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11 December 2023

Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Scottish Labour Party): To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Mental health and wellbeing: workforce action plan 2023-2025, whether it will provide an update on the development of a resource toolkit for Mental Health Unscheduled Care Practitioners.

S6W-23404

Maree Todd: The Mental Health and Wellbeing Workforce Action Plan, makes a commitment to develop the Mental Health Unscheduled Care resource, in partnership with key stakeholders. This will look similar to the Resources for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Primary Care Services published on the Scottish Government website ( www.gov.scot ) on 27 July 2022.

The work to develop this resource will be taken forward with partners over the coming year.

The consultation on the Report on the Effectiveness of Environmental Governance was open for responses for 19 weeks, closing on‎ 13 October. The Scottish Government will publish the responses to the consultation on Citizen Space, at the same time as providing an update to Parliament in early 2024, which will include recommendations in response to the views raised.

Through the Circular Economy Bill, the Scottish Government is committed to a co-design process to develop a new Household Recycling Code of Practice with local authorities and other stakeholders to provide a clear strategic direction for recycling in Scotland.

This includes enabling progress against future local recycling and reuse targets, informing how the monitoring and reporting framework for local authority waste services can be strengthened, and consideration of further measures to incentivise waste reduction at a household level.

Engagement with Cosla and local authority representatives is ongoing, and Scottish Government officials are currently developing plans for a local authority workshop to be held in early 2024 to continue this process.

The Scottish Government remains committed to a public consultation on the separate kerbside collection of textiles by 2025. Evidence from the consultation will inform the development of the new Household Recycling Code of Practice.

I was concerned to hear of the situation at Tots Bots Ltd and the people affected by this announcement are our immediate priority. The Scottish Government is providing support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE). A PACE event was held on 17 November which was attended by 10 former Tots Bots employees and to date 17 further PACE engagements have taken place.

Businesses in Scotland can access advice, guidance and financial support from a wide range of organisations across the public sector. There are over 750 publicly funded interventions to support businesses in Scotland including through grants or loans, consultancy, research, training opportunities and self-help guides. Most of this is available to any business, anywhere in Scotland, whatever stage of growth it is at.

On non-domestic rates, the Scottish Budget 2023-24 ensures the lowest poundage in the UK for the fifth year in a row and supports a package of reliefs worth an estimated £749 million. This includes the most generous Small Business Bonus Scheme relief in the UK which is estimated to save ratepayers £249 million this year.

The Scottish Government is also working with the enterprise agencies, local government, and other public bodies to improve the way we support businesses through the Business Support Partnership. A range of business support is available via Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise and can be accessed via findbusinesssupport.gov.scot

The Scottish Government opposes the inappropriate use of fire and rehire practices and we are clear that the practice does not represent Fair Work. In cases where contractual changes are necessary, there should always be appropriate and meaningful consultation

While employment law remains reserved, we encourage employers in Scotland to follow good practice in decisions regarding their workforce.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19840 on 18 July 2023. 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

In addition, I can confirm that the Scottish Government has recently commissioned research into reusable nappies. This will involve a review of the latest evidence and collect data from focus groups with parents of young children to understand the barriers and opportunities around reusable nappies. A report will be available in the first half of 2024.

The current e-Rostering Implementation plan is scheduled to complete in December 2024, which will deliver the capability for the majority of NHS Boards to prioritise and progress the necessary local roll-out of eRostering across all of their rosters over time. The system that has been procured will be able to record time for staff in line with local implementation plans.

There is currently no end date where all Boards will be required to have all rosters live on the e-Rostering system. However, a prospective plan to facilitate and accelerate adoption across all roster locations in each board is under consideration and Boards will be expected to demonstrate progress through their Annual Delivery Plans.

The Scottish Government is aware that the European Council has announced that it has reached provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a new directive that aims at establishing minimum rules on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions in order to better protect the environment, replacing the previous 2008 directive. The announcement also set out that the Council and European Parliament agreed on a "qualified offence" clause for offences causing destruction, or irreversible, widespread and substantial damage, or long-lasting, widespread and substantial damage, to an ecosystem of considerable size or environmental value, or to a natural habitat within a protected site, or to the quality of air, soil or water. The Scottish Government will assess this new directive in detail, once the final text is agreed by the EU institutions and adopted, against our policy to maintain alignment where appropriate with EU law.

The Scottish Government understands the benefits of reusable nappy use in relation to reducing household costs in addition to reducing the impact on the environment.

Following the concerning news regarding the liquidation of TotsBots Ltd, our Baby Box Managing Agent ensured that all outstanding orders for a reusable nappy pack that had been sent to Tots Bots were fulfilled. Our Baby Box Managing Agent subsequently appointed a new reusable nappy supplier on 22 November who are providing the same offer as Tots Bots when parents return a pre-paid voucher or register via a QR code. The reusable nappy pack offer provides one waterproof nappy wrap and five stay dry nappy pads to try for free and offers a 15% discounted rate on future purchases. All families who received a Baby Box whilst the programme was without a nappy supplier have now been contacted and offered the opportunity to claim a reusable nappy via the new supplier.

The SPCB can confirm that following consultation with MSP staff on training via, a training needs analysis, interviews and engagement forums, a bespoke development programme has been established, specifically for MSP staff. There are a number of training modules open to all MSP staff, covering a variety of development areas and these are all detailed on the intranet pages which all colleagues have access to.  MSP staff can book into and participate in any programme relevant to their role if agreed by their employing MSP. This year the SPCB have listened to what MSP staff colleagues are telling us they need and have therefore made significant investment in training on Mental Health First Aid, Speechwriting, ACAS ‘Training for Managers’ and UK/Scottish Benefits from the £40,000 central budget so far. 

In addition to training offered via the central budget MSP staff can also access additional training that is open to both SPS and MSP staff via our e-learning platform ‘Learning Pool’ and ad hoc online and in person sessions that run throughout the year. 

The SPCB is keen to maximise the central budget to the benefit of all MSP staff and in doing so ensure economies of scale.  Whilst requests for specialist individual training can be made these are considered in the context of the wider MSP staffing group to ensure that equal and fair access to training is offered and that we can offer training that represents value for money and delivers economies of scale. MSPs may also apply to the SPCB direct for reimbursement of the fees or other charges incurred in providing appropriate training for a member of staff.  MSPs wishing to access this provision of the Members’ Expenses Scheme will be assisted to do so by People and Culture staff.