Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of industrial units built for SMEs. Relevant asset owners are responsible for property within their ownership. Local authorities may hold data on development in their area.

Published figures on the most recent and historical numbers of patients that have been admitted to hospital can be found within the within the Annual Acute Activity publication, which was released on 27 September 2022. The publication can be found at the following link:

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual/acute-hospital-activity-and-nhs-beds-information-annual-annual-year-ending-31-march-2022/

Published data is only available for a ten year period, from financial year 2012-13 to financial year 2021-22. Data on patient activity is presented in Table 2 – inpatient and day case activity, and the measure of interest can be found by selecting the NHS board of residence in the indicator drop down and either stays, episodes or patients within the measure drop down. Figures where ‘no fixed abode’ will then be listed in the table.

Below is an excerpt from the dataset, with the measure of interest highlighted in bold.

Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) commits to providing all children, young people and their families with the right support at the right time, and where extra help is needed this can include a personalised child’s plan, which might contain therapeutic support, depending on the circumstances.

This year, we have also initiated a Whole Family Wellbeing programme of activity to help transform the delivery of holistic family support. This includes investing £32 million through Children’s Services Planning Partnerships and supporting them in driving this work at the local level. This is to ensure that all families, including adoptive and foster care families, can access support based on their needs, where and when they need it.

All local authorities have a legal duty to provide support to meet the needs of people who have been adopted and their families. We provided £128,000 this year for specific therapeutic support, namely to Adoption UK Scotland for the TESSA programme which provides therapeutic input for adoptive families, and to Health in Mind to run a Trauma Support Service for people affected by historical adoption practices, as well as implementing peer support for both groups and individuals.

Details of the grant allocations and outturns for each council as part of our Area Based Schemes programme since 2013 are published on the Scottish Government website:

Area-based schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Information about the previous Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) and the Universal Home Insulation Scheme (UHIS) from 2008 to 2013 is available from the Energy Saving Trust website.

Home+Energy+Programmes+Summary+Report+20092013.pdf (energysavingtrust.org.uk)

The Scottish Government announced on 21 December an agreement with the social housing sector meaning restrictions on rent-setting will no longer apply to the sector from 1 April. Social landlords have instead committed to average increases that will ensure rents remain affordable, while allowing them to continue investing in essential services such as home improvements and maintenance.

We have been clear since we introduced the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 that we would work with the social rented sector to agree a way forward for after 31 March, and social landlords have been consulting with their tenants on possible rent rises for after that date. The agreements are based on the options being tested through those consultations, aiming to keep rents affordable while ensuring landlords have the resources to continue providing essential services for tenants and to deliver more affordable homes.

COSLA has committed to keeping local authority rent increases for 2023-24 to an average of no more than £5 a week. The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations has committed to increases averaging 6.1%.

The agreement of average figures, rather than a fixed cap, allows for the flexibility to honour the outcomes of the statutory tenant consultations social landlords must undertake each year on rent setting.

No social landlord is consulting on a rent increase at or above CPI inflation, which was 11.1% at the time of the data being collected.

The Scottish Government supports local authorities to develop new walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure through the Places for Everyone programme (PfE) with over £52 million in funding committed in 2022-23. Local authorities can apply for funding and support for projects that aim to develop path networks on disused railway lines.

The Scottish Government also invests in developing active travel networks on disused railway lines as part of the National Cycle Network, with £1.6 million committed in 2022-23 to projects on disused railway lines. This includes £280,000 allocated to constructing a section of route along an old railway alignment from St.Fillans to Lochearnhead, and £45,000 for design work on a route from Comrie to Crieff.

Local groups with proposals to promote active travel by utilising disused railway assets should in the first instance raise with their local Regional transport Partnership and with Network Rail, who own most disused railway across Scotland. The Network Rail Property team in Scotland will assist where possible in the development of any initiatives that will support the Scottish Government’s aims to increase active travel, as is demonstrated at Levenmouth.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13137 on‎ 9 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

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with COSLA to find a way forward on the introduction of a Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship carers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13151 on 6 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

In 2022-23, we distributed £32m across all Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs). The purpose of this funding was to build local service capacity for transformation and to support the local scaling of existing transformational practice of holistic whole family support. This is being provided on a recurring, multi-year basis to 2025-26.

A package of activity aimed at supporting local transformation has commenced, including establishing collaborative partnerships between 3 CSPPs and a dedicated, multi-disciplinary national support team for transformation. A Learning into Action network is also being established. The aim is to ensure that all CSPPs are supported to come together to share learning and approaches, facilitate peer support, collaborate, and have solution focused discussions around the barriers and opportunities around whole system change in holistic family support.

Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) is being used to support the resource and staffing requirements of this work; as well as the commissioning of external evaluation. This will evaluate the implementation and initial impacts of the programme to help shape and develop activity across WFWF going forward. Additionally, research has been commissioned to support continuous improvement of the transformation support provided to the CSPPs as well as to generate learning about how transformational capability is built. The final costs associated for this work in 2022-23 will be confirmed following the end of the financial year.

Multi-year funding allocations are also being finalised which will support wider transformational activity across Scottish Government portfolios which will support the preventative, person-centred ambitions and outcomes of the WFWF.