in Scotland. This work is being taken forward by the Skills for Health and Social Care Group who are overseeing the development of a suite of progressive career development opportunities for new and existing staff through learn as you earn models. AHPs are represented on this group via the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer and several Scottish Government AHP policy officials.

2. The Scottish Government has protected free tuition for Scottish-domiciled students undertaking under-graduate courses. There is a range of mechanisms to become an AHP at both under-graduate and post-graduate levels. At this moment in time there are no plans to extend bursaries to a wider group of AHPs.

From the cohort of ScotGEM students who graduated in academic year 2021-22, 10 accepted a Foundation Priority Place post within NHS Dumfries and Galloway. Of those expected to graduate later this summer one ScotGEM student, subject to qualification, has so far accepted a Foundation Priority Place post in NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Academic year (AY) 2021/22 represented the first graduating year for ScotGEM, of those who graduated there were four students who took up a bursary but did not take up a place within Scotland for foundation training. Of these four students:

• One is on a repayment plan.
• One has paid their bursary back in full.
• Two are delaying their payment until the beginning of speciality training which starts in August 2024, as they may return to Scotland which will change the amount due to be repaid.

For those graduating in AY 2022-23 confirmation of where the students will be taking up a place after graduating has only recently been received. There are five students who have taken up the bursary and who do not now intend to remain in Scotland for foundation training and discussions have begun regarding repayment.

Academic year 2021-22 represented the first graduating year of the ScotGEM course with 52 students qualifying at this time. The second cohort of students will graduate later this summer.

In Scotland, as part of the wider child health programme , height and weight measurements have always been carried out in Primary 1 only. We are aware that this differs in other parts of the UK.

The purpose and key components of the Scottish programme are similar to that of the National Child Measurement Programme in England: to inform local planning and delivery of services for children; gather population-level data to allow analysis of trends in growth patterns and obesity; increase public and professional understanding of the importance of healthy weight in children and be a vehicle for engaging with children and families about health and weight.

We continue to keep under review whether an additional measure at an older age would be beneficial to improving children’s health.

In our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan we set out ambitious and wide-ranging action to deliver our vision for a Scotland where everyone eats well and has a healthy weight.

We are taking forward a range of action across five key outcomes: giving children the best start in life; creating a healthier food environment; better access to weight management services; leadership and reducing health inequalities.

We continue to make progress. This includes, among other things:

• We will consult on the detail of proposed regulations to restrict promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt where they are sold to the public this autumn.
• We have updated the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations to give children more access to nutritious food.
• Continued provision of free vitamin D to infants, and pregnant and breastfeeding women.
• Additional investment to support breastfeeding, particularly in the days immediately following birth. We have provided over £9 million of additional funding since 2018.
• eady Steady Baby , Ready Steady Toddler and Parent Club have all been updated to provide parents practical advice on weaning, and at the ages and stages that follow: toddlers, pre-schoolers, and primary school aged children.
• We continue to provide funding to health boards to deliver weight management services for children and young people in line with our national standards , ensuring consistent quality and equity of access to evidence-based support across Scotland.
• Since 2020-21, we have provided additional funding to health boards and their partners for projects to encourage healthy eating and physical activity in families and communities at risk of diet-related health inequalities. This work has included: specialised training for practitioners, increasing physical activity, and support for those experiencing food insecurity.
• We have continued to support pilots in eight local areas to develop and champion a whole system approach to diet and healthy weight. An evaluation was published on 6 December 2022, which is informing the development of resources to support national rollout.
• We continue to provide funding to improve weight management services for adults, in line with our 2018 Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Framework and Public Health Scotland’s standards for tier 2 and tier 3 weight management services .
• In June 2022, Public Health Scotland launched a Challenging Weight Stigma learning hub to increase awareness of and challenge weight stigma and bias within healthcare settings.
• In 2021 we published our Out of Home Action Plan to support people and business to access to healthier options. This includes Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland developing an Eat Out Eat Well Framework and code of practice for children’s menus.

In my statement to Parliament on 30 May 2023, I announced that the Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill will not be introduced. We instead plan to consult on the detail of proposed regulations to restrict promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt where they are sold to the public this autumn.

My statement is available at Meeting of the Parliament: 30/05/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website .

Ensuring Scotland is a place where children eat well, have a healthy weight and are physically active is a public health priority. We continue to implement the ambitious and wide-ranging action set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan to support our aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030, significantly reducing diet related health inequalities. Our actions emphasise prevention to ensure children have the best start in life.

We are focusing on transforming the food environment because this is more likely to be effective in improving children’s diets and reducing health inequalities than only encouraging individual behaviour change. This includes restricting promotions of less healthy food and drink and we will consult on the detail of proposed regulations this autumn. We are also working with Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland to implement our 2021 Out of Home Action Plan .

We are also ensuring that all children and young people have access to balanced and nutritious food and drink options throughout the school day. All local authorities are required to meet the standards set out in the amended Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations . We are providing local authorities with funding to make free school lunches available to all primary school pupils in primaries one to five, children in funded early learning and childcare and eligible pupils in Primary 6 through to S6. We are committed to a pilot of free school meals in secondary schools to support our consideration of further expansion.

Whole Systems Approaches are increasingly being seen as influential in responding to the complexity of public health problems such as childhood obesity. We have continued to support pilots in eight local areas to develop and champion a whole system approach to diet and healthy weight. An evaluation was published on 6 December 2022, which is informing the development of resources to support national rollout.

Alongside this our Good Food Nation policy provides an over-arching framework for clear, consistent and coherent future Scottish food policy which will help our children eat well. A draft of the national Good Food National Plan will be published for public consultation this summer.

We continue to provide funding to health boards to deliver weight management services for children and young people in line with our national standards , ensuring consistent quality and equity of access to evidence-based support across Scotland.

We are also addressing the underlying causes of poor diet and higher weight. This includes ending poverty, supporting fair wages and families, and improving our physical and social environments through initiatives, such as the Scottish Child Payment , Best Start Foods and Best Start Grants.

The Scottish Government reports on progress on its aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 on an annual basis in the regular Scottish Health Survey Report.

The latest data available is from the 2021 Scottish Health Survey, published in November 2022, which reported 18% of children in Scotland were at risk of obesity. Data for 2022 will be available when the Scottish Health Survey is next published in Autumn 2023.

A range of wider factors are likely to be impacting on childhood obesity levels. The Scottish Government remains committed to the actions contained within the 2018 Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan . We will continue to focus on improving the health of our young people, aiming to reduce childhood obesity and reduce diet-related health inequalities.