Chamber and committees

Advertising for Winter Heating Payment was initially planned for January 2023 to allow for the associated regulations to have completed the parliamentary process. Due to the low temperatures experienced across Scotland during the early part of December 2022, some of the planned advertising for Winter Heating Payment was brought forward to raise awareness of the changes and to allow people to plan accordingly.

This included:

• National radio campaign - total cost including VAT £10,456.98.
• National print advertising campaign - total cost including VAT £8,743.30.

Information was also shared through a media release and through Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland social media channels including Twitter and Facebook and with stakeholders.

The priority for this recently paid for advertising push, was reaching digitally excluded prospective clients that we are not able to reach through messages shared through Social Security Scotland, Scottish Government and stakeholder social media channels.

Further advertising is planned for this year and Social Security Scotland will select channels based on insight, taking advice from its media buying agency.

Social Security Scotland posted on its Twitter and Facebook accounts to raise awareness of Winter Heating Payment. There has been no spend to date on Winter Heating Payment advertising through social media channels. This will be part of further advertising planned for early this year. Social Security Scotland's budget breakdown by channel is still to be confirmed and will be based on insight, taking advice from their media buying agency.

As I said in my answer to Donald Lumsden (S6O-01659), policing is and will continue to be a priority for the Scottish Government. Scotland has a higher number of officers than at any time during the last administration – and more per head of population than England and Wales (30 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland, compared to 24 officers per 10,000 population in England and Wales (at 31 March).

Officer numbers fluctuate due to the cycle of recruitment and retirement, and this was further impacted by last year’s police pension changes. However, I was pleased to see that Police Scotland welcomed around 900 new recruits in 2022.

Our officers are the best paid in the UK, which recognises the hard work and dedication of the police workforce across Scotland. Basic starting salary for a constable in Scotland is around £5,000 more than in England and Wales and the maximum salary is also higher.

There are an estimated 930,000 people eligible for the Young Person’s Free Bus Travel Scheme. This refers to the number of people aged 5-21 who have become eligible for concessionary travel as a result of the Young Person’s Scheme.

(b) Transport Scotland does not hold application information. The Improvement Service are in charge of applications made through getyournec.scot and parentsportal.scot, and all other applications are managed by the individual local authorities.

(c) As of end of day 19th December 2022, there were 561,623 cardholders under the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme.

This data is supplied by the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO). NECPO support the 32 local authorities by assisting with the integration of various national and local public services on the National Entitlement Card (NEC) and are the joint controller with local authorities of this data. The figure includes travel products collected from the Transport Scot Pass Collect mobile application.

I represented the Scottish Government at the Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting, held in Rome in October 2022. The Minister travelled to and from Rome by train.

Scottish Government officials also in attendance were the Head of Open Government and a Private Secretary.

The total cost of attendance at the Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting was £5,332.55.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13273 on‎ 12 January 2023. 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-13273 on‎ 12 January 2023. 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

Anyone supporting a family in desperate need should refer them to their local authority or a health professional such as a health visitor or midwife in order to make sure they are getting the holistic support they need, including financial advice and a referral to cash-first crisis supports such as the Scottish Welfare Fund.

Prioritising cash-first in response to food insecurity is in line with a human rights approach and consistent with UNICEF guidance. Following on from last year’s consultation, we are publishing our plan on ending in the need for food banks later this winter – this restates our commitment to this ambition and to continuing to work urgently with partners to strengthen cash-first support available.

The UNICEF guidance does not prevent the purchase and distribution of milk where there is no immediate alternative. UNICEF note that in certain circumstances food banks can make use of crisis funding to support families to purchase the right supply, but they discourage the redistribution of donated milk as this is not a secure, sustainable or appropriate route for ongoing supply.

On 1 April 2020 the Intermediate Property Rate (poundage +1.3p) was introduced for properties with rateable values between £51,000 and £95,000 which would previously have been liable for the Large Business Supplement (2.6p).

The Scottish Government and Scottish Water are in regular dialogue about a number of issues, including the potential for burst water pipes.

I was briefed in person by Scottish Water on the expectations that the recent thaw would bring a substantial increase in the number of bursts across Scottish Water’s network and I was reassured that additional response teams were ready to tackle that anticipated situation.