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The Scottish Government provides a range of centrally funded procurement best practice tools that are continually updated to reflect changes in legislation (such as VAT), introduction of new policy outcomes (such as Climate Change, Fair Work, Innovation and Prompt Payment) and improvements across procurement processes and procedures (such as Contract and Supplier management). Both the Procurement Journey and the Supplier Journey have been refreshed after wide consultation with public sector buyers and suppliers and are extensively used, not only by public sector buyers and suppliers across Scotland, but across the rest of the UK and internationally. The Procurement and Commercial Improvement Plan (PCIP), which assesses public sector bodies procurement capability and capacity, has been through an extensive review phase, with public sector buyers, to ensure that it includes enhanced support and guidance that promotes best practice procurement standards.

This information is not held centrally. A scoping exercise of NHS Boards in respect of services for miscarriage and unexpected pregnancy complications was paused in light of service pressures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject to sustained improvement in the pandemic we intend to issue this shortly.

The scoping exercise referred to in S6W-04556 will help the Scottish Government to establish current service provision for miscarriage care and support that is available to women who experience unexpected pregnancy complications across all 14 Health Boards and will issue shortly. The issue of the questionnaire has been delayed due to service pressures within the NHS because of the ongoing pandemic. The first roundtable is expected to take place in March 2022 and we plan to invite health professionals and baby loss charities as well as inviting bereaved parents to share their experiences.

Operation Wingspan, a Police Scotland led partnership operation which ran from October 2020 – October 2021, was a year-long commitment to raising awareness of wildlife crime priorities, including hare coursing. Police Scotland also contributed to Operation Galileo in 2021, a UK wide hare coursing operation.

In the summer and autumn months of 2021, Police Scotland wildlife crime operations focused on hare coursing and poaching. This included a social media campaign, work with key stakeholders and awareness raising with local police stations.

Police Scotland is providing relevant training to 60 existing police officers which will enable them to undertake Wildlife Crime Officer duties on a part-time basis, ancillary to their core role.

A number of actions were taken in the Mid Scotland and Fife region including information on hare coursing being distributed to the farming community encouraging members to report incidents of hare coursing and advising them how to note key evidence in a safe manner. Wildlife crime officers and roads policing officers also conducted intelligence-led stops of vehicles and proactive patrols of hare coursing hot spots.

a) NHS Staffing

In all areas of NHS Scotland, a great deal of effort is going into ensuring that services have sufficient capacity to deal with COVID-19, manage other risks and resume planned services as safely and effectively as possible. Although NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are at a record high, following nine years of consecutive growth, we are fully aware of the difficult circumstances that Boards and frontline staff are working in. That is why we have announced a record £300 million of new investment in measures to help services deal with system pressures over winter.

Measures we are taking as part of this investment include the recruitment of 1,000 additional healthcare support staff to support patients in hospitals and in community health teams, as well as £4.5 million of funding to attract registered nurses to Scotland. This activity is supplemented by an additional £1 million to enhance Boards’ capacity for recruitment.

Decisions on local staffing requirements and recruitment are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards. However, Scottish Government officials are continually engaging with NHS Boards to identify particular areas of concern.

(b) Social Care Staffing

The Scottish Government launched a national recruitment campaign on 8 November to attract more people to the social care sector. This campaign emphasises the value of a career within social care by showcasing the benefits of the sector beyond pay, and towards the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards of the role.

Officials are working at pace with SSSC and other key sector partners to develop a national induction programme to support new entrants into Adult Social Care; to promote career opportunities and deliver policies on fair work, upskilling and developing the workforce. This commitment is crucial to improving the experience of the social care workforce and addressing long standing recruitment issues in the sector.

As a result of lobbying efforts from the Scottish Government, the Home Office have temporarily extended the Shortage Occupation List for EU workers. Social care workers, care assistants and home care workers are to become eligible for a health and care visa for a 12-month period.

The Scottish Government will continue to push for a migration system tailored to Scotland’s needs, including a Scottish Visa, and work with partners and employers to develop proposals that suit their requirements.

(c) Public Transport Staffing

For bus service staffing, Transport Scotland and Scottish Government Officials are continuing to work closely with bus service sector representatives and other partners to help facilitate solutions to the staffing pressures brought by the COVID-19 pandemic compounded by the consequences of EU Exit. This has included work to help connect local employability partnerships with bus service operators as well as ensuring that the sector is represented in the Labour and Skills Shortages Action Plan process.

For rail service staffing, due to an increase in COVID-related absences and subsequent disruption in December, ScotRail has put a temporary timetable in place to provide a more stable and reliable service. ScotRail staff COVID-related cancellations have now reduced significantly following the successful introduction of a reduced timetable on 4 January. Around 8% of services have been withdrawn in this temporary timetable – largely additional peak services – leaving a more reliable core timetable in place. It is planned to retain the revised timetable until the end of the month, but ScotRail will keep this under review to balance staffing resources and demand from passengers as best as possible.

We are committed to reducing the impact of inequalities on health outcomes for people living with diabetes, and equity of access is highlighted as a key priority in our Diabetes Improvement Plan refresh, published in February 2021.

We are working with key partners including NHS Boards, Health & Social Care Partnerships, Diabetes Scotland and people living with diabetes to ensure that evolving care models address existing health inequalities by integrating pathways with existing services and resources such as social work, mental health services, education and third sector.

As diabetes services evolve and include more virtual offerings, we will work to ensure that those people with diabetes who are unable to access services digitally are not disadvantaged as a result of digital exclusion.

Those who experience difficulties carrying out a LFD test can ask someone they trust to assist them with the swabbing and testing process. Walk-in asymptomatic test sites (ATS) can also advise people how to use a LFD test. After self-swabbing, the person hands their used swab to a site operative for it to be analysed.

People identified as contacts of a case who are unable or do not have the support to carry out LFD testing can call the National Contact Tracing Centre on 0800 030 8012, for advice.

Additionally, for people with access to a smart phone, an expansion to the existing 119 Be My Eyes service was launched on 27 January to assist asymptomatic visually impaired people and anyone else who needs support, to conduct a rapid lateral flow self-test independently.

Instructions for use for LFD self-tests used in the National Testing Programme are also available in large print and easy read and can be accessed here: Acon Flowflex , Innova and Orient Gene .

Regular testing for people without symptoms is voluntary and for some people it may not be appropriate for testing to take place at all. Those who work most closely with the individual will be best placed to decide whether testing will be appropriate, taking into consideration the needs of the individual.

The requested information is not centrally held. Data is published annually, by NHS Education for Scotland on the total medical agency spend by NHS Scotland Boards; and the total WTE hours and cost for Nursing and Midwifery bank and agency staff, but this data does not specify start dates. This information can be found on the following link: NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

Transport Scotland has committed to an evaluation of the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme following the first full year of operation. The evaluation will assess the short and medium outcomes and the long term impact of the scheme by comparing conditions at different stages.

Baseline data collection of public transport usage is now underway, including an online survey with children, young people and parents. This will assess travel behaviour attitudes and perceptions of travel prior to the scheme starting on 31 January 2022.

We currently have no plans to extend the statutory scheme beyond the existing bus travel provisions.

Service levels and the rolling stock used have been designed to match changing demand during the pandemic period, while at the same time considering efficiency of resourcing and overall affordability, for which Abellio ScotRail is responsible. Decisions on service levels are then considered at Scotland’s Railway Task Force which has met throughout the pandemic.

We expect ScotRail, from 1 April 2022, to continue to operate service levels and train capacity adjusted to reflect and encourage growing levels of demand as wider Covid restrictions are eased.