Chamber and committees

A range of published data sources provide information related to the level of unmet need in adult social care in Scotland:

• The Health and Care Experience Survey collects data on unmet need for care and support. This survey runs every two years, and the latest version, published in May 2022 covers 2021-2022.
• The Social Care Eligibility Criteria And Waiting Times publication presents information on new clients meeting eligibility criteria for social care support, and the waiting times between first contact, completion of a community care assessment and delivery of a new personal care service. The latest edition, published in May 2022 covers the years 2012-2021. We are working with Public Health Scotland on approaches for improving the completeness and robustness of these data.
• Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes Delayed Discharge data on a monthly basis. The accompanying Excel workbook on standard delay reasons provides the number of patients delayed in hospital at a monthly census point for patients delayed for health and social care reasons. Health and social care reasons includes those delayed due to issues with assessment, funding, place availability, care arrangements & transport. It should be noted that patients delayed in hospital are just a subset of all individuals with unmet social care needs. The latest edition includes figures up to and including August 2022.
• The Independent Review of Adult Social Care describes two indirect approaches to assessing level of unmet need, one of these involves comparing level of provision in different areas across Scotland and determining where areas are below the Scottish average level. The latest data on care provision is available in the PHS Insights into Social Care publication.

The Scottish Government is currently working with stakeholders at PHS and Health and Social Care Partnerships to collect robust data on the number of people waiting for assessment for Care at Home services and the associated number of hours to be provided. The first publication of these figures is expected from PHS later this year.

We are greatly concerned by reports of children and under-age young people obtaining e-cigarettes or vaping products. Vapes and other nicotine products are part of a range of cessations tools available to existing smokers to help stop tobacco use. They are not a lifestyle accessory for children, young people or adult non-smokers.

There are already regulations in place which restrict the marketing, promotion and sale of vaping products to under 18s. We wrote to all retailers involved in their sale to remind them of their duty at the start of October 2022.

Our recent consultation proposed restrictions on vaping products that strike a balance between protecting all non-smokers from the potential harms of vaping, while still providing existing adult smokers with the information they need to make an informed choice on cessation. We hope to bring forward further regulation in the new year.

We recognise the importance of having a clear public health message for young people around the dangers of vaping. We are working with Young Scot and the Children’s Parliament to bring their voices into our work to develop a bold refreshed Tobacco Action Plan due to be published in Autumn 2023.

Our recent consultation proposed restrictions on vaping products that strike a balance between protecting all non-smokers from the potential harms of vaping, while still providing existing adult smokers with the information they need to make an informed choice on cessation. The responses from this consultation together with the analysis report and responses from the consultation as part of the 2016 Act are informing and shaping the final vaping restriction regulations. In addition findings from the consultation will be used to inform the refreshed Tobacco Action Plan, which is due to be published in 2023. In the meantime we will be working to ensure people better understand the risks around vaping. We will also continue to work with the UKG over joint approaches such as further regulation of flavourings.

As I have made clear in recent parliamentary statements, this government is absolutely committed to improving the lifeline ferry fleet and better meeting the needs of island communities.

I indicated in my statement to Parliament on 8 September that I would consider what more could be done to provide additional capacity in the CalMac fleet.

I undertook to involve all parties in next steps relating to Project Neptune and I am pleased that members had the opportunity this week to hear directly from Ernst and Young about their review and the report as part of that work.

I can announce today that additional funding has been prioritised to enable Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to accelerate the procurement of replacement vessels for the Calmac fleet.

Today, CMAL has launched a procurement for two additional vessels to be constructed to the same specification as the existing vessels currently under construction for Islay. This will significantly accelerate the replacement of the major vessel fleet and also help deliver on our aim of providing a more standardised vessel type that can be used interchangeably on a variety of different routes, providing potential economies of scale and enhanced public value.

It is expected the contract will be awarded before the end of the year. The overall project costs are estimated at around £115 million, including allowance for minor port improvements.

Our intention is that these vessels would be deployed on the Skye triangle routes to Lochmaddy and Tarbert delivering dedicated services to these communities in the peak season rather than the shared vessel operation currently in place. This will also create the opportunity for significantly increased capacity and resilience for the communities of the Western Isles. It will also deliver an additional vessel overall in the Calmac fleet.

This will also allow consideration of all options to deploy Vessel 802 on an alternative route, including potentially alongside her sister ship the MV Glen Sannox on the Arran route which would provide additional capacity on this busy route in the peak season. All the options will be discussed with island communities at the appropriate time.

Transport Scotland, Calmac and CMAL will of course engage with residents, businesses and communities on the detail of how services and timetables for these additional vessels should be deployed to ensure that their needs and interests will be met.

Since this government was elected in May 2021, we have bought and deployed an additional vessel in MV Frisa in June, made significant progress in the construction of vessels 801 and 802, commissioned two new vessels for Islay, progressed investment in essential harbour infrastructure, and now we are delivering a further two new vessels. At the same time we are continuing to work on pursuing all reasonable and appropriate opportunities to enhance capacity and resilience in the short term through second hand vessels. I will update Parliament on progress in that regard as soon as possible.

A virtual agency has been established within Scottish Government and will be housed within the Directorate of Energy and Climate Change bringing together our existing heat and energy efficiency delivery programmes. The agency will work with our existing delivery partners and operate as Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland.

This is the first step in transitioning to a dedicated body by 2025. Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland will be responsible for accelerating transformational change in how we heat and use energy in homes and buildings, aid public understanding and awareness, and co-ordinate delivery of investment. The agency will also act as a Centre of Expertise, which in time will support project delivery across a range of sectors, notably heat networks.

The virtual agency and transition to a dedicated body will be supported by an independent Strategic Board, chaired by Professor Lorne Crerar, who will work with us and key delivery partners to consider how to build on, improve and co-ordinate existing and future advice and support, as well as wider capital delivery programmes.

The profile of a virtual Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland will be built progressively over the coming months.

The Culture Collective programme was awarded £5,891,553 in March 2021 and £4,241,918 in March 2022. This is supporting 26 projects in communities across Scotland and has, to date, created over 320 opportunities for creative practitioners.

The Scottish Government has undertaken analysis into the costings of implementing a pay increase to £15 per hour for social care workers.

An increase in pay from the current rate of £10.50 per hour to £15 per hour for adult social care workers providing direct care in commissioned services would be in the region of £1.2 billion per year. To also include workers within Children’s and Justice commissioned services would be in the region of £1.75bn.

It is important to note that this does not include any costs for uplifting the pay of social care workers employed within Local Authority settings who have existing pay arrangements, which are devolved to Local Authorities and COSLA.

Raising the hourly rate for social care workers to £15 per hour would likely cause significant issues of parity across public sector pay, as well as within Local Government.

The Scottish Government are considering all options to tackle delayed discharge and officials will continue to engage with external partners to develop appropriate approaches.

The Scottish Government have also announced significant additional funding to address delays in discharge. This includes for 2022-23:

• £124m to enhance care at home
• £200m to increase the hourly rate of pay to £10.50
• £20m to support interim care arrangements
• £40m to enhance multi-disciplinary teams

Since 2020 we have invested more than £4.5m to scale up Hospital at Home services, now established within 20 HSCPs. A further £3.6m is available for 2022-23, taking our total investment to over £8m.

Through expanding our virtual capacity we have avoided or saved bed days equivalent to adding a large district general hospital. This has already saved 45,000 hospital bed days this year and is being further rolled out over the coming months.