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The initial assessment made to date of recent changes to postgraduate funding for educational psychology is the small reduction in numbers of students currently in training based on previous years. However, we do not yet know what impact this will have in future years. This will be monitored by the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP). The group have set four initial priorities to take forward as follows:

It is recommended that the NSSGEP should explore effective models for psychological service structures including necessary management structures to address the question of appropriate supply and demand of educational psychologists across Scotland.

The NSSGEP should explore viable funding routes for a national training model to ensure that the most cost-effective mechanism for funding training is in place alongside the fulfilment of all professional accreditation criteria.

The NSSGEP should gather data regarding job vacancies including national and localised shortages of educational psychologists, destinations of psychologists leaving the profession and maternity demographics annually to inform planning.

The NSSGEP should gather data regarding salaries and conditions of service in order to support equitable remuneration and conditions with the closest comparators

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists to look at appropriate workforce planning at a national level.

The group consists of representation from Association of Directors of Education Scotland, Scottish Division of Educational Psychology, Strathclyde University, Dundee University, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Principal Educational Psychology, Educational Institute of Scotland, Education Scotland and relevant Scottish Government officials.

Clinical audit is an important element of clinical governance which contributes to patient safety in dental primary care most commonly by setting a clinical standard and monitoring if the standard is being met. For this reason salaried general dental practitioners, like their independent counterparts who provide general dental services, are required to undertake 15 hours of clinical audit in each three year period.

The current clinical audit period started on 1 August 2013 and will end on 31 July 2016.

There has been no general extension to the deadline for compliance with the clinical audit requirements for salaried general dental practitioners.

However, for those dentists who have been given approval by NHS Education for Scotland for clinical audits where the data collection will extend beyond the 31 July 2013, it has been agreed that any audits submitted for approval up to the end of July 2013 will be counted in the 1 August 2010 to 31 July 2013 audit cycle, even though these will be undertaken in the next cycle (1 August 2013 to 13 July 2016).

Salaried general dental practitioners (SGDPs) on a dental list on 1 August 2010 were required to undertake 15 hours of clinical audit activities by 31 July 2013, or a pro-rata number of hours for those SGDPs who joined a list after 1 August 2010.

It was expected that NHS boards would require community dental officers and community dental services dentists to undertake a similar level of clinical audit as their salaried GDP peers.

The deadline for compliance with the current clinical audit period is 31 July 2016.

Sanctions available could include referral to the board’s internal disciplinary procedures.

Should copies be requested then they would be issued.

There has been a slight reduction in the number of students training as educational psychologists in the last three years. Numbers are set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists to look at appropriate workforce planning at a national level.

Substantial progress is being made across Scotland in the development and delivery of street lighting energy efficiency projects. This programme is being supported by the following:

Production of a Street Lighting Toolkit to assess potential financial and carbon savings, accessed at the following link

(http://www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/publications/low-carbon-and-energy-efficiency/)

Provision of £2 million from the Scottish Governments’ Sustainable Action Fund to support local authorities work on increasing energy efficiency of street lighting;

Availability of 0% finance from SALIX to fund energy efficiency work with awards made to Dundee, and Perth and Perth and Kinross Councils for LED street lanterns this financial year;

Establishment of a steering group to identify and co-ordinate the support required by local authorities to take projects forward.

Following the recommendation of the joint Scottish Government /COSLA settlement distribution group, the distribution of the £2 million, was approved at the COSLA leaders meeting on 27 September 2013. The council’s share of the £2 million will be paid as General Revenue Grant in the last two weeks of March 2014.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information for each local authority. However, a high level assessment of the potential benefits of a pan-Scotland investment in street lighting LEDs undertaken by Scottish Futures Trust forecasts that the investment results in a two thirds reduction in energy consumption and 1.35million tonnes of carbon saved over the 20 year analysis period.