Overview

• Announced at the SNP conference in Aberdeen, the Scottish government will sponsor visa applications for overseas care home staff as a direct response to Westminster’s curbs.
• Swinney said hundreds of workers are ready to start immediately to help keep Scotland’s care homes running.
• In July the UK government halted new overseas applications for the social care worker visa after setting out plans in May to cut work visas by about 100,000 a year.
• The Scottish government estimates the sponsorship measure will cost about £500,000.
• Separately, the government will open 15 walk-in GP sites staffed by GPs and nurses, operating daily from noon to 8pm, with a target of more than one million additional appointments within a year.