Chamber and committees

We have committed to undertaking an evaluation of the effectiveness of the smoke-free perimeter around hospital buildings as part of the first Implementation Plan of the recently published Tobacco and Vaping Framework. We do not centrally hold information on the number of fines issued since the Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force.

Primary Teachers are generalists; therefore, they deliver the totality of the Curriculum including PE. Specialist PE teachers are predominantly based in secondary schools.

The table shows the number of Primary schools in each authority with teachers listing Physical Education as their main subject. Head teachers are not included.

Individual teachers may have posts in more than one school. Note that in some local authorities physical education teachers that serve more than one school are recorded as centrally employed rather than allocated to individual schools. Teachers recorded in this way do not appear in the following table.

Primary schools with teachers in post with Physical Education as their main subject taught 2023 - Excludes head teachers.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested as this is a matter for local Health and Social Care Partnerships. The information is not held centrally.

Operational decisions on pay and staffing matters are the responsibility of individual colleges.

The Scottish Government expects every effort to be made, in consultation with trade unions, to protect jobs. The Scottish Government has been clear that compulsory redundancies should only be considered as a last resort, after all other options have been fully explored in collaboration with trade unions.

As set out in the Letter of Guidance issued by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Funding Council on 29 March 2024, implementation of Fair Work First must be the guiding criteria to promote fairer work practices for staff within the college sector.

The Scottish Government expects college employers and trades unions to follow Fair Work principles and work together to reach a conclusion to the pay negotiations with a settlement which is both fair and affordable, without the need for further industrial action.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of encouraging young people to enter the social care workforce, and are working with partners to provide future sustainability to the sector and create additional career choices for those looking to leave education.

This has included a burst of marketing activity which specifically engaged with school leavers in summer 2023, and a careers event held in collaboration with Developing the Young Workforce Forth Valley in October 2023.

The Scottish Government meets with campus unions on a bi-annual basis, and representatives of the college sector in a number of forums regularly, where a range of matters important to the sector are discussed.

We expect college management and unions to work together to do everything they can to reach a pay settlement that is both fair and affordable.

However, while the Scottish Government can have no direct role in these negotiations, we will continue to engage with both management and unions as and when appropriate to do so.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26094 on 26 March 2024. 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/questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government has not had discussions with COSLA or local authorities regarding apprenticeship provision for traditional trades. Skills Development Scotland have operational responsibility for apprenticeship provision and regularly engage with local authorities, for both Modern and Foundation Apprenticeship provision.

Operational guidance regarding the provision of food is provided to Boards from Health Facilities Scotland (a division of National Services Scotland). Boards carry out quality assurance activity of their catering services through several mechanisms. Patient Experience Surveys are used in all boards, through a variety of methods, and include questions on national measures of quality (which are reported annually to Health Facilities Scotland), alongside additional questions included by the board. Mealtime observations, where the ward service is observed and measured against several topic areas, are used to help to identify areas for improvement. However, some boards do not currently carry out these types of audits. All feedback should be reviewed by the service and used to measure the quality of the service from the patient’s perspective, helping to identify areas for improvement.

Patient Feedback should be considered at several forums, including at the board’s Strategic Hydration and Nutritional Care Group or Food, Fluid and Nutrition Group meetings.

Where patients have complaints, Boards are encouraged to utilise the NHS Complaints Handling Procedure. Where suitable, Boards are encouraged to resolve straightforward complaints at the earliest opportunity, however where this is not possible complaints can be escalated to an investigation stage.