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The Scottish Government believes effective voice is key to fair work and welcomes the CIPD’s contribution to highlighting the need for and the promotion of worker voice. We note their Working Lives Scotland report states that 19% of employees say they have no voice channel at work. More positively, it also notes the significant improvement in managerial openness among large organisations and public sector employees. We will continue to promote effective voice for all workers as the best way to ensure fair and democratic workplaces across Scotland, working in partnership with our stakeholders, including the STUC, employers, and the CIPD.

The Scottish Government expects all workers in Scotland to be treated fairly. Without control over employment law, we are using all the levers available to us to drive high quality and fair work, including effective workers’ voice, across the labour market.

Our Fair Work policy is underpinned by the Fair Work Convention’s Framework, which recognises effective voice as a critical dimension of Fair Work. We are working with our trade union partners and other stakeholders to promote and encourage wider fair work practices, including effective voice in various sectors, such as retail and hospitality. We are also working with stakeholders to deliver on our commitment in The Fair Work Action Plan, published in 2019, to work with the STUC to achieve increased collective bargaining focusing initially on four key sectors: social care; early years & child care; hospitality and construction.

Through our flagship Fair Work First approach, we are applying fair work criteria to public sector funding - asking employers to commit to providing appropriate channels for effective voice, such as trade union recognition along with adopting other fair work principles. In line with the Bute House Agreement , and subject to limits on devolved competence, we will strengthen conditionality yet further. By Summer 2022, we will make it a requirement for the recipients of public sector grants to provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice, such as trade union recognition.

A full public consultation into proposed restrictions on the advertising and promotion of vaping products was launched on February 3. The consultation will run for 12 weeks and all responses will be independently analysed.

In year one, the Fund will be split evenly between Capital and Financial Transactions. Detail of what each can be used for is available in HMT’s consolidated budget guidance, the most recent version of which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consolidated-budgeting-guidance-2021-to-2022

NHS Boards are expected to assess their patients’ travel needs and can, if required, direct them to appropriate support this will include local volunteer groups and charities who they have engaged with. For example NHS Ayrshire and Arran has a service level agreement with Ayrshire Cancer Support which provides transport for patients.

The Scottish Government welcomed and supported the recommendation of the Virtual Trials National Project Board, which has the potential to deliver significant benefits for victims by reducing the traumatising impact of the court environment. The Report acknowledges that existing legislation with guidance issued by the Lord Justice General could support the further use of virtual trials. We will consider the need for legislation in a future consultation exercise.

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reach its target of investing 1% of the health budget in CAMHS services by the end of this parliamentary session. We are committed to increasing direct investment in mental health by 25% and to working with NHS Boards and other stakeholders to ensure that at least 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health and 1% goes on child and adolescent services by the end of this Parliamentary session.

The £40 million additional funding this year for improvement across child and adolescent mental health services from the Recovery and Renewal Fund and our plans for increased investment in next and future years will contribute towards delivering the commitment.

This is a matter for individual Health Boards. We do not hold this information centrally.

PPE guidance is developed by infection prevention and control (IPC) experts on a four-nation basis and they maintain that current evidence does not support a change to the current IPC guidance on respiratory protective equipment (RPE). WHO has not changed its position on the route of transmission of COVID-19. It is still transmitted predominantly via droplets and contact with contaminated hands or environment.

FFP3 respirator masks can be worn when working in the respiratory pathway in a clinical area deemed as having an unacceptable risk of transmission by the NHS Board. This would be initiated by an environmental risk assessment and rigorous application of the Hierarchy of Controls (HoC).

The budget for National Records of Scotland is made up from two elements. The core budget for service delivery and the programme budget for Scotland’s Census. The Census Programme budget runs to 2024/25 with peak spend in the years around Census day. Scotland’s Census 2022 ‘goes live’ on 28th February, with Census day being 20th March 2022. Throughout the lifecycle of the Census Programme the budget requirement has fluctuated year on year in line with the requirements to deliver this key digital programme. Over the last two years the budget allocation to NRS for the Census Programme element has been £38.4m and £35.1m for 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively.

While the Census Programme budget allocation has reduced over the last two years, reflecting requirements for spend, the remainder of the resource funding allocated to NRS, which funds the core operating costs of the organisation, have not seen a similar reduction. Funding for NRS core operating costs has remained stable across the two years.