Chamber and committees

Overseas visits undertaken by Scottish Ministers help protect and enhance Scotland’s interests, improve global networks, unlock new economic and trading opportunities and create domestic opportunities and benefits for the people of Scotland. For security reasons we do not comment on the future travel plans of the First Minister.

The information requested by Mr Kerr, MSP, is publicly available on the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) website. Last month, the SSSC published official statistics in the ‘ Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2021 Workforce Data’ report. This Report contains official statistics dating back to 2012. As well as this report, the SSSC will publish more detailed tables in late 2022, providing a breakdown of the number of people working in all sub-sectors in individual local authority areas.

The Scottish Government allocates annual Capital Resource Limit funding of over £140 million across all NHS Boards for essential backlog maintenance, statutory works and equipment purchases. Decisions on the allocation of this funding to specific items of equipment are made by each Board based on an assessment, taking account of clinical requirements, lifecycle replacement and risk.

This is a matter for individual Health Boards. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government at present. An NHS Scotland medical equipment management system is however planned to be in place during 2023, and it is intended that information of the type requested will available through the system.

This is a matter for individual Health Boards. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government at present. An NHS Scotland medical equipment management system is however planned to be in place during 2023, and it is intended that information of the type requested will available through the system.

People living in Scotland in receipt of Personal Independence Payment do not need to make an application for Adult Disability Payment. Social Security Scotland will transfer their awards for them, and in such circumstances before the person would otherwise be asked to undergo a DWP style assessment. We will write to people to tell them when the process has started to safely and securely transfer their award to Social Security Scotland. The transfer will happen automatically, ensuring there are no gaps in entitlement and ensuring that people continue to receive the right amount and their payments on time.

Should a person in Scotland in receipt of Personal Independence Payment make a new claim for Adult Disability Payment, on receipt of Part 1 of the application Social Security Scotland will make a determination that they are not entitled to Adult Disability Payment. This is to ensure that there are no duplication of awards and no gaps in payment. Their Personal Independence Payment award will continue to be paid by the DWP until it is selected for transfer to Social Security Scotland.

We are putting in place robust plans to deliver our replacement for Winter Fuel Payment from winter 2024 and we will consult on the proposals for this replacement in due course. Our priority in taking on full responsibility for all the devolved benefits is a safe and secure transition so that people continue to receive support at the right time and right amount.

From this coming winter (2022-23) the Scottish Government’s new Winter Heating Payment will guarantee an annual £50 payment to around 400,000 low-income households each winter. This is not dependent on age but will be targeted, reliable financial support to those most in need, including those in receipt of Pension Credit.

The Scottish Government’s absolute priority is ensuring the wellbeing and safety of displaced people from Ukraine. Our aim is to reduce overall hotel stay lengths and for people to be settled in accommodation in communities as soon as possible and for as long as they wish to stay.

The contract notice with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) (North) Ltd, was published on 09 August 2022. The contract is the primary route used to source and provide travel-related services for displaced people from Ukraine including accommodation in hotels and on the M/S Victoria I and M/S Ambition.

The full contract has a value of up to £100 million with a start date of 8 July 2022 and an end date of 12 December 2024.

Scottish Government officials regularly meet with local authority staff and ship senior management to ensure the wellbeing and safety of those arriving from Ukraine are central to the provision. This includes work to ensure that all staff are adequately qualified and checked to support the safety of children and adults on board.

Organisations providing services aboard the ships such as local authorities, third and voluntary sectors partners, as well as private employers are responsible for their own background and Disclosure checks on their staff, in the same way that applies to those supporting other Warm Scots Welcome accommodation, such as hotels. Those staff members or volunteers who are resident in Scotland, and whose role supports ‘regulated work’ will have undertaken the necessary Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) level, deemed appropriate for their role. PVG checks can only be progressed for those people resident in the UK or where there is an agreement with other states. Where this doesn’t apply, the background checks undertaken by the Home Office provide assurance to our contract managers. In addition, we have worked with local authorities and other partners to ensure that all crew of the MS Victoria and MS Ambition have a minimum of child and adult protection training and we continue to work collaboratively to ensure additional safeguarding training and resources are made available.

We provided an additional £9m to NHS Boards in 2021-22 to address waiting lists for Psychological Therapies. It is encouraging to see this reflected in a consistent and sustained reduction in waits of over 52 weeks over the past year and a more recent reduction in over 18 weeks waits in the most recent quarter.

In addition, we have commissioned the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to carry out a feasibility study to investigate a National Clinical Pathway to benefit adults diagnosed with ADHD. Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways are being piloted in four Health Boards to support a single diagnostic pathway for ADHD and Autism. The pilot started in January 2022 and will run for 12 months.