Chamber and committees

Latest information from the Annual Population Survey (April 2022 to Mar 2023) shows that there are 28,300 people in Scotland who are unemployed for 12 months or more and therefore are long term unemployed.

Through No One Left Behind, we are transforming the employability system to be more responsive in meeting the needs of people and adapting to rapidly changing labour markets. The number of people starting support through No One Left Behind has continued to increase year on year, from 2,818 in year 1 (April 2019 – March 2020) to 17,667 in year 4 (April 2022 – March 2023).

From 1 April 2024, following the end of referrals to Fair Start Scotland in March 2024, employability support for disabled people and those at risk of long-term unemployment will also be provided through No One Left Behind. This is a key step to simplify the employability system in line with ambitions set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation to eradicate structural barriers to labour market participation. Learning and evaluation continues to underpin our ambitions. The Implementation Evaluation of No One Left Behind and the Young Person’s Guarantee was published on 10 August, which offers valuable insight on how we continue to build upon the strengths of local delivery and good practice.

The number of Cattle Identification livestock inspections undertaken by the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division on cattle keepers in the last five years is provided in the following table.

The Scottish Government places great importance on sport and leisure facilities, they are vital in supporting the physical and mental health of the nation. The Scottish Swimming Facilities Project will help accurately understand the current swimming pool provision, life cycle and predict the landscape in the short, medium, and long term.

The project has three phases:

1. Provide a high-level update on change since the Ticking Time Bomb report was produced in 2001. That report reviewed Scotland’s public swimming pools and the costs associated with maintenance, upgrades, and refurbishment. This new work will provide an update from the 2001 report, with a focus on the age, condition, numbers, categories, and locations of pools.

2. Provide good practice guidance on creating a more economically and environmentally sustainable swimming pool estate. This will consider energy consumption, operational costs, refurbishment, replacement, and adaptations in relation to both new and existing pools. It will also provide guidance on the development and operation of school swimming pools for community access.

3. Work with pilot local authority areas to implement the guidance developed in phase two, to demonstrate the future sustainability of the swimming estate.

In March 2023, Scottish Swimming appointed OLM Consulting to undertake this work. The work is well underway, and we expect Scottish Swimming to publish the results of phases one and two in the coming months.

A key commitment in our Diabetes Improvement Plan is to further increase access to existing and emerging technologies which can significantly benefit people with Type 1 diabetes and improve their quality of life. We do, however, understand that there are still some barriers to achieving equitable access across Scotland.

To tackle this, we have recently invested £350,000 through the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) pathway, to test new models of care and accelerate the distribution of existing technologies. We also continue to work closely with local Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) to address any concerns around the distribution.

We will continue to actively engage with the diabetes community and those living with Type 1 diabetes to better understand the barriers they face, while also working with suppliers, NHS services and wider industry partners to increase access to technologies in the near future.

Ensuring healthcare professionals have the appropriate knowledge and understanding to provide care to the required standard remains the responsibility of local NHS Boards.

To monitor the provision of education within stroke services, the Scottish Stroke Improvement Programme reviews ask NHS Boards to demonstrate how they are actively upskilling and maintaining the knowledge of their stroke workforce. The criteria for demonstrating the development of a skilled and knowledgeable stroke workforce have been expanded, based on recommendations made in the Progressive Stroke Pathway. The full criteria can be found in Annex A of the Stroke Improvement Plan at: Stroke Improvement Plan .

The 2023-2024 Delivery Plan which was recently published confirms that we expect the Digital Front Door to be delivered by the end of the current Parliamentary term in 2026.

You can read more about the Digital Front Door in our delivery plan here - Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2023-24 (www.gov.scot)

In response to the recommendations of the Storm Arwen review report, the Scottish Government undertook a programme of enhanced engagement with key resilience organisations which included a series of Winter Preparedness Meetings. Following the conclusion of the programme of engagement, a review was conducted which found the Winter Preparedness Meetings to have been useful, met the Terms of Reference, and recommended that The Scottish Government considers continuing to undertake season based resilience meetings. This summer, Summer Resilience Meetings have been hosted in relation to summer resilience issues.

In addition to this, the established multi-agency Resilience structures in Scotland,attended by SG officials, all considered the Storm Arwen report and recommendations for their collective and organisational preparedness.

The infrastructure levy powers in the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 would, once in force, provide local authorities with an additional mechanism for seeking financial contributions towards the cost of infrastructure. The definition of infrastructure in the Act is intentionally broad, enabling local authorities to spend levy income on a potentially wide range of projects in accordance with local priorities. This includes green and blue infrastructure but also educational and medical facilities, recreation facilities, flood defences and transport infrastructure – among other things.

Policy development to inform implementation of the infrastructure levy powers is at an early stage and in that context, it would be premature to comment on matters of detailed policy design. Furthermore, seeking to influence how local authorities might use future income from the infrastructure levy would seem to be contrary to the recently signed Verity House Agreement.

The Scottish Government has a duty to ensure that Government policies protect the rights of disabled people and reduce inequalities. Strategies, Plans and policies related to net zero, energy and transport are thoroughly assessed to ensure they do not discriminate against disabled people through our Equalities Impact Assessment requirement.

We also engage with protected groups to develop fair policy. Examples include engagement on Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework and co-designing Just Transition Plans for the energy and transport sectors.

We are currently working with several disability organisations to enable them to engage with their members on the development of our Just Transition Plans, to ensure the needs of disabled people are reflected both in the Plans and in wider Scottish Government policy.

I refer the member to the answer to S6W-20201 on 14 August 2023. 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.