Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government remain fully committed to the Verity House Agreement. Since the signing of the Verity House Agreement in June last year good progress has been made, and there are a number of positive examples of collaborative working between central and local government.

The Scottish Government is committed to an open and regular dialogue with Local government and are willing to meet at any time when any matters of concern arise. The level of engagement between our two spheres of government has never been so high.

The Scottish Government and COSLA meet regularly through a number of different forums under the Verity House Agreement to discuss progress towards our three shared priorities.

The information requested is not held centrally .

The Scottish Government does not provide direct funding to Inclusion Glasgow.

Government does not fund North East Edinburgh Counselling Service directly from its mental health programme budget, therefore no objectives have been set.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to Angus Independent Advocacy since 2020, as one of the providers of the statutory children's advocacy scheme for children's hearings. The objectives of the funding are to develop, deliver and promote children's advocacy services to ensure those services are accessible to all children and young people who may have a Children’s Hearing. These objectives have been adjusted over the years since 2020.

The key objectives, as set out in the current grant letter 2023-24 are:

• Children's advocacy will be offered and, where accepted, provided at the earliest possible point.
• The rights and views of children and young people who come into contact with the Children’s Hearings System, or who are placed in residential children's care from another part of the UK under a Court authorised Deprivation of Liberty Order (DOL) in Scotland, will be taken into account in decision making by supporting children and young people to participate in decisions that affect their lives.
• High quality independent advocacy services will be promoted and provided to children and young people, to support them to exercise their rights to be heard and participate within their Hearings. Children and young people affected by DOL placements will be supported to understand their rights and engage in discussions to provide their views to the residential provider.
• Children and young people will be supported by children's advocacy workers who will be appropriately skilled and qualified, and supported through training and Continuous Professional Development.
• Continually informed developments and improvements of the provision to meet children and young people's advocacy needs and empowering children who need a stronger voice by enabling them to express their own needs and make their own decisions.
• Take steps to promote, respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children and young people and increase awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) amongst staff and stakeholders.
• Will be expected to give regard to the Fair Work Framework.

Objectives in 2019-20 and 2020-21:

• To complete preparation work and activities to allow the organisation to deliver Children’s Advocacy services as part of the Scottish Government’s implementation of section 122 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, in a manner which gives cognisance to the: Scottish Government’s Advocacy Guidance; and National Practice Model for Advocacy in the Children’s Hearings System.

Objectives in 2021-22:

• The organisation will support the Scottish Government with the development, delivery and promotion of the national children’s advocacy in children’s hearings scheme as part of the implementation of section 122 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 and The Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (Children’s Advocacy Services) Regulations 2020, in a manner which gives cognisance to the: Scottish Government’s Children’s Advocacy Guidance (published in 2014), and National Practice Model for Advocacy in the Children’s Hearings System (published in March 2020).
• The organisation will promote high quality independent advocacy services to children and young people, to support them to exercise their rights to be heard within their Hearings and contributing to the recovery of children’s hearings from Covid-19 impacts towards stable service.
• The organisation will promote high quality independent advocacy services to brothers and sisters, to support them to exercise their rights to participate in the Hearings of their siblings on staying together/contact arrangements as introduced by section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 and related changes in Regulations made under section 177 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2011.
• The organisation will take steps to promote, respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children and young people and increase awareness of the UNCRC amongst staff and stakeholders. You will promote the UNCRC throughout the creation and development of the project, and related policies and procedures in relation to this funding.
• The organisation will support planning and future implementation of The Promise by improving experiences and outcomes for care experienced children and young people.

In 2022-23, the objectives repeated those applicable in 2021-22, with this addition:

• The organisation will promote high quality independent advocacy services to children and young people in cross-border DOL order placements. The advocacy offer, as detailed in the National Practice Model for Advocacy in the Children’s Hearings System, will be intended to support affected children to understand their rights (within Scotland’s laws) and provide their views to the residential provider - as to how their in-placement experience aligns with their child’s plan and how their welfare is being protected. This will be done in liaison with the child’s appointed guardian/advocacy organisation in the placing/implementing authority, in line with the welfare analysis submitted to the High Court when the placing authority first applied for the DOL order.
• In 2020-21, Angus Independent Advocacy also received expedited grant funding allocated under the Winter Plan for Social Protection Children's Hearings Recovery Project. This was to support greater safety in participation, and digital capacity for advocacy - to manage the impact of coronavirus on children referred to the Children's Hearings System. This was to support system recovery and meet the changing needs for children and young people to be able to participate in their children's hearings. It extended to, for example, personal digital devices that would both allow them to engage with advocacy but also assist with home schooling as required.

