Seòmar agus comataidhean

The two officials who supported Professor Lorne Crerar in Phase 2 of the Enterprise and Skills Review were not seconded. The assistance they provided was in addition to existing responsibilities.

The officials were instructed to provide Professor Crerar with the support he needed to lead the discussions with his fellow enterprise and skills agency chairs and interested Ministerial Review Group (MRG) members, in order that he could produce a paper on the principles and potential outline structure. The officials organised the workshops and facilitated the discussions that fed into the paper that Professor Crerar produced.

Curriculum for Excellence was developed through an open and inclusive process starting with the national debate on education in 2002, involving a wide range of stakeholders. Proposals for the new curriculum were initially developed through a number of specific review groups established in 2005 including one tasked with considering guidance on learners with additional support needs. Membership of that group included teachers, headteachers and policy advisers with acknowledged expertise in a range of additional support needs including autistic spectrum disorders, disabilities, sensory impairment and severe and complex needs.

Organisations, rather than individuals, are appointed as members of the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board. They include representatives of parents, teachers, local government and national education bodies all of whom have access to a wide variety of knowledge, experience and expertise in the learning and teaching of children and young people with additional support needs. The Board can draw on the expertise of its member organisations themselves, of professional networks or of independent experts as necessary.

Since this parliamentary question was first asked, I am pleased to announce that as of the 5th March 2017, the Transition Training Fund has now supported 1,698 individual applications to the fund. SDS have advised that this equates to a spend of £4,385,438. This is in addition to funding support for two procurement rounds to provide up to 755 employment opportunities and funding for 12 individuals to train as STEM teachers.

The Chief Executive for NHS Scotland has made it clear to the Chief Executives of all NHS Boards that this is a Scottish Government priority and highlighted the need to offer appropriate services for victims of sexual crime in each Health Board areas.

The Scottish Government is clear that the way forensic examinations are undertaken needs to be done sensitively and appropriately with primarily a healthcare focus to ensure the victim’s needs are adequately met. In that sense, the forensic examination is one part of a much wider and collaborative response. Additional resources were committed to NHS Scotland to look at forensic examination services currently being provided for victims across the whole country, including rural and remote locations such as Orkney and Shetland and demonstrate where improvements could be made.

Training for professionals is available through NHS Education for Scotland (NES) who provide a course which trains doctors on forensic examination where a sexual assault has taken place. We also recently issued a survey to doctors to tell us their views about working in this area, we are analysing these results and will be taking forward actions with NES to support training needs where these have been identified.

In recognition of the specialised support required for victims of this type of crime, and in particular for the island communities, we provided additional funding from the £20m VAW fund to establish a Rape Crisis service in Orkney and Shetland. These services are working well. We have also commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland to develop National Standards for providing forensic examinations which will ensure consistency of practice across Boards.

The new standards, which will be developed by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, will build on the good work of the National Coordinating Network for Forensic Medical Services and put beyond doubt what is expected in the delivery of care for victims. It will also ensure NHS boards are clear in their role, helping ensure greater consistency throughout the country.

It is expected that the National Co-ordinating Network for Forensic Medical Services, which has representation from the relevant stakeholders will support the NHS Boards e.g. by enabling self-assessment and improving the quality of services by sharing good practice.

The process for developing the new standards will involve relevant stakeholders and look at the up-to-date evidence available, consider other national health and social care standards, as well as an open consultation period. The process of developing the standards, including the formal consultation process will provide an open and transparent dialogue with Health Boards, service users and others, to ensure that the implementation of new national standards are a success and identify areas of difficulty which require further work and discussion.

Stakeholder views can be recorded in various ways and are then conveyed to Ministers, as appropriate, by way of advice as part of normal Ministerial engagement, either orally or in writing.

The second phase of the Enterprise and Skills Review is focusing on implementing the decisions laid out in the report published on 25 October 2016. Nine projects have been established in order to do this, with each project team gathering information from the agencies concerned and other stakeholders to further this implementation.

Each project has also identified agency, business and industry representatives as part of their project arrangements, ensuring regular consultation on each initiative as it evolves. This process will continue as projects progress, and updates will be published when appropriate.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-07245 on 8 March 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Since its launch in 2013 we have supported more than 59,000 training places through the Employability Fund, giving unemployed individuals the support they need to move towards and into work. This of course sits alongside our wider package of employability support such as Community Jobs Scotland, Scotland’s Employer Recruitment Incentive and Modern Apprenticeships.

The UK government spending review of November 2015 was hugely challenging to the devolved Scottish budgets, including employability. Despite the severe restrictions imposed we were able to commit to supporting a further 11,650 Employability Fund training opportunities in 2016-17.