We remain committed to the increasing in the Health and Social Care workforce by 1% over the next 5 years, as outlined within the National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care.

NHS Scotland official workforce statistics published on 06 December 2022 show that staffing levels have increased by over 2,800 permanent whole time equivalent in the last year (or 1.8% of the NHS Scotland workforce) – representing 10 consecutive years of staffing growth.

In 2022-23 we supported the Neurological Alliance of Scotland (NAoS) to produce three information resources to support key workers and carers to guide people with neurological conditions to access Self-Directed Support (SDS).

The resources have been produced in conjunction with Self-Directed Support Scotland and are designed to raise awareness and understanding of SDS amongst three groups who are in a position to support people living with a neurological condition to access it: health and social care professionals, voluntary sector workers, and parents/carers of children with neurological conditions.

The resources were published by the NAoS in January 2023 at www.scottishneurological.org.uk and comprise:

• Self-Directed Support for adults: Information for Health and Social Care Professionals
• Self-Directed Support for adults: Information for the Voluntary Sector
• Self-Directed Support for children: What to Expect - Information for Parents

The Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) recommended the establishment of a National Social Work Agency (NSWA) for oversight of professional development of social workers and it is our intention to establish a NSWA as part of the National Care Service.

It’s objectives will be to support and invest in the profession by providing national leadership and overseeing social work – ensuring we attract and retain the right people, developing them in their roles and raising the status of social work as a profession. The NSWA is to be established as part of the National Care Service infrastructure, at a national level, given the important links and function that social work has within the wider National Care Service structure and given the important relationship between social work, social care and community health.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is the professional regulator for the social services workforce in Scotland.

The SSSC will begin work this year to establish what further groups of social service workers should be considered for professional regulation.

On completion of this work SSSC will report to Scottish Ministers who will then decide on what groups should be brought into the scope of professional regulation.

The Scottish Government commends and congratulates the athletes competing at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf later this year. The Invictus Games has been hosted in a range of locations worldwide, and has been successful in using sport to inspire recovery and support rehabilitation of injured and sick servicemen and women.

In terms of what consideration the Scottish Government has given to Scotland hosting the Invictus Games, the Scottish Government works with a range of organisations and partners, particularly VisitScotland's Events Directorate, to assess hosting opportunities to secure a strong and diverse pipeline of major events.

Scoping work is ongoing to consider the additional data collection, recording, and quality assurance requirements necessary for implementing this action. Further information on the delivery of this action will be set out in our update to the National Workforce Strategy, to be published later this year.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES), in partnership with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, produced an e-learning module for Non-Executive Board members on the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Equality Act. This was promoted to NHS Board Chairs in July 2022 and is a resource that all staff can access.

Equality is a theme running through the new Leading to Change programme aimed at developing future and current leaders in health and social care. NES is also working with a range of stakeholders to scope out current training and learning needs for staff on equality and diversity. This will inform work by NES to continue to develop up to date and relevant learning resources on equality and diversity for health and social care staff.

This will include a review and update of the NES essential learning module 'equality and human rights' which is available to the health and social care workforce.’

We acknowledge the immense, highly skilled and unique contribution made by social workers to support individuals and families across Scotland. We also know that social workers face significant challenges and have taken steps to ensure they have the right support.

The Scottish Association of Social Work has been given £200,000 in 2021-2023 to provide a peer support service covering a range of issues including wellbeing and resilience.

We do not have the information requested as we are still in the testing and policy development phase of the free bikes programme. In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes with a further four running by the end of 2021. The pilot programme will run until the end of March 2023, testing different approaches and delivery models, including eligibility, to help inform a national rollout.

We do not record data on bike numbers at local authority level. However, considering bikes issued and associated training and promotion sessions, free bikes activities have taken place in 20 of 32 local authority areas. The pilots are running across a range of locations including in urban, rural and island communities.

The deposit will be fully returnable and retailers will be required to display information clearly about returns. Under the Deposit Return Scheme it is expected that most people will use returned deposits to cover future deposits on drinks containers.

Further work is currently underway to ensure that the interactions between Minimum Unit Price and the Deposit Return Scheme continue to be understood as the scheme evolves and kept under review, including once DRS launches on 16 August this year.