Chamber and committees

Public Health Scotland’s report, published on 18 June 2024, presents a high-level overview of the number of statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements between April 2021 and March 2024. This includes statutory-funded placements approved by:

• local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs)
• the Scottish Government, using funds that are managed centrally for some residential rehabilitation placements (e.g. under the Prison-to-Rehab pathway). These placements are reported as National Mission-funded in this report.
• Ward 5 of the Woodland View mental health facility and community hospital in NHS Ayrshire and Arran. Ward 5 is a residential unit for Ayrshire and Arran residents who have an alcohol or drug problem and mental health 5 issues. Ward 5 offers detoxification followed by a four-week residential programme.

In the last three complete financial years (2021-22 to 2023-24), we have invested almost £250 million mitigating the impacts of UK Government policy such as the bedroom tax and benefit cap, and shortfalls in Local Housing Allowance rates through Discretionary Housing Payments. These policies have a direct impact on households in Scotland by reducing the level of social security support they receive.

This year alone, almost £134m will be spent through activities such as our Discretionary Housing Payments and the Scottish Welfare Fund. The Scottish Welfare Fund provides crisis support and helps eligible people to establish independent living, and shortfalls in the UK social security system have contributed to an increased demand on the fund.

In 2024-25, we are also investing £457 million in the Scottish Child Payment, giving support to the families of over 325,000 under 16s who currently receive it. However, its impacts are reduced by UK Government welfare policies, such as the two-child limit and benefit cap, and by the inadequacy of Universal Credit.

Table 1 below provides a breakdown of Discretionary Housing Payment funding for each activity in the last three years, including this financial year.

Table 1: Discretionary Housing Payments budget (2021/22 – present)

To date, the R100 contracts have delivered connections to more than 45,200 premises across Scotland, along with an additional 13,558 non-contracted premises connected while Openreach is delivering R100 contract build.

The Scottish Government committed to investing £10 million in Changing Places Toilets over the lifetime of the Parliament. Ultimately, the number of Changing Places Toilets that will be introduced as a result of investment will be determined by the number and quality of funding bids received. The Changing Places Toilets Planning Guide published by the Scottish Government provides information on Changing Places Toilets and guidance to those considering installing one.

Ethical commissioning was defined in the Bill, as introduced, as making arrangements for services in ways which were consistent with the NCS Principles. As a consequence of the agreement reached on shared accountability for the NCS these specific provisions were removed. There will be other requirements placed on relevant bodies to comply with the NCS Principles more widely which will achieve the same intent for ethical considerations to be embedded in commissioning and procurement of NCS services. Therefore the intent within the Bill remains unchanged.

We will carefully consider the responses to the Scottish Parliament’s call for views.

As laid out in the Programme for Government, the Planning Hub’s initial priority is to help planning authorities make quicker decisions on hydrogen planning applications.

This first phase of the Hub will be a pilot that looks to provide proof of concept for it to be in place for the longer term, with a plan to extend the services offered by the Hub in 2025-26 to support wider developments including the delivery of good quality homes and onshore wind. We will set out further details relating to extending the Hub’s services as this initial work progresses.

The Scottish Budget 2024-25 ensures that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK.

The Scottish Government faces a very challenging situation as we continue to manage our finances through the current financial year and look to set the Scottish Budget for 2025-26.

Notwithstanding the very difficult financial situation, we are delivering a range of actions which contribute to improving transitions for disabled young people. This includes:

• Providing almost £400k in grant funding between 2023-25 to ARC Scotland to continue the work of the Scottish Transitions Forum and to support the wider implementation of Principles into Practice and Compass.
• Investing nearly £19m since opening at the end of 2017 in the Independent Living Fund Scotland’s Transition Fund to support young disabled people to make a smoother transition from childhood into adulthood.
• Providing £361k in 2024-25 for Enable Scotland (Leading the Way)’s ‘Stepping Up’ transitions programme, which connects disabled young people to fair work, education and productive activities designed to support a successful transition into adult life and work.

We are currently undertaking analysis of our recent engagement with over 500 people to identify what currently works well and what could be even better, in order to consider possible actions for the strategy. The costs of the final strategy will be determined by the actions which are ultimately included in it.

The UK Government’s decision to restrict eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments was taken without consultation with the Scottish Government This decision is estimated to result in a reduction in this year’s Block Grant Adjustment (BGA) provided to the Scottish Government of approximately £150 million, over 80% of the cost of the Scottish Government’s planned replacement benefit, Pension Age Winter Heating Payment (PAWHP). Scottish Government analysis suggests that around 900,000 pensioners will no longer be eligible for this payment, of between £200 and £300, in Scotland in 2024-25.

Despite our best efforts to review our financial position we have no choice but to follow the UK Government and restrict eligibility for Pension Age Winter Heating Payment to older people who receive relevant eligible benefits.

The Scottish Government recognises the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers, including our young carers, make to our communities as well as the pressures many carers are under.

The Young Carers Package, delivered by Young Scot, was put in place to provide additional benefits and opportunities for young carers. The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 defines a young carer as someone who provides (or intends to provide) care who is under 18 (or over 18 and still at school). The package is designed to support children and young people who are not eligible for social security benefits and other support available to young adults.

In recognition of the fact that transitioning from being a young carer to an adult carer can be difficult, as young people look towards work or further or higher education, the package includes a transition bundle to provide extra benefits before young carers turn 19. There is a Young Scot webpage with further information on the transition bundle and young carers transitions more generally at: www.young.scot/get-informed/young-carers-transitions

I would encourage anyone providing unpaid care to contact their social work department or local carer centre to find out what support they may be able to offer.