Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people can learn as flexibly as possible fitting in with individuals' life circumstances. That is why SG provide funding through Scottish Funding Council (SFC) for the Upskilling Fund and the Part-Time Fee Grant (PTFG) to provide this flexibility to learners looking to study shorter courses or study in their spare time.

We are seeing good evidence of employer engagement across the country on the Upskilling Fund, currently in its fourth year, in a range of curriculum areas. Institutions are working with a large number of employers, including: Scottish Power, FirstPort, NUF Scotland as well as with local authorities and NHS Scotland. The SFC are planning a full evaluation of the fund’s effectiveness and the report can be expected in Spring 2024.

As part of the support package provided by Student Award Agency Scotland (SAAS), SAAS continue to actively promote this support through a combination of funding awareness sessions, online campaigns, and through both the Student Information Scotland website and the SAAS website.

Scottish Ministers issued National Directions on annual health checks, which state that the Scottish Health Check for Adults with Learning Disabilities documentation must be used in every health check. This documentation was tested and evidenced throughout the pilot phase and provides comprehensive best practice information and guidelines for practitioners, including on the specific health needs of people with Down’s Syndrome. This maintains the consistency and efficacy of each annual health check whilst also enabling practitioners to incorporate the specific health needs of each individual.

The Scottish Government has commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to support practitioners to complete annual health checks.

The Scottish Government continues to fund Down’s Syndrome Scotland to develop resources and accessible information about annual health checks for people with Down’s Syndrome, their families and carers, and for practitioners.

The Workforce Short Life Working Group set up through the Managed Service Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MSN CYPC) has now concluded and no future meetings are planned.

As agreed by the MSN Board a Workforce Planning and Development Group will be established to review the pharmacy and Allied Healthcare Professional lead roles which were proposed as part of the 2020 workforce plan but have yet to be recruited to. This Group will also focus on education and training for the wider MSN CYPC community.

Whilst the Scottish Government sets the strategic policy direction for workforce development with the NHS, it is up to the individual health boards on how to best undertake recruitment planning requirements.

Additionally, the National Oncology Coordination Group has been commissioned to support a coordinated and collaborative operational response to immediate service pressures, like retirees or moves.

We welcome opportunities to collaborate with UK partners on the safe and ethical use of AI in health and social care, and will continue our ongoing conversations with NHS England and other UK agencies on this topic.

Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office is fully engaged with UK partners, including the MHRA, on improving the clinical trials system across the UK. In addition to facilitating inputs from across the Scottish clinical research community to the MHRA’s recent public consultation on clinical trials legislation, officials are engaging regularly through cross-UK fora with MHRA and other UK partners to ensure that any updated regulations and their supporting guidance work well for Scotland, and as part of a streamlined, efficient, and innovative UK-wide clinical trials system.

St. Andrews House and Victoria Quay were illuminated in blue on 7 th July to mark Action Mesothelioma Day.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy was published on 29 June 2023, along with an Executive Summary and Easy Read version. A programme of stakeholder engagement will take place over the Summer on the accompanying Delivery Plan, with the intention of publishing it alongside the Workforce Action Plan in the Autumn. The Strategy is available online at Mental health and wellbeing strategy - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Following searches by Scottish Government officials on the corporate system, 5 complaints have been identified which relate to ‘medical’ or ‘medical devices’ and ‘power. However it should be noted that complaints of this nature are more likely to be directed to health boards as providers of such devices.

We have not undertaken an assessment of the impact of recent increases in mortgage rates on levels of fuel poverty among Scottish households.

National Statistics on fuel poverty use data on mortgage costs collected through the Scottish Household Survey, with the latest available figures being for 2019. Updated National Statistics on fuel poverty for 2022, incorporating mortgage costs for that year, are expected to be published in January 2024.

Given that our definition of fuel poverty uses a household’s after housing costs (AHC) income, it is likely that rising mortgage costs and/or rents will result in more fuel poor households.

The data we collect on mortgages does not include information on households' mortgage types, or on the time left before the debt is expected to be paid off. This makes it difficult to include changes to mortgages within the fuel poverty scenario modelling previously produced in relation to changes in the energy price cap and mitigation measures.

The most recent estimates produced using this scenario modelling approach suggest that, at the current energy price cap, approximately 850,000 households (34%) in Scotland will be in fuel poverty from July to September. This year we have tripled the budget for our Fuel Insecurity Fund to £30 million, which is there to support any household at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing their energy use. We also continue to call on the UK Government to provide more targeted support.