Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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/written-questions-and-answers

Transport Scotland has engaged with CalMac and Ministers regarding routine Winter 2022-23 timetable requests and decisions have been fed back to Ferry Committees and local stakeholder groups.

The service continuity measures and alternative timetables during the Uig closure period are yet to be finalised. Transport Scotland continues to engage with CalMac and elected officials on this matter.

CalMac will publish Winter 2022-23 timetables in due course and are proactively engaging with stakeholders to keep them updated.

The Scottish Government through the Scottish Freight and Logistics Advisory Group previously conducted an assessment of HGV rest stops and facilities in 2010-11.

Details of the previous study are available here: scotflag-lorry-parking-known-overnight-issues-report-1-oct-2011.pdf (transport.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has increased local government funding by over £1 billion in 2022-23, a real terms increase of 6.3 per cent, despite a 5.2 per cent real terms reduction in the overall Scottish Budget. Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government is committed to using public procurement to contribute towards the transition to a more resource efficient, lower carbon economy. Support and mentorship is available through the Sustainable Procurement Training Framework. To support environmentally-friendly buying options, our national frameworks are available to the wider public sector, for example our Non Domestic Energy Efficiency Frameworks support the transition to a low carbon economy across sectors.

In addition, we established the National Climate and Procurement Forum and associated work streams with representative bodies of key sectors, to provide leadership and direction to enable traction on climate change.

The Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the role of local government and its partners in financing and delivering a net zero Scotland. In addition, Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) recently launched an investigation into support for local authorities in delivery of climate change targets. Scottish Government welcomes such independent scrutiny and will give the resulting reports and recommendations due consideration

The information is not held centrally. You may wish to contact Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs directly to request additional information. An evaluation of the National Development Project Fund is also available on the Scottish Government website.

The whole family approach framework, launched in December 2021, sets out principles of how we will improve support for families affected by substances. A £3.5 million uplift per year is provided to ADPs to implement this framework by allocating funding to local family support services.

We also fund Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs for family support services while the Children and Families Fund, administered by Corra, provides £3 million for family support each year to front-line and third-sector organisations.

The information requested is not held centrally. This is a matter for local authorities who should maintain records of notices.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that there is a thriving music industry in Scotland, including grassroots music venues, which are key to supporting emerging Scottish talent.

That is why the Scottish Government’s Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund (GMVSF) provided grassroots live music venues with £6.2 million of emergency funds to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and prevent closures. Music venues were also able to apply to the £25m Cancellation Fund for Cultural Organisations in early 2022, which supported creative businesses which had been adversely financially impacted by cancellations or postponement of activities due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

The Scottish Government is content to engage further with the Music Venue Trust to discuss their new initiative to build community ownership of grassroots music venues, including in Glasgow.

Asylum, refugee and immigration policy is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of support and accommodation to people seeking asylum if they would otherwise be destitute while awaiting a decision on their asylum application and No Recourse to Public Funds restrictions on people who are subject to immigration control, including people seeking asylum, which means they may not be permitted to access social security benefits.

The Scottish Government has raised digital access concerns with the UK Government relating to people seeking asylum who are accommodated and supported by the Home Office. We have called for the Home Office to reflect the cost of digital connectivity in the support they provide, as it is increasingly important in ensuring people can access support services, legal advice and information, as well as report asylum accommodation or support issues.

The Scottish Government is designing our social security service so that as many people as possible, including people seeking asylum, refugees and other minority communities, understand what Social Security Scotland do, can communicate with Social Security Scotland and can access services in the way they want to. Our social security service is inclusive by design, with specialist support such as interpretation available where necessary for those who need it.

To help provide support to people who may be eligible for benefits, Social Security Scotland offers a range of channels for people to make an application for any of the benefits they provide. These are online, by phone, by post or face to face. Where interpreters are required, these will be provided for every channel of application and at every stage.

Work to embed an inclusive communication approach across everything that Social Security Scotland does continues.

Social Security Scotland currently has the following capability in place to support inclusive communications:

• Language Translation and Interpretation: services cover the production of translations into over 100 languages, Braille, Audio, Large Print and Easy Read formats. Interpreter-assisted calls are available to people who call the helpline, enabling people to apply over the phone in any of over 100 languages. The services also cover face to face language interpretation. Information on benefits is proactively translated into 11 languages used in communities across Scotland, including Urdu, Polish and Gaelic. Key materials have also been translated into Ukrainian and Russian to help refugees and displaced people access benefits. Translated information on all of Social Security Scotland's benefits can be accessed via the stakeholder resources section of the website.
• All letters, information and guidance are available in Braille, large print, Easy Read and various audio formats.
• Online content follows the Scottish Government's accessibility design standards. It is compatible with screen reader software on Jaws, Voiceover and Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) platforms.
• Deafened and Hearing Impaired Community: As part of support of the Scottish Government National BSL Action Plan, current provision has been reviewed and, with stakeholder input, a new specification of requirements for providing services for this community has been drafted. A British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service will soon be available through Contact Scotland.

Further actions are also being taken to improve service capability in support of inclusive communication. These include work to ensure that Social Security Scotland has the appropriate support and services in place to support clients with Cognitive and Learning impairments.

This uplift in the minimum hourly rate of pay for adult social care workers, delivering direct care, is being delivered through Local Government contracts and funding to deliver this took effect from 1 April 2022; with the Scottish Government transferring £200 million to Local Government to support investment in social care, including to deliver the £10.50 minimum hourly rate for these workers.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have set up mechanisms, through discussions with the Fair Work in Social Care Group, to establish and address any issues or exceptional delays in relation to delivering the funding for the uplift to providers and subsequently eligible workers.

We have regular communications with Scottish Care, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS) and Trade Union representatives to discuss any concerns or questions around implementation of the uplift and have worked together to resolve these quickly. Through this process to date, we have not had any examples brought to our attention of private care providers not paying the £10.50 minimum hourly rate.

However, despite the apparently good levels of compliance, we are currently working with key stakeholders to establish a webpage with details for members of the adult social care workforce to make contact with local commissioning teams directly if they are not receiving the £10.50 per hour rate so this can be investigated.

The Scottish Government also encourages and receives communications from members of the workforce directly. To date, we have received one case where members of the workforce are not receiving £10.50 and this is currently being looked into.