#health-secretary

#health-secretary

Hopes are rising of a breakthrough in the junior doctors dispute after their leaders held several hours of talks with the health secretary, Steve Barclay.Sources said the two sides were making some progress in a renewed effort to try to settle a bitter row over pay that has led to junior doctors staging two very disruptive strikes.

An NHS boss has spoken out about the quite extraordinary challenges the health service is currently facing telling MSPs that his health board technically cannot afford a tenth of the staff working for it.Jeff Ace, chief executive of NHS Dumfries and Galloway, said the difficulties facing the NHS at the moment were not part of our usual times are difficult' financial pressures.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has accused the First Minister of failing a family whose son has waited years for mental health treatment, asking how will First Minister Humza Yousaf be any different?At the newly-minted SNP leader's debut appearance at First Minister's Questions, Mr Sarwar raised his record while in charge of the NHS, claiming 11,000 children had waited longer than the 18-week target time between referral and access to mental health treatment and 14,000 had their referrals rejected during Mr Yousaf's tenure.

Running a country is a big job and Scotland's new First Minister Humza Yousaf will come into the post with an in-tray that is already bulging.Top of his to-do list will be reuniting a party which has been rocked by a leadership election that even Nicola Sturgeon has described as being somewhat fractious.

Humza Yousaf has been announced as the new leader of the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon's successor.The former health secretary is set to become Scotland's youngest first minister.Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and former community safety minister Ash Regan were also in the running for the top job.Nicola Sturgeon announced in February that she would resign after more than eight years in the job, once her successor had been chosen.

Running a country is a big job and Scotland's new first minister will come into the post with an in-tray that is already bulging.Top of their to-do list will be reuniting a party which has been rocked by a leadership election that even Nicola Sturgeon has described as being somewhat fractious.The candidates have clashed repeatedly throughout the campaign, but now need to find a way to work together.

The ongoing wave of public sector strikes, some of which could continue into the autumn, has been motivated by two main factors.One the most immediate is the spike in inflation and the cost of living crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.For workforces which had already endured a steady erosion of pay and living standards for over a decade, this amounted to a blow upon the bruise inflicted by austerity.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay dismissed allegations about his conduct, insisting that he worked constructively with officials and had not received any complaints about his behaviour.The Health Secretary has become the latest member of the Prime Minister's Cabinet to face bullying allegations, with officials from his department reportedly having spoken privately of bad behaviour.

Jeremy Hunt has conceded the Treasury will have to find extra money to fund the pay offer to NHS staff, though the Department of Health and Social Care will also be forced to make savings.Health unions are now consulting their members on the offer, which includes a one-off bonus of up to 8.2% for this year and a pay rise of 5% from April, plus more for the lowest-paid.

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email The Treasury is facing a backlash over a tweet about Jeremy Hunt's Budget which mocked Matt Hancock's leaked WhatsApp messages.The chancellor poked fun at the former Tory health secretary as he revealed the details of his budget in the Commons on Wednesday.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has said he is cautiously optimistic that unions will accept the current pay offer for nurses, despite increasingly heated rhetoric between negotiators.On Tuesday, unions in the NHS Staff Council will consider the offer of a 5% pay increase for 2023/24 along with a one-off payment worth between 1,655 and 3,789 for the current financial year for nurses in England.

An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government's improved pay offer.

A leading health union has accepted the government's improved pay offer for NHS staff, in a move that could split unions over whether to keep on striking for more money.GMB members working in the NHS in England have voted by 56% to 44% to accept the deal that all 12 health unions hammered out last month with the health secretary, Steve Barclay.

Steve Barclay is absolutely not a bully, a Cabinet colleague insisted as the Health Secretary faced allegations about his conduct towards staff.Foreign Secretary James Cleverly defended Mr Barclay, saying he had given a clear and completely unambiguous response to the allegations.Mr Barclay has not commented publicly but allies totally deny he is a bully.

