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We introduced temporary Special Leave measures at the beginning of the pandemic to support our NHS colleagues and help the service manage infection levels.

Since March 2020, NHS Staff who have been absent due to COVID have been paid in full as if they had been at work.

Prior to any changes made in the future as we move towards living with Covid, we will engage with both NHS Scotland Employers and Staff Side representatives to ensure an effective and smooth transition back to standard Sickness Absence terms and conditions .

We are working to deliver our Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (ESJTP) in the context of a fast-moving energy landscape, and will publish a draft ESJTP in autumn 2022. As our first Just Transition Plan, the ESJTP will set out what is needed to deliver a just transition for the sector, in line with the Scottish Government’s approach to just transition. This includes work to support retention and creation of access to green, fair and high-value work, as well as ensuring access to required skills and retraining opportunities. As part of this, we will identify the opportunities and risks of the transition, including those associated with transitioning jobs.

Throughout this, we remain committed to ensuring green jobs are good, green jobs, drawing on fair work principles, complying with high workplace standards and paying fair wages. That is true across the economy, but especially important in sectors vital for reaching net zero, such as the energy sector where much public investment is targeted.

The Scottish Government recognises and pays tribute to the role the Royal College of Nursing members have undertaken within health and care services during the pandemic. The Government is giving due consideration to the recommendations highlighted in the report.

The report, and its recommendations, cover a range of areas including where work is underway in the context of remobilisation.

The importance of a sustainable, skilled workforce has already been emphasised by commitments in both our Programme for Government and National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland, published on 11 March, 2022. This includes our commitment to increasing the NHS workforce even further, with 1,800 additional full time posts on top of projected workforce growth requirements.

The number of nursing and midwifery staff by location of service delivery is published by NHS Education for Scotland at: https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/data-and-reports/official-workforce-statistics/all-official-statistics-publications/01-march-2022-workforce/dashboards/nhsscotland-workforce/?pageid=6429

The following table shows the number of nursing and midwifery staff by location of service delivery as at 31 December 2021.

The information requested on how many intensive care unit (ICU) nurses were employed in Scotland on 1 April (a) 2020 and (b) 2022 is not centrally available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07711 on 19 April 2022. 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.

The number of CT scans split by NHS board for financial years 1999-00 to 2019-20 is available in SPICe – Bib number 63296. Data for financial year 2020-21 is unavailable due to a limited data collection for the Cost Book publication for 2020-21. For CT scan figures for 2020-21 please contact the individual NHS boards directly.

Notes

1. The number of CT scans is only collected by Public Health Scotland for the 'Costs Book' publication as part of the SFR 5.11 Radiology Services data collection process. This data is submitted to PHS by NHS boards from their local systems for radiology. This information is not quality assured by PHS data management teams and there is no other national collection of CT scan examinations by PHS.

2. The data collection for radiology services changed in financial year 2008-09 from collecting attendances to examinations. This may have a small impact on comparing activity up to 2007-08 with activity from 2008-09 onwards. This should be considered when making year on year comparisons.

3. CT scan examinations for NHS Western Isles for the years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2019-20 have been provided directly by NHS Western Isles due to an issue with the cost book SFR 5.11 submission for NHS Western Isles in those years. The figures for the NHS board and NHSScotland for those years will differ to the published information where all radiology service examinations in NHS Western Isles were submitted under 'other'.

4. For more information on the Costs Book publication please see the following web pages:

? 2019/20 Costs Book page

? 2009/10 to 2018/19 Costs Book archive

? 1999/00 to 2008/09 Costs Book archive

In delivering the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, we worked in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders across Health and Social Care including the CoSLA as co-producers to agree the scope and content.

This included on-going engagement with representatives of the allied health professions via relevant senior professional advisers seconded to the Scottish Government, and through our staff and trades union partnership working.

On 8 February 2022 a draft of the Strategy was presented to the Professional Advisory Group, Chaired by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer with members representing Optometry and Audiology. Feedback from professionals at that meeting was subsequently incorporated into the draft Strategy, in anticipation of its subsequent publication.

Further stakeholder engagement will take place as we plan to publish yearly updates to the National Workforce Strategy. These will take into account progress and new developments, in support of its long-term ambition to deliver recovery, growth and service transformation.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

Public Health Scotland is not currently able to report accurately on waiting times to this level of detail. More detailed information on the procedure(s) that are planned or undertaken for a patient will be held locally by NHS Boards. We would therefore advise contacting NHS Boards to obtain this data.

PHS continues to work in collaboration with the Scottish Government, NHS Boards and key stakeholders to improve waiting times information. Statistics relating to the waits patients experience for Inpatient or Day Case treatment at specialty level are published up to 31 December 2021 in the following link.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/11657/ipdc_feb22.xlsx

Energy Saving Trust operates the suite of energy advice services for home owners, SMEs and community groups on behalf of the Scottish Government.

To deliver this across Scotland the services are delivered by advice centre contractors through 5 regional advice centres and a centralised team covering out of hours. Each advice centre delivers the services to a consistent set of standards which are required by Energy Saving trust in the contract they have with the advice centre contractors.

The quality and consistency of advice provided by the programmes is directly monitored by EST. This monitoring includes the quality and relevancy of advice provided by an advisor, who are tasked with asking questions to understand each customer, their circumstances, their home/premises and their energy behaviours. This is so they can ensure advice topics they discuss are relevant and useful for each individual customer. Advisors use the same EST approved resource documents and facts and figures to ensure each topic they advise on is consistent.

The Scottish Government has regular contact to ensure EST are meeting pre-agreed targets and maintaining the high standard of the advice that is expected of these services.