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The Scottish Government recognises the importance of reducing violence against employees of bodies delivering public services. In addition to work undertaken by public bodies themselves, we are currently working on a range of targeted initiatives including:

• Invested over £4 million in the delivery and implementation of the Violence Prevention Framework, including supporting the Mentors in Violence Prevention school-based programme.
• Published a joint action plan with COSLA to tackle violence towards staff in educational establishments.
• Co-chairing Your Safety Matters (YSM) External Partners Group (EPG).
• Promoting the Equally Safe at Work (ESAW) employer accreditation programme.

The Scottish Government has made no assessment. The charter of the vessel is a commercial agreement between CalMac Ferries Ltd (CFL) and Pentland Ferries. Any reduction in capacity on the route would be for the operator of that route to consider when leasing the vessel.

This Scottish Government has made no assessment. As per the terms of the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services contract CalMac are required to consider and address capacity issues. As part of this they record and publish carrying statistics.

The Digitisation of records is an operational responsibility of individual Health Boards and GP practices. At a national level and building on the existing use of electronic patient record systems, we are focussed on allowing medical records, including cancer, to be stored, linked, and shared securely. This will support our ambition set out in the 2021 Digital Health & Care Strategy 2021 Strategy - Digital Healthcare Scotland % (digihealthcare.scot) to make the right information available to all appropriate staff, when and where it is needed.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to Connect for this financial year to establish and host the Scottish Assembly of Parents and Carers. This new model will enhance the diversity of parental voices to help inform policy and provide advice and challenge as we drive forward reform of our education system.

Additionally, our Anti-Racism in Education Programme (AREP) brings together education bodies and organisations and individuals with anti-racist expertise and lived experience. The AREP contains a number of ambitions which seek to support teachers, school staff and leaders at all levels in the education sector to embed antiracist approaches.

While the Scottish Government provides the overarching guidance/framework for patient travel expenses reimbursement, NHS Boards are responsible for developing local policy to best meet the needs to their populations, and for assessing eligibly for financial support and level of that support.

The cost of reimbursement is met from Boards’ budgets and all Boards must balance value for money with patient need, ensuring that patients are supported in identifying and accessing available support and that patient care is at the centre of all decisions.

It is recognised that transport to health is a key enabler to ensure equitable access to healthcare, and work to bring travel/transport and health planning closer together is in progress. This work will include bringing local bodies together at a regional level to consider the options for transport to health. This work will also inform how and when a review of the overarching patient travel expenses reimbursement guidance is taken forward.

In 2022, the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) was published. recommendation-36-strategy-for-improving-rest-and-welfare-facilities-for-hauliers.pdf (transport.gov.scot) includes a detailed national audit and review of support for lorry parks. This would include consultation with the freight industry, representative bodies, local authorities, and other stakeholders to collect views on the provision of lorry parks including where and what type of facilities are required. The audit will indicate which routes have gaps in provision and support Transport Scotland in making future decisions on the need (or otherwise) to address market failure.

Development of the STPR2 Delivery Plan is currently underway. This is a complex piece of work, with consultation ongoing across the Scottish Government, including with Statutory Bodies and Exchequer officials. Once this exercise is complete we will be able to advise with more certainty on the potential implementation of and the associated timelines of the proposed audit.

To address inactivity, it is essential to support those who are currently inactive – not in paid work and not actively looking for work – through employability and other interventions that seek to support a return to the labour market, and also provide preventative in-work support, for instance through occupational health services and retraining/upskilling, which reduces the likelihood of people becoming economically inactive.

No One Left Behind is our shared approach to delivering an all-age, place-based, person-centred model of employability support in Scotland. Our Employability Strategic Plan, published in September, sets out our vision to deliver an employability system that tackles inequalities in Scotland’s labour market, creating a responsive and aligned approach that helps people of all ages who face the greatest barriers to progress towards, into and to sustain work.

Drivers of inactivity are diverse, with evidence indicating a rise in physical and mental health conditions in all inactive people in recent years. Our Programme for Government commits to support those already in work, help more people back into work by improving access to health and work services by April 2025 and introducing enhanced specialist support for disabled people across all 32 local authorities by Summer 2025. The Programme for Government also ensures access to funded early learning and childcare, demand-led employability support to parents and carers, and improves careers support for carers.

We are also considering what additional actions can be taken across employability, health and local service delivery through the development of a health and work action plan, in partnership with Public Health Scotland (PHS) and employers.

The last meeting of the DESG was held on 31 October 2024. Although officials from the Scottish Government are invited to attend meetings of the group, the Digital Economy Skills Group is organised by Skills Development Scotland. A request for the number of meetings held since the start of 2023 should be directed to Skills Development Scotland.

Although officials from the Scottish Government are invited to attend meetings of the group, the Digital Economy Skills Group is organised by Skills Development Scotland. A request for the minutes of the meetings should be directed to Skills Development Scotland.