Chamber and committees

SOWEC routinely discusses skills and jobs as part of its agenda. During the SOWEC meeting of 13 May, it was agreed that SOWEC would issue a letter of support for the Skills Passport. A letter has been drafted and this will be issued in due course once approved by SOWEC. It is important to note that SOWEC is not delivering the Skills Passport and is not directly involved in its development.

The following Scottish Government-led national policy delivery projects received a total funding of £5.3 million as follows:

The Scottish Government engages regularly with all three of these stakeholder groups, as well as with other bodies, to discuss a range of issues related to ensuring a just energy transition, including rates of employment and other workforce considerations.

The Scottish Government routinely meets with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) and other stakeholders to discuss a range of issues including skills and workforce. The last SOWEC meeting was held on 20 June 2024.

In relation to oil and gas industry, I met with Offshore Energies UK on 20 March 2024. The First Minister also met with representatives from a number of individual businesses in Aberdeen, including oil and gas companies, to discuss the energy transition on 17 May 2024.

In relation to trade unions, I met with representatives from the Scottish Trade Unions Congress (STUC), UNISON, Unite, RMT and GMB on 29 February 2024. Ministers have also subsequently met with trade unions on matters related to transition in Scotland’s onshore energy system. Scottish Government officials also meet monthly, most recently on 3 June 2024, with representatives of STUC to discuss issues relevant to ensuring a just transition. Previous engagement with trade unions has been fundamental to our policy thinking about a just transition to date, including through the creation of the Just Transition Commission. The Scottish Government has committed to providing annual funding of £100k to support just transition capacity within the trade union movement, which will ensure this vital input continues, as we get on with delivering good, green jobs and a truly just transition.

The latest published statistics show that since Carer’s Allowance Supplement was first introduced in April 2018, payments have been made to 10,845 carers in South Lanarkshire local authority area who were eligible on at least one eligibility date from April 2018 to October 2023.

Carer’s Allowance Supplement is paid twice a year. For April 2023 and October 2023 eligibility dates, the payment value was £270.50. For the April 2024 eligibility date, the payment value increased to £288.60.

The latest statistics were published on 13 February 2024 and covered carers in receipt of Carer’s Allowance Supplement to the October 2023 eligibility date. This information is available at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/summary-statistics-for-carers-allowance-supplement-to-october-eligibility-date-2023 . The next publication of Official Statistics is due to be released on 13 August 2024 and will include information to the April 2024 eligibility date.

In their published December 2023 Economic and Fiscal Forecasts, the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast 368,000 children will be eligible for the Scottish Child Payment in Scotland in 2024-2025 and that 329,000 children will receive payments.

They also forecast Best Start Foods will be paid for 51,000 children and pregnant women in Scotland in 2024-2025 and 58,000 Best Start Grant payments will be made, 16,000 for Pregnancy and Baby Payment, 20,000 for Early Learning Payment and 22,000 for School Age Payment.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission do not publish forecasts of the number of children eligible for Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods, or the number of children receiving Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant or Best Start Foods by constituency.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish Official Statistics for Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods, and Scottish Child Payment. The latest statistics, covering the period to the end of March 2024, do not currently include information by Scottish Parliament constituency. These also do not include information on the number of children benefitted from Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods.

The latest statistics show that, as of 31 March 2024, 329,055 children and young people aged 0-15 years were actively benefitting from Scottish Child Payment. This information along with further breakdowns including local authority area, and individual child age can be found at Social Security Scotland - Scottish Child Payment: high level statistics to 31 March 2024 .

The latest statistics show that, in the 2023-2024 financial year covering April 2023 to March 2024, 56,455 individual parents or carers were paid for Best Start Grant. For comparison, 204,460 parents or carers received at least one Scottish Child Payment.

The latest publication for each benefit can be found at: Social Security Scotland - Statistics .

The Scottish Government committed through the Programme for Government 2021-2022 and 2023–24 to improve miscarriage care, part of this work includes the provision of separate spaces in maternity wards in hospitals for those experiencing a pregnancy or baby loss.

We also funded Sands UK to develop and implement the National Bereavement Care Pathway for pregnancy and baby loss in Scotland (NBCP). All 14 NHS Boards are now signed up to the Pathways and implementation is ongoing with continued support from Sands.

The pathways acknowledge that bereavement care is the responsibility of all health professionals working in maternity services. While some NHS Boards have specialist bereavement midwives, all midwives, consultants and other workforce are trained in bereavement care. The maternity workforce, aim to have an informed, skilled team who are all able to provide the specialist care that bereaved parents need.

In addition to wider maternity bereavement supports, perinatal mental health services have a role in ensuring continuity, appropriate support, and signposting/transition for any parent who is within the perinatal period, is in receipt of perinatal mental health services and experiences bereavement.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living with kidney disease in Scotland are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put people at the centre of their care.

We expect all NHS Boards in Scotland to adhere to current guidelines and follow best practice when providing psychosocial care for people with chronic kidney disease.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy published in 2023, sets out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

In September 2023, we published the National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions , to ensure effective, equitable, efficient and high-quality person-centred Psychological Therapies (PT) are delivered consistently across Scotland. The Specification sets out the standards to which we expect Psychological Therapies to be delivered, including appropriate staffing

We recently met with Kidney Care UK and welcome and value their work and remain committed to engaging with them on these important matters.

The Scottish Government expects all NHS Boards in Scotland to adhere to current guidelines and follow best practice when providing psychosocial care for people with chronic kidney disease.

Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy published in 2023, sets out a long-term vision, and a set of outcomes, for the mental health and wellbeing of the population.

We published the National Specification for Psychological Therapies and Interventions in September 2023, and Public Health Scotland updated the national waiting times guidance , to ensure that PT is delivered to a high quality and measured consistently across Scotland.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has not taken any formal action as a result of a college failing to meet Fair Work criteria since the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013 came into force.

Fair Work requirements are a condition of SFC funding. SFC will monitor compliance through reporting requirements in colleges' annual reports.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s December 2023 publication forecast that a total of 98,000 people in Scotland will receive payments for Carer’s Allowance/Carer’s Support Payment in the financial year 2024-25.

Statistics on the number of people receiving Carer’s Allowance in each local authority and constituency area in Scotland can be found on the DWP’s statxplore tool: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml .

Carer Support Payment is replacing Carer’s Allowance in Scotland and is only currently available for new applications in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Na h-Eileanan Siar. Carer Support Payment will be open to new applicants in South Lanarkshire from 24 June 2024. Everyone in Scotland already receiving Carer’s Allowance will automatically have their awards moved safely and securely to Carer Support Payment. We are writing to carers to let them know when their award has been selected for transfer and what to expect.

Carer Support Payment statistics are published on a quarterly basis. The latest published statistics are available at https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/publications/statistics .The next publication of Official Statistics is due to be released on 13 August 2024.