Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31702 on 25 September 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

The £6m of funding that the Scottish Government has committed to promoting positive mental wellbeing over the course of the pandemic is as follows:

£3.8m (Announced on 27 March), which consists of:

• £2.1 million to expand the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub so that it will be available to the public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• £0.5 million to expand the Breathing Space telephone helpline and web support service
• £1.2 million to provide extra capacity for Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CCBT).

£1m to roll out the Distress Brief Intervention programme on a national basis

£1m for children, young people and families (Announced on 1 May), which consists of:

• £768,000 for a relationships helpline to be delivered by The Spark counselling service
• £105,000 to support Young Scot to develop enhanced digital content and resources on mental health
• £205,000 to support 47,000 autistic people across Scotland. This consists of funding to increase capacity at the Scottish Autism Helpline, and help for the National Autistic Society to keep people in touch online during lockdown.

£200k for free access to Solihull Online (Announced on 19 May)

The priority target groups have been different across each of the 7 rounds of the charter fund, as has the way data has been captured within the target groups.

Rounds 1 – 3 (£748,108)

50 of the 84 projects (60%) self-identified as targeting older people, older people were the most common target group for these rounds.

In this evaluation projects were able to select more than one target group.

Rounds 4 – 6 (£721,131)

19 of the 86 projects (22%) identified as primarily targeting older people, once again older people were the most common target group for these rounds.

In this evaluation projects were categorized by their primary beneficiary group only.

Round 7 (£182,702)

8 out of 19 (42%) projects are doing work targeting older people and social isolation.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish information on payments issued as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods’. This includes information on value of payments at Local Authority level.

Information on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods was last published on 28 July 2020 and provided information up to 31 May 2020. This publication is available from:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-start-grant-and-best-start-foods-high-level-statistics-to-31-may-2020/

The value of payments issued, from the launch of each benefit to 31 May 2020, for both the Scottish Borders and Scotland are shown in the following table. Best Start Grant consists of three separate payments: Pregnancy and Baby Payment, Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment.

The Scottish Government does not collect figures in relation to donations made to food banks.

We have provided significant funding to the community food sector, with more than £110m having been invested to tackle food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This includes £2.1m of funding for FareShare, who are using their national redistribution network to ensure community food providers have sufficient stocks; we are holding regular meetings with stakeholders who have indicated good stock levels.

By completion of the first week in September, FareShare had provided the equivalent of over 9.1m meals throughout Scotland.

We have also provided FareShare with residual stock from the currently paused shielding programme (which provided 978,316 food boxes to those at the highest clinical risk), enabling them to provide a further 340,000 meals.

FareShare have distributed food stocks through the below formula which mirrors methodology agreed with COSLA for the allocation of food and other essentials resource to local authorities.

We know that older people in Scotland have been at an increased risk of social isolation and loneliness because of the necessary restrictions that were put in place to control transmission of the virus and save lives.

In our initial response to the pandemic, our £350 million Supporting Communities Fund directly assisted organisations providing immediate support to people and communities. This funding supported many organisations to increase the capacity of helplines, many of which offer friendship as well as advice. This included investment in Age Scotland who received over £870,000, as well as Hourglass and Befriending Networks Scotland.

Furthermore, the initial £5 million ‘Connecting Scotland’ project has enabled 9,000 people, including people clinically at risk or on low incomes, to get online with dedicated training and support. This is supporting people who are digitally excluded to connect with friends and family.

The Scottish Government continues to meet with both the Social Isolation and Loneliness National Implementation Group and the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum and members of these groups have fed into our overall response, as well as supporting the work of the newly established Social Renewal Advisory Board which is informing the Government’s response to ‘building back’ stronger and fairer. Older people have been highlighted as a priority group to ensure their needs and experiences inform this work.

We know that older people have been adversely affected by restrictions put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus and have put in place a range of support for them.

Through our Immediate Priorities Fund, we have provided over £870,000 to Age Scotland to increase the Helpline capacity to support older people with a range of issues, advice and friendship. This funding means that additional capacity for this vital lifeline will remain in place until October. Total funding for members of the Older People’s Strategic Action Forum is now over £1.16 million.

We have published guidance on the support available to help people overcome the challenges in accessing and affording food and other essentials during this crisis. We have also provided information on other sources of support available to protect the wellbeing of people affected by virus.

For individuals who are unable to access or afford food and who cannot get the help they need from family, friends or neighbours, they are encouraged to call the national assistance helpline. The free helpline number is 0800 111 4000, or via a textphone on 0800 111 4114. The helpline is open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

As part of our £350 million Communities Fund, £30 million from the Food Fund was provided to local authorities for the period April to end June to lead a locally coordinated response to support those at risk, drawing on third sector and volunteer resources. Of this, £15 million was notionally allocated for the Non-Shielded at Risk group, which included people over 70.

In addition, we are also investing £10 million from the Food Fund in critical third sector and community responses and have more than doubled our investment in the Scottish Welfare Fund to £77.5m, which can provide crisis grants to those facing a disaster or emergency situation.

On the 16 June, the First Minister announced additional funding of £27.6 million to local authorities to continue support offered to help people to access food during the Coronavirus crisis. This includes £15 million for continued support for groups at risk until the end of September.

Best Start Foods and Best Start Grant are two separate devolved benefit payments to support eligible families with young children.

Best Start Foods supports eligible families with children under the age of three to purchase healthy foods.

The Best Start Grant (BSG) Early Learning Payment provides eligible families with £250 to support child development covering the common ages when a child might start nursery (the application window is for 2 to 3½ year olds). However, there is no requirement to take up an ELC to claim this payment.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts, published on 6 February 2020, estimates that 20,000 payments will be made for BSG Early Learning Payment in 2020/21.