There is no record of any Scottish Government funding being provided to the Multi-Cultural Elderly Care Centre since 2019.

There is no record of any Scottish Government funding being provided to Milngavie Old People's Welfare Committee since 2019.

The Scottish Government has provided grants for 2 projects delivered by the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council (WSREC) via the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) since 2019.

1. CCF-5601 – Cook, Grow and Sew – Branching Out (2018-2020)

2. CCF-6523 - Cook, Grow, Sew - Branching Out (2020-2022)

The answer to S6W-24394 on 19 January 2024 outlined the objectives of the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) programme and covers the 2018-2020 project.

The main objectives for CCF-6523 were as follows:

• Supporting 2000 people in their community to increase their awareness and understanding of Climate Change and enabling them to make informed choices on how to move to low-carbon lifestyles.
• 260 minority ethnic and vulnerable households will reduce their carbon emissions by 36 tonnes CO2e, by receiving home energy visits, workshops and surgeries across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire.
• 725 minority ethnic individuals across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire will reduce their food waste, waste production and material consumption by 42.9 tonnes CO2e through advice, repair/reuse workshops and events.
• 115 minority ethnic individuals reduce food emissions by 8.0 tonnes CO2e across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire through gardening, home growing support, partnership workshops and foraging sessions.
• 32 minority ethnic young people with focus on asylum seekers and refugees will be capacity built to share environmental learning to peers and networks. A further 8 minority ethnic led organisations become ecos-conscious and support wider communities through environmental activities.

The Scottish Government has also provided funding to the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council through the Victim Centred Approach Fund.

Organisations that receive support from VCAF are required to demonstrate how the services they provide, or propose to provide, can contribute towards delivery of one or more of the following priorities:

• Priority 1 - Victims will have access to practical and emotional support, regardless of: whereabouts in Scotland they live; the nature or severity of the crime; whether it has been reported; or what stage of the justice journey they are at.
• Priority 2 - Victims will have access to joined-up services that are inclusive and accessible to all, are trauma-informed, provide streamlined support, and reduce the need for victims to recount their experiences to several different organisations.
• Priority 3 - Families bereaved by crime committed in Scotland or abroad will have access to specialist practical and emotional support.
• Priority 4 - Victims / survivors of gender based violence will have access to consistent and specialist criminal justice advocacy support.
• Priority 5 - Adult victims of human trafficking and/or slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour will have access to support and assistance.

Full details on the terms and conditions for the Victim Centred Approach Fund are set out in the application guidance .

Since 2019, the Scottish Government has provided funding to Central Advocacy Partners from the Victim Centred Approach Fund and from the Victim Surcharge Fund.

Victim Centred Approach Fund

Organisations that receive support from VCAF are required to demonstrate how the services they provide, or propose to provide, can contribute towards delivery of one or more of the following priorities:

• Priority 1 - Victims will have access to practical and emotional support, regardless of: whereabouts in Scotland they live; the nature or severity of the crime; whether it has been reported; or what stage of the justice journey they are at.
• Priority 2 - Victims will have access to joined-up services that are inclusive and accessible to all, are trauma-informed, provide streamlined support, and reduce the need for victims to recount their experiences to several different organisations.
• Priority 3 - Families bereaved by crime committed in Scotland or abroad will have access to specialist practical and emotional support.
• Priority 4 - Victims / survivors of gender based violence will have access to consistent and specialist criminal justice advocacy support.
• Priority 5 - Adult victims of human trafficking and/or slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour will have access to support and assistance.

Full details on the terms and conditions for the Victim Centred Approach Fund are set out in the application guidance .

Victim Surcharge Fund

The Victim Surcharge Fund (VSF) supplements and enhances support core services that the victim support organisations (VSO) already provide to victims of crime

The VSF is intended to meet:

• costs that would not have been incurred if the person was not a victim of crime;
• costs which cannot be met reasonably by any other source.

In many cases, this will mean using the fund to pay for one-off expenses or services incurred by the victim or their relative within the first 6 months of the victim engaging with the VSO. However, VSOs have flexibility to determine on a case-by-case basis how long after initial engagement support can be provided.

Funding provided is to allow VSOs to make payments to third parties, contractors, etc for goods and services provided.

Full details on the terms and conditions are set out in the Victim Surcharge Fund Guidance .