Chamber and committees

All public bodies in Scotland produce and publish individual audited annual accounts. The Scottish Government produces all the accounts that are required. In a letter of 2 November 2016, the Permanent Secretary wrote to the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee, in advance of her attendance at the Committee on 10 November: http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Finance/PAPLS_Papers_10_November.pdf

Work has continued to develop this new output but it has been challenging to accommodate this additional project with existing and new priorities, alongside overcoming the many technical challenges associated with consolidating data from a significantly expanded number of organisations, some operating to different accounting standards. However, the work is now drawing to a conclusion. Draft material has been shared for internal consultation within the Scottish Government and is with Audit Scotland for review .

An analysis of the responses to the consultation on wildlife crime penalties will be published on the Scottish Government website as soon as practicable after the consultation closes on 16 August 2019.

We will set out our future legislative plans in due course.

Officials from the Scottish Government met officials from the European Commission in Brussels on 14 June 2019 to discuss the European Social Fund.

Scottish Government officials from the European Structural Funds and State Aid Division maintain regular dialogue by email, phone and in person with the European Commission regarding the European Social Fund.

The information requested on how many occupational therapists have been employed in health and social care is not centrally available. National workforce data records how many occupational therapists are employed by each health board but does not separate out those who work in health and social care.

The number of Occupational Therapists working in NHSScotland can be found in the Allied Health Professions dashboard on the ISD website available here:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2019-06-04/AHP.asp

Further notes:

• Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the 'FAQs' section of the Workforce Statistics website at http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce/ .

The following table shows how many people have received an option one of self-directed support since 2014-15.

Number of option one clients - Scotland

The Scottish Government is aware that some areas have not required their full allocation to extend Free Personal Care to all ages. If the full allocation is not expected to be required in 2019-20, local authorities have confirmed that they are meeting their statutory obligations. Local Authorities will monitor the situation throughout the year and re-profile funding as necessary, should demand for Free Personal Care increase beyond their current planning.

The following table shows budget expenditure for option one in Scotland since 2014-15.

Data for 2014-15 to 2016-17 has been obtained from the Social Care Survey conducted by the Scottish Government. From 2017-18, responsibility for collecting social care data was transferred to ISD Scotland.

The previous Social Care Survey conducted by the Scottish Government only collected expenditure data on gross costs. Following the transfer of responsibility for collecting social care data to ISD Scotland, local authorities were able to return either or both gross or net expenditure. In order to be comparable to previous years, an estimation has calculated for those areas returning only net expenditure in 2017-18.

Budget expenditure for option one - Scotland

The Scottish Government has reviewed the operation of self-directed support via the scrutiny from the Audit Scotland (in 2014 and 2017 progress report); the Care Inspectorate (thematic review 2019) and as a regular part of implementation support for the 10 year strategy.

The Scottish Parliament’s Post Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee also undertook post-legislative scrutiny on the Act in 2017.

The Self-directed Support Implementation Plan 2019-2021 and the larger programme of adult social care reform are designed to address the recommendations of these reviews. Detail of these can be found at these websites: https://www.gov.scot/publications/self-directed-support-strategy-2010-2020-implementation-plan-2019-21/ and https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-care-support-investment-scotlands-people-society-economy-programme-framework-partnership-programme-support-local-reform-adult-social-care/ .

Following close working with COSLA and partnerships to estimate the total national investment needed, £30 million was identified in order to support the delivery of this policy. This was part of an additional £160 million funding package which has been made available to support social care and integration, and school counselling services.

The level of need for social care support varies between local areas depending on population and other local factors. This is the first year of the extension of Free Personal Care to under 65s, and we are working closely with partnerships and COSLA to monitor the costs. This will inform future funding allocations.