Chamber and committees

The ‘Hate Monster’ is a Police Scotland campaign which ran for 6 weeks in Spring last year. The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

I will assume you are referring to the Scottish Government’s ‘Hate Hurts’ campaign which ran in March. The campaign showed the impact that hate crime has on those affected to help people recognise their experiences, highlighted the forms that hate crime can take and encouraged those who are witnesses to, or victims of hate crime to report it.

The campaign sends a message of reassurance to all communities in Scotland that hate crime will not be tolerated. c£390k was invested in the ‘Hate Hurts’ national campaign which included a broadcast and print.

The Scottish Government carries out Equality Impact Assessments on all new policies as required under the Equality Act 2010 and the associated Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). PSED requires public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations across all the protected characteristics, including age. These assessments draw upon existing research and data on equality issues, as well as the lived experience of those impacted. Specifically for older people, the assessments analyse and identify any potential impacts using evidence from relevant sources and direct feedback from older people's organisations.

Where relevant impacts on older people are identified through this evidence-based process, mitigating actions are carefully considered. The Scottish Government also directly engages with stakeholder groups representing older people, such as our trusted partners in the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum (OPSAF), to ensure their real-world views and experiences inform policymaking from the outset.

The NHS Scotland Youth Academy aims to enhance opportunity for Scotland’s young people to join the health and social care workforce. It is currently engaged in developing learner pathways, raising awareness of career opportunities and creating connections between schools and employers.

The Youth Academy is bringing together local partners from public and third sector organisations to further opportunities for young people in Health and Social Care. A key focus of work includes the delivery, in collaboration with Skills Development Scotland (SDS), of a new pathway pilot qualification. It will prepare and inspire senior secondary school pupils for entering into careers in health and social care. The pathway pilot is running during the 2023-24 academic year across Highland, Tayside and Clydebank (NHS Golden Jubilee). Additionally, the Youth Academy is supporting the relaunch of the Future Nurse Programme. This aims to raise awareness of nursing careers with primary-aged young people in the Highlands and Clydebank initially.

The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 amended regulation 8 of the building regulations so that "highly combustible metal composite material" panels, combustible cladding and combustible insulation can no longer be used for new building work captured in the scope of the ban.

The names and affiliations of the members of the Zero Emission Social Housing Taskforce, and its technical sub-groups, are published on the Scottish Government website: Zero Emission Social Housing Taskforce - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Governments Foreword - Health and Social Care Standards: my support, my life - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) set out what people should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland including care homes. They seek to provide better outcomes for everyone; to ensure that individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and that the basic human rights are upheld. Standard 2.12 states that if residents are unable to make their own decisions, the views of those who know their wishes, such as carers, independent advocates, formal or informal representatives must be sought and taken into account.

The Care Inspectorate is the regulator of care services in Scotland and is a non- departmental body and independent of the Scottish Government. Using the Health and Social Care Standards, they inspect services to ensure the safety, protection and wellbeing of residents. Through their inspection process, they review personal plans to determine the capacity status of individuals in receipt of care and support. If a valid s47 certificate of incapacity is in place they will review that the legal proxy advocate is involved in pro-active decision making about the care and support in accordance with the individual.

The most recently published figures show a cumulative spend of £7.141m which supports the assessment, urgent interim measures and remediation of those buildings with the pilot programme. Information on expenditure is published quarterly on gov.scot

https://www.gov.scot/publications/single-building-assessment-spending-information/

The Scottish Government has been supportive of the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association since their inception in Scotland and since 2016-17 has supported the movement’s growth. In the financial year 2023-24, grant funding was provided under the portfolio of myself. However, the work of the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association is cross-cutting and is not supported by a specific minister. As with other third sector organisations, engagement with the organisation spans across a range of portfolio areas including health and social care, equalities, and communities.

Corporate governance and accountability arrangements for public bodies are in place and built around an established series of statutory and administrative mechanisms. These ensure consistent processes and parameters, based on the principles in the Scottish Public Finance Manual, within which public bodies are required to operate in terms of the stewardship of public money, propriety and ethics.

This is supplemented by framework agreements that Scottish Government has in place with most public bodies setting out respective roles and responsibilities, including requirement for bodies to set plans which contribute to achievement of the National Performance Framework outcomes, including tackling poverty. These activities and the sponsorship and relationship arrangements the Scottish Government has with public bodies helps ensure that Scottish Ministers priorities are delivered.

Scottish Government funding to local authorities is allocated using a relative needs-based formula, taking into account disadvantage and various other considerations, including levels of deprivation. While local authorities decide how to spend their available finances they are guided by a set of national and local outcomes, with the Equality Act and associated specific duties providing a framework to help local authorities pay due regard to equality issues.

Specifically, local authorises, and other certain public bodies, in Scotland are subject to the Fairer Scotland Duty, which places a legal responsibility on them to actively consider how they can reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage, when making strategic decisions.

Since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased from 52,247 to 54,033 and the pupil teacher ratio has improved from 13.6 to 13.2.

Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of teaching staff, and the Scottish Government continues to provide local authorities with £145.5 million in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers more widely.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education is also considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland in detail, together with work to improving the promotion of teaching as a valued career.