Chamber and committees

We are committed to listening to the needs of people with chronic pain as we deliver the actions in the recently published Pain management service delivery framework: implementation plan update - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The updated plan includes details on the governance structure for delivery including how we will involve those with lived experience most effectively.

We recognise there is a need to ensure that people with chronic pain themselves are in involved in decision making on services. We will be recruiting additional lived experience representatives to the Pain Management Task Force which oversees implementation of the actions in the plan, including work involving the Scottish National Residential Pain Management Programme.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to the National Fraud Initiative and looks forward to hearing the results of the data pilot currently being run with local councils in London on this issue. The Scottish Government will await confirmation from Audit Scotland who run the National Fraud Initiative in Scotland if it intends to undertake a similar pilot exercise in Scotland.

Police Scotland has concluded that a stand-alone portal is neither the optimum nor best value route to create the capability for digital media to be submitted by members of the public.

Police Scotland will utilise the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) Programme, currently in pilot in Dundee, which will make it easy for a member of the public to submit digital evidence as part of an investigation following a report to the police. DESC will enable development of further capabilities where scope to further improve the service to the public is identified.

DESC is planned to be rolled out on a phased approach across Scotland between 2024 - 2026.

Local authorities have a duty under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to manage and maintain local roads in their area and duties under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of traffic.

The statutory responsibilities arising from the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 Act are, in the main, duties to maintain the local road network. That legal framework gives discretion over maintenance decisions, direct operations and reinstatement entirely to local government. There is no role for the Scottish Government to become involved in how any local authority discharges their discretionary powers, or to mandate how any specific site should be resourced by the road maintainer.

It would be appropriate for any complaints about how the work is progressing to be raised via local authorities normal complaints process, and then via the Public Services Ombudsman, if escalation is required.

In the case of a roads authority site which is improperly guarded, incorrectly notified or otherwise causing a danger, both the Health and Safety Executive and the Scottish Road Works Commissioner have powers to investigate any alleged failure to meet safety standards. The Scottish Government are unaware of any safety issues being reported for this site.

The Scottish Government is continuing to work in partnership with partners and World Athletics following confirmation of the successful bid to host the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

In total the Scottish Government will provide £1.15 million of support for the event from the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Portfolio, with VisitScotland providing a further £350,000 of support from its core budget. None of this funding is capital. This financial support is profiled across a number financial years, reflecting the long lead in time to prepare for an event of this size. UK Sport and Glasgow City Council are also providing funding.

The bid was carefully considered by all partners and this event has the potential to generate economic and societal benefits for areas of Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23070 on 4 December 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 .

On 27 October 2023 I wrote to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee about the scope of a 2024 update on implementation, which confirms that the purpose of the update is not to amend the types of licence i.e. home-sharing, home-letting and secondary let because it is important that safety standards apply to all visitor accommodation. I have had no discussions which commit to suspending either of these accommodation types from the scheme.

We have been responsive throughout our implementation of the short-term let licensing scheme. We consulted three times over three years and engaged extensively to develop the detail of the scheme, which was scrutinised by Parliament prior to its approval in January 2022. Since local schemes became operational in October 2022, thousands of short-term let hosts and operators have applied for home-sharing, home-letting and secondary let licences under this scheme.

A copy of the letter is available on the Scottish Parliament website at: https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/local-gov/correspondence/2023/shorttermlets27oct.pdf

Scotland has the strongest rights in the UK for people experiencing homelessness and local authorities have a legal duty to provide accommodation and advice to anyone experiencing or at risk of rough sleeping.

This year we have provided £713,228 of funding to City of Edinburgh Council and £1,471,795 to Glasgow City Council for implementation of their rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs) which aim to support people experiencing homelessness into settled accommodation as quickly as possible, including through Housing First.

We continue to work closely with both local authorities and third sector partners to ensure emergency accommodation and support is available for people at risk of rough sleeping, including through the operation of rapid rehousing welcome centres (RRWCs) over the winter months. This year we have provided £215,471 of funding to support the operation of RRWC’s in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with £1,120,021 million of funding provided to support these services since 2020.

The Scottish Government has also made £50,000 of personalised budget funding available to frontline third sector organisations in Glasgow and Edinburgh this year. This funding allows frontline staff to meet the immediate needs of people at risk of, or experiencing, rough sleeping and provide them with support in a dignified and person-centred way.

We know that a proportion of people rough sleeping in Scotland are doing so as a result of the UK Government’s no recourse to public funds policy, which prevents people from accessing statutory homelessness assistance. We will continue to call on the UK Government to change this policy, which is pushing people into destitution and is one of the biggest barriers to eradicating rough sleeping in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is taking action to support families with the cost of school uniform and clothing so that every child in Scotland can attend school feeling comfortable, confident, and ready to learn.

In partnership with local authorities, we have delivered on our commitment to increase the level of school clothing grant in Scotland. This vital support for families has increased to at least £120 for eligible primary school pupils and £150 for eligible secondary school pupils. As part of action to further reduce the cost of the school day for families, we have committed through the 2023-24 Programme for Government to increase funding to local authorities for school clothing grant in the next financial year. This is in addition to the increased funding for school clothing grant that was provided in 2023-24 financial year which took the total funding provided to local authorities to £13m.

To further support families, we will also introduce national guidance on school uniform and clothing. This will support schools to work with families to develop and implement affordable and sustainable uniform and clothing policies that recognise the individual needs, circumstances and identities of all pupils and reduce costs of families. It is anticipated that the guidance will be published in spring 2024.

These measures are being taken forward as part of our wider action to tackle child poverty and protect people as much as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis.

We will shortly publish the minutes of the first meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness. They will be available here - Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .