Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is providing local authorities with funding to make free school lunches available, during school term-time, to all children in primaries 1 to 5 and in special schools. This policy has given 280,723 children access to nutritionally balanced school lunches, as well as eligible pupils in primary 6 to secondary 6, saving families approximately £400 per child, per year.

On 15 December 2022, the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery announced the next phase of our free school meals expansion programme which will see them being made available for children in primaries 6 and 7 whose families are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment.

Also announced was £21.75 million for local authorities to provide assistance with the cost of buying food during the 2023-24 school holidays to all families who are eligible for free school meals on the basis of low income.

The Scottish Government contributes funding to national activity to support Meal Makers and Eat Well Age Well (EWAW), which are projects provided by Food Train .

Meal Makers connects older people locally with volunteers who are happy to deliver and share extra portions of a home cooked meal. It is designed to enhance an older person’s existing food intake with fresh nutritious home cooked meals, provide them with regular social contact and help reduce their risk of malnutrition and associated health impacts. EWAW is a national, five-year project of Food Train to support the prevention of malnutrition and dehydration among older people in the community. It began in early 2018, and quickly became the country’s leading project addressing and improving the prevention, detection and treatment of malnutrition among older people.

We have provided £2.4m funding in 2022/23 to support people struggling over this winter. We know the costs crisis is impacting those on the lowest incomes the hardest, with food price inflation at 16.4% and food bank demand in Scotland up 34% compared to this time last year. This funding is providing vital support, including helping people access emergency cash in their local communities so they can buy the food they need. The funding has the potential to directly reach 7,500 people, and many more will benefit than this, as the Corra Foundation and Fareshare will between them distribute it further to an estimated 900 organisations.

This is in addition to the almost £3bn we have allocated in this financial year that will be helping households face the increased cost of living, including £1bn for services and financial support not available elsewhere in the UK. We are investing £41m in the Scottish Welfare Fund each year to provide a vital safety net for those facing an emergency or crisis.

The primary purpose of Cross Party Groups is to provide Members with a forum to consider matters of public interest, normally involving people from outwith the parliament to provide expert or stakeholder input to discussions. Cross Party Groups are welcome to request factual briefings on Scottish Government policy positions. It is expected that officials will meet with the Cross-Party Group on Chronic Pain in the coming weeks to provide an update on work to progress the actions set out in the Framework for Pain Management Service Delivery – Implementation Plan.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14172 on‎ 31 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

We are committed to ensuring that people living with respiratory conditions such as asthma receive the best possible care and treatment. Our Respiratory Care Action Plan sets out our vision for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of respiratory conditions, including asthma. The Plan can be found by following the link: Respiratory care - action plan: 2021 to 2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We know that factors such as cold homes, smoking and vaccination are key to managing respiratory conditions and as such, support NHS Boards with preventative strategies. The flu and COVID-19 vaccination programme was extended to offer free vaccines to over 3 million people in Scotland this year, including those with asthma.

We are also ensuring that the issue of warm homes is being tackled. We have pledged almost £3 billion in this financial year alone to support families and households facing the increased cost of living. We have doubled the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million to ensure support continues to be available to people affected by the rising costs of energy.

We thank the Health Foundation for publishing the report detailing the findings of their independent review into health inequalities. Sadly, the report confirms what we already know: that excess mortality is significantly driven by deprivation, and this continues to have an impact on life expectancy.

Women in poverty will benefit from a range of actions we are taking. This includes delivery of our new Getting it Right Together approach across health and social care, improving access to mental health services, strengthening the Universal Health Visiting Pathway and expanding our Welfare Advice and Health Partnerships – placing money advisors in 180 GP practices in some of Scotland’s most deprived areas.

Women’s health is key priority for this government, which is why Scotland was the first country in the UK to publish an ambitious Women’s Health Plan in August 2021. The Plan sets out actions which aim to address women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care for women across their lives, and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for women and girls, so that all women and girls enjoy the best possible health throughout their lives.

All care homes in Scotland are required to be registered with the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate register can be searched by provider here: https://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/care-services.

Data regarding funding given to individual care homes is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Neither is it held by the Care Inspectorate or Public Health Scotland.

Local authorities and integrated health & social care partnerships are responsible for commissioning services for people in their area. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including any public funding for care homes, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Social Care Staff Support Fund is available for social care staff who are absent from work due to having covid-19, or self-isolating in line with public health guidance, to support and encourage infection prevention and control in social care settings.

Scottish Ministers strongly encourage employers to access the Fund on behalf of any staff member who meets all of the eligibility criteria.

The guidance on the Fund includes routes of recourse for any social care worker who has not received support from the Fund that they believe they are entitled to.

Local Authority and Health and Social Care Partnerships will have their own internal and governance processes in place and must adhere to their duties in relation to accounting for public funds. This includes ensuring that payments for additional costs are made in line with the Social Care Staff Support Fund Guidance.

Unlawful deduction of wages is completely unacceptable and any employees in this situation should seek advice.

Employment law is reserved to the UK Government, and HMRC are the enforcement body for non-payment of wages. The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), provides information and advice on workplace rights and entitlements. Anyone can get free and impartial advice from calling the ACAS helpline number on 0300 123 1100. Alternatively there is help online at: https://www.acas.org.uk/

Scottish Ministers cannot intervene in disputes between employers and their staff, however I would be grateful if there is any information on this matter that you could share with my office.

The Scottish Government has supported additional staffing costs, including the Social Care Staff Support Fund, through sustainability payment funding to Integration Authorities.

£561 million in 2020-21 and over £700 million in 2021-22 was allocated to Integration Authorities for social care Covid-19 support, including sustainability payments. While no further Barnett consequentials have been provided, the Scottish Government has continued funding a number of additional Covid-19 costs in 2022-23, providing funding for all costs associated with vaccinations and testing in care homes, and the Social Care Staff Support Fund, to 31 March 2023.

We do not have data broken down to the level requested by the member.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14058 on 27 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 .