Chamber and committees

The draft National Bus Travel Concession Scheme for Young Persons (Scotland) Order 2021 was laid in Parliament on 21 January and approved on 3 March 2021. This will enable the creation of a new scheme to provide free bus travel to all Scottish residents aged under 19.

The Scottish Government is working with stakeholders, including bus operators, local authorities, the Improvement Service, the National Entitlement Card Programme Office (NECPO) and Young Scot, in order to make the new scheme operational as soon as practicable in 2021-22.

We have also committed to make as much progress as possible during 2021-22 to deliver free bus travel to under 22s and have allocated an additional £17 million in the Budget for this purpose.

The Scottish Government is very aware of the financial impact the coronavirus crisis has had on people across Scotland. This is why we have continually called on the UK Government, which has responsibility for all income-related benefits, to reverse welfare cuts which are hitting harder than ever, and to make fundamental alterations to Universal Credit.

For our part the Scottish Government has already taken exceptional measures in every area of government to deal with the challenges of COVID-19 and that is particularly clear in the support for local services. To date, the Scottish Government have taken decisive action to commit £456.1 million in additional funding through the local government finance settlement to local authorities, including a further £25 million to meet increased demand for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and over £50 million to enable the continued provision of Free School Meals during school closures and holiday periods for around 156,000 children and young people.

Additionally, I announced a package of financial flexibilities on 8 October which could be worth up to £600 million to Scotland’s councils over the next two years.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have also finalised a lost income scheme, worth £200 million this financial year. Further general COVID-19 consequentials of £275 million in 2020-21 and £259 million for 2021-22 have also been confirmed to support local councils to meet demand for services.

Taken the financial flexibilities and additional funding together, brings the value of the overall COVID-19 support package for councils up to almost £1.8 billion over this year and next.

The budget allocated for benefit expenditure is based on the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s forecast. The most recent Scottish Fiscal Commission publication ( Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts | Scottish Fiscal Commission ), sets out the changes to forecasted benefit expenditure due to COVID-19.

Social Security Scotland’s proposed 2021-22 administration budget allows for any additional workload for those benefits that we administer.

Engaging with citizens and stakeholder organisations to influence and shape our policy making is an important part of the Scottish Government’s approach, particularly through the current pandemic and dealing with its impacts, and we are committed to carrying out open and transparent consultation with all of the people of Scotland who have an interest in the policies that affect them.

The government does not have a set list of organisations that we consult with to gather the views of disabled people.

The bodies and organisations that engage with government will depend on the areas of life that the issues and policies relate to, which vary significantly across the work of government.

The Scottish Government is working with partners such as NHS Scotland in making sure that those who miss their vaccination appointment can rebook their appointments.

The NHS Scotland has a new contact form which provides contact information based on geographical location and Health Board.

For all those who have missed their Covid-19 vaccination or want to get in touch they can get the information on the following link:

Click here: Missing appointments | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot)

The Chief Medical Officer advises that short-stay hospital patients, should be only vaccinated once they have recovered, so any side effects are not confused with symptoms of the disease they were admitted to hospital for.

This is a standard in the Green Book for all vaccines and applied across all UK countries. However, these decisions will be made by clinicians, taking into account a range of factors.”

Furthermore, It’s important to note that vaccinating people as soon as they enter hospital will not immediately prevent COVID-19 infection or disease, as it takes 2-3 weeks for an immune response to develop from vaccination.

Further information about the Covid-19 vaccine and delivery can also be accessed here: NHS inform - Scottish health information you can trust | NHS inform

Information on Job Start Payment was published on 16 February 2021 and provided information from 17 August 2020 to 31 December 2020. This publication is available from:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/job-start-payment-high-level-statistics-to-31-december-2020/

These latest Official Statistics show that 2,445 applications were received, 1,365 applications were denied and 350 were yet to be processed. Of the 695 applications that were approved, 660 were awarded the standard rate and 35 were awarded the higher rate.

Information on the gender of the client is collected through the Equality Monitoring and Feedback form, which is completed along with the application form for each benefit delivered by Social Security Scotland, including Job Start Payment.

Information from Equality Monitoring and Feedback forms is used to produce official statistics on the diversity of clients and equality of outcomes, broken down by different equalities groups and benefits. We will publish official statistics on the gender of clients applying for Job Start Payment, and the proportion of clients approved or denied, for the first time as part of our “Social Security Scotland client diversity and equalities analysis to November 2020” publication on 30 March 2021.

We do not currently have equalities analysis covering (i) applications to December 2020, (ii) equalities for outstanding applications, or (iii) equalities by rate of award.

The Scottish Government has made no assessment on this relationship because it is the case in Scotland that assisting, or attempting to assist, a person to commit suicide will constitute a criminal offence.

In Scotland, the Stage 1 debate of the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill was held in the Scottish Parliament in May 2015. The views expressed were considered, sincere, and respectfully heard by all involved. Ultimately, the Scottish Parliament decided not to proceed with this legislation. The Scottish Government respects the will of the Parliament on assisted suicide, and is focussed on improving the care and support available to people at the end of life.

Engender is represented on the following Scottish Government advisory and strategic groups:

• Misogynistic Harassment Group
• Social Renewal Advisory Board
• Gender Index Working Group
• Women’s Health Group
• Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning
• Gender Pay Gap Working Group
• First Minister's Advisory Council on Women & Girls
• Joint strategic board of Equally Safe
• Gender Based Violence and Learning Disability Working Group
• The Carers Benefit Advisory Group
• The Best Start Reference Group
• Gender Equality Taskforce on Education and Learning
• National Taskforce on Human Rights civil society reference group
• Working group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation
• The Transport Equalities Forum
• The Planning Community Engagement Working Group
• Equally Safe Expert Experience Panel
• UNCEDAW Reference Group

Please note that Engender are also represented on the Trans Inclusion and Women’s Rights Guidance Advisory Group, and have been invited to join the Working Group on Non-Binary Equality, which has not yet met. The work of both of these groups has been paused due to COVID-19, but is intended to restart shortly. Engender is also part of the Mental Health and Human Rights Forum, which has not met yet.

Engaging with citizens and stakeholder organisations to influence and shape our policy making is an important part of the Scottish Government’s approach and we are committed to carrying out open and transparent consultation with all of the people of Scotland who have an interest in the policies that affect them.

The government does not have a set list of organisations that we consult with to gather the views of women.

The bodies and organisations that engage with government will depend on the areas of life that the issues and policies relate to, which vary significantly across the work of government.