Chamber and committees

Responses to the public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny on Draft National Planning Framework (NPF4) are being carefully considered and we intend to lay a final NPF4 in the Parliament in the Autumn.

The Draft proposed support for the delivery of high quality homes, particularly those that improve affordability and choice, including accessible, adaptable and wheelchair accessible homes.

Local authorities are already required to set targets for the delivery of wheelchair accessible housing across all tenures as part of their local housing strategy. The target should be informed by evidence of what is required locally.

The vast majority of funding from the Scottish Government is provided by means of a block grant to local authorities. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them.

The 2022-23 Local Government Finance Settlement of almost £12.7 billion provides local government with a cash increase of over £1 billion or 9.2 per cent which is the equivalent of a real terms increase of 6.3 per cent.

It is for each individual local authority to decide how best to allocate this money, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities, including towards home adaptations for disabled people.

Since the integration of health and social care, Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) are responsible for the planning and delivery of adaptations using budget created by delegation. They are also responsible for reviewing and developing services to improve outcomes for people who require adaptations.

We also provide an additional £11m (2022-23) to registered social landlords to provide adaptations for their tenants.

However, we know that there are issues with the way in which adaptations are being accessed and delivered locally. As set out in our Housing to 2040 strategy, we are taking forward a review of the current housing adaptations system to consider how the process can be streamlined and made easier for people who need adaptations. As part of this we intend to engage with COSLA to ensure we continue to spread good practice on waiting times, across the local authorities.

We are working alongside local authorities and partners to help displaced people from Ukraine integrate into communities and support them to settle here. Local authority caseworkers are in place to enable access to services including healthcare, education, employment and benefits advice.

Our New Scots strategy provides a clear framework for integration and it assists partners to make the best use of resources and expertise by promoting partnership approaches, joined-up working and early intervention.

We have also provided £1.4 million to the Scottish Refugee Council for the expansion of its Refugee Integration Service, funding to JustRight Scotland to enable them to provide free and confidential legal advice to Ukrainians seeking safety in Scotland and providing a funding uplift for Edinburgh Third Sector Interface organisations; EVOC and Volunteer Edinburgh, to ensure the continued provision of volunteers to give a warm Scots welcome to tired and often traumatised people as soon as they arrive in Scotland.

It has been heart-warming to see the groundswell of support from our communities, pubic services, third sector and partners for people fleeing Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. We have worked closely and collaboratively with partners to stand up our Warm Scots Welcome response, ensuring that all those arriving from Ukraine are accommodated and supported as soon as they arrive in Scotland.

In collaboration with the Scottish Refugee Council, we have delivered three public webinar sessions for hosts. Scottish Government officials regularly engage with community groups working to support people fleeing the war in Ukraine, and those who have volunteered to host displaced people in their homes.

The Scottish Government has published guidance for local authorities which includes what safeguarding measures, such as disclosure checks, should be in place for people arriving through the Super Sponsor scheme and the private sponsor scheme. This guidance can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/super-sponsor-scheme-and-homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-local-authorities/pages/person-checks/

In addition to the above, the Scottish Government has published Public Protection guidance for all practitioners involved in safeguarding of children and adults who are arriving in Scotland from Ukraine to identify and respond to risk and need, which can be found here .

Scotland has a wealth of experience and learning from previous refugee schemes and we have held discussions with experienced stakeholders including Room for Refugees. The New Scots strategy is providing the foundation for our response to Ukraine. It sets the clear principle that integration should begin and be supported from day one of arrival and has a tried and tested approach to integrating refugees into our communities, schools, and workplaces.

We are working closely and collaboratively with partners to ensure we rapidly respond to opportunities and resolve challenges and issues as they emerge, and ensuring that stakeholders and the direct experiences of those arriving in Scotland feeds directly into continuing to improve our programme.

The current Scottish Stroke Care Standards are available at the following link:

https://www.strokeaudit.scot.nhs.uk/Quality/Scottish_Stroke_Care_Standards.html

The provision of stroke care, including rehabilitation, is also assessed against the Scottish Stroke Improvement Plan priorities:

( https://www.gov.scot/publications/stroke-improvement-plan/ ).

The Scottish Stroke Improvement Plan ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/stroke-improvement-plan/ ) outlines the requirements on NHS Boards to ensure they have a trained and competent workforce capable of delivering person-centred, safe and effective stroke care. The required level of education and training for members of staff is dependent upon on whether their contact with people affected by stroke is occasional, regular or in the context of specialist services.

We are aware of the global issues affecting construction which are impacting the pace of affordable housing delivery and we are working closely with the construction industry and housing partners to mitigate this where possible. Given these are global issues, largely outwith our control, it is impossible to quantify the extent of any current delays and when we may return to a more normal pace of delivery.

Despite these challenges and those caused by the global pandemic including necessary lockdowns, we are continuing to deliver affordable homes across Scotland, including accessible homes for social rent. Official statistics recently published show that we have now reached the previous 50,000 affordable homes target and have started on our ambitious plans to deliver a further 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, having already delivered 1,119 affordable homes towards this.