New First Minister Humza Yousaf vowed there could not be more unity in the SNP as he unveiled his first Cabinet which he said was the biggest reshuffle since 2007.Mr Yousaf said his new Cabinet, in which he gave top roles to his supporters, brings a mix of new faces and experience as junior ministers Jenny Gilruth, Neil Gray and Angela Constance have moved into Cabinet secretary positions and SNP stalwarts including Angus Robertson and Shirley-Anne Somerville remain.

For the first time in a rather long time, the mood within Scottish Labour is buoyant.Under Anas Sarwar's leadership, the party has gone from potential political extinction to consistently polling about 29%, which would result in around 15 seats in the general election up from the current total of one.

Humza Yousaf has made history after being the first person from a minority ethnic background to become the First Minister of Scotland.The 37-year-old is also the youngest person to hold the post, after being voted in at the Scottish Parliament.He will be officially sworn in at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

Humza Yousaf has taken the reins of the SNP in a transfer of power that will be welcomed by the party's upper echelons.Mr Yousaf was backed by high profile party members: including outgoing Deputy First Minister John Swinney, and new SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, a position for which he had repeatedly been tipped in recent years.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has said the SNP has not sufficiently laid the groundwork for independence.Speaking during what is expected to be the final debate ahead of voting closing on Monday hosted by Times Radio Ms Forbes said the party has not worked in a respectful fashion with the other side of the independence debate.

After almost a quarter of a century in the Scottish Parliament, Shona Robison is taking on her biggest role yet, having been appointed as Scotland's new Deputy First Minister.Humza Yousaf announced her appointment almost immediately after winning the vote in Holyrood to become Scotland's sixth First Minister.

Kate Forbes wanted time out of the spotlight to spend time with her family, according to Humza Yousaf's newly appointed deputy, Shona Robison, after his Scottish National party leadership rival announced she would be leaving the Scottish government rather than accept the rural affairs demotion he offered her. Allies of Forbes described the offer a significant step down from her previous position as finance secretary as an insult after Yousaf offered her a role in his new cabinet as cabinet secretary for rural affairs and islands.

Junior doctors in England are to hold a new round of strikes after talks with the government failed to resolve a bitter row over pay.The British Medical Association (BMA) said a 96-hour stoppage would take place for shifts starting between 6.59am on Tuesday 11 April and 6.59am on Saturday 15 April.The BMA said the health secretary, Steve Barclay, had failed to make any credible offer, and it accused the government of not being serious about resolving the dispute.

The Conservative MP who chairs the Commons health and social care committee is under investigation over allegations that he lobbied the NHS and ministers on behalf of a recruitment firm that employed him.Steve Brine, a former health minister, was put under investigation by parliament's standards commissioner over paid advocacy and declaration of an interest.

The Scottish independence cause is dead after Humza Yousaf was elected as the new SNP leader, senior Labour and Tory figures have claimed.Mr Yousaf who will replace Nicola Sturgeon after narrowly defeating rival Kate Forbes said he would be asking the UK government straight away to grant the Scottish parliament the power to hold another independence referendum.

So, in an SNP leadership contest that became a pitting of competence against progressive values, progressive values won out.Humza Yousaf who has billed himself as the continuity candidate, the torchbearer for Nicola Sturgeon's liberal agenda came through in the end, although by a tighter margin than any new leader of a party would want.

Humza Yousaf has called on the party to unite behind him after he was elected as new leader of the SNP.Mr Yousaf said "We are no longer team Humza, or team Ash, or team Kate, we are one team."He said independence would be won "on the doorsteps" and pledged to kickstart a grassroots campaign.

Humza Yousaf, who has become the first minority ethnic leader of the Scottish government, has had the advantage and the curse of being seen as the continuity candidate and Nicola Sturgeon's unacknowledged favourite.Of all three candidates, Yousaf, 37, was the only enthusiast for Sturgeon's approach and earned by far the most endorsements from SNP parliamentarians and ministers, notably including Sturgeon's deputy and closest political friend, John Swinney, himself a former leader of the party.

Humza Yousaf has been elected the first minority ethnic leader of the Scottish National party after a tumultuous campaign that exposed deep divisions in the party that has dominated Scottish politics under his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon.He is almost certain to be confirmed as Scotland's next first minister in a nominal vote at Holyrood on Tuesday.

The current rules on MPs' second jobs strike the right balance, Downing Street has said, after videos showed Kwasi Kwarteng and Matt Hancock offering to advise a fake Korean company for up to 10,000 a day.One minister acknowledged the footage was pretty unedifying even if no rules were broken, after a sting by the campaign group Led By Donkeys duped the former chancellor and former health secretary into an interview with a bogus company.

Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf will finally find out his fate in the SNP leadership contest today.Mr Yousaf has been standing in the tense five-week contest against Ash Regan and Kate Forbes after Nicola Sturgeon announced she would resign, and will find out if he wins at around 2pm on Monday.

Matt Hancock is not worth 10,000 a day, according to a minister and Tory colleague of the former health secretary.Chris Philp, policing minister, said the sight of Mr Hancock and other senior Conservatives offering to advise a fake Korean company for enormous daily sums was pretty unedifying.He was speaking as new footage was released of Sir Graham Brady, chair of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, telling an activist posing as an employee of Hanseong Consulting that he would work for around 500 an hour.

Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng agreed to work for a fake South Korean company for £10,000 a day, footage from a campaign group appears to show.In a sting operation set up by Led By Donkeys, the ex-health secretary and ex-chancellor discussed rates to advise the sham firm, the Observer reported.

SNP leadership hopeful Humza Yousaf has said his party cannot afford to risk a minority government amid concerns over the future of the powersharing agreement with the Scottish Greens.The Health Secretary who will find out on Monday if he has beaten Kate Forbes and Ash Regan to replace Nicola Sturgeon as party leader and first minister said any move away from the Bute House agreement would destabilise the Scottish Government.

SNP leadership contender Humza Yousaf said his party should not restart the contest following criticism of its handling of a row over membership numbers.However, the Health Secretary conceded that the last 72 hours had been a difficult period for his party.It follows high-profile resignations of media chief Murray Foote and SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, who is First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's husband.

SNP leadership candidate Humza Yousaf has said the party's row over membership numbers is an own goal.Longstanding chief executive Peter Murrell, who is Nicola Sturgeon's husband, resigned on Saturday as he took responsibility for misleading figures being briefed to the press.The SNP's membership figures were revealed on Thursday after all three candidates vying to replace Nicola Sturgeon called for transparency around the exact number which had fallen by about 30,000 in just over a year.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Health Secretary and would-be first minister Humza Yousaf has been branded incompetent by Labour leader Anas Sarwar, as he told MSPs no dentists are taking on new NHS patients in more than a quarter of health boards.

Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature In the strike negotiation process joint statements are always a good sign, and we've just had one issued on behalf of the government and education unions.It says they are moving The government and the education trade unions, Association of School and College Leaders, National Association of Head Teachers, NASUWT and National Education Union, have agreed to move into a period of intensive talks.

Junior doctors could enter pay talks with the government imminently after ministers agreed a deal with other health unions.Vivek Trivedi, the co-chair of the British Medical Association's junior doctor committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday he was optimistic discussions would begin in the coming days following the agreement between the government and unions including Unison, the GMB and the Royal College of Nursing.

Close Unions suspend NHS strikes after pay negotiation breakthrough Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Unions have suspended further strike action in England after a new pay offer was reached with ministers.The offer backed by the Royal College of Nursing, the GMB and Unison includes a one-off lump sum for 2022-23 that rises in value up the NHS pay bands as well as a permanent 5 per cent rise on all pay points for 2023-24.

Thursday's pay offer marks a significant victory for the thousands of NHS workers in England who have been on the picket lines in the past three months and a major climbdown for Rishi Sunak's government.Until just a few weeks ago, the government appeared determined to hunker down and stick to the script that this year's pay deal could not possibly be revisited, and that finding extra cash for health workers would jeopardise the fight against soaring inflation.