Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that the Coronavirus pandemic may have adverse effects on the mental and physical wellbeing of individuals within the wider Scottish Population. We know that older people have been particularly affected by the restrictions put in place to reduce transmission of the disease, and we continue to look at measures to combat social isolation and loneliness, whether that is through funding various third sector helplines or via the Clear Your Head mental health campaign.

The Scottish Government has invested in the Clear Your Head campaign to provide the general Scottish population with resources which foster positive mental wellbeing and reduce stress. The site has specific content that is tailored to older audiences, particularly those reluctant to leave the house, with a range of tips on ways to help them cope and stay active at home drawn from Age Scotland and then linking to Age Scotland’s site for more information.

In addition, the Scottish Government has committed over £6 million to several initiatives to promote positive mental wellbeing, such as expanding the NHS24’s Mental Health Hub to a 24/7 service and enhancing the capacity of the Breathing Space helpline and web support service; extending digital therapies through computerised and internet-enabled Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and expanding the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme. These services are targeted towards the Scottish Population as a whole, including older people.

The Scottish Government also launched a National Helpline on 14 April to help people who are at risk to access help if they did not have family or other support services. This includes helping people access essential food and medication, emotional support, and contact with local volunteer groups. The Scottish Government also provides funding to Actify whish is an online platform that hosts a range of digital content designed to help people become more active, more often. The Actify ambition is to be a quality source of information and resources for those interested in learning about physical activity and realising the potential benefits.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish Official Statistics on number of people employed as part of the quarterly release ‘Social Security Scotland Workforce Information’.

Information on workforce numbers was last published on 16 June 2020 and covered workforce numbers as at 31 March 2020. This information is available from:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/social-security-scotland-workforce-information-march-2020/

The next publication of Official Statistics is due to be released on 15 September 2020, and will include information as at 30 June 2020.

As of 31 March 2020, Social Security Scotland directly employed 647 full time equivalent staff.

We are on track with recruitment for the benefits to be delivered this year. We will plan recruitment for disability benefits around an updated timetable.

Subsequent to the Audit Scotland report, an additional benefit - Scottish Child Payment - was announced and policy and service design continues to be refined for disability assistance. These will have an impact on our projected staffing levels outlined in this report.

To date the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland have delivered eight social security benefits, including four brand new forms of assistance. The most recent of these was Job Start Payment, launched on 17 August to help young people with the costs of starting a new job. We will open applications for the Scottish Child Payment in November this year, and are also on track to deliver Child Winter Heating Assistance by the end of the year, subject to getting the data we require from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

As I set out in my statement to Parliament on 1 April, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the Scottish Government, Social Security Scotland and DWP, whose support we need to transfer social security powers. As a result, we are having to rework our timetable for delivery of the remaining devolved benefits, which is a complex exercise. We need to take into account the impact of the pandemic not only on our own services, but also on the availability of health and social care professionals to bring their expertise to the co-design of disability and carer benefits at a time when many are still needed on the frontline. We also have to account for the extraordinary pressures that the DWP is still experiencing, following the unprecedented demand for Universal Credit, which is impacting on the resources they are able to devote to the devolution programme. I will update Parliament once the work of re-planning is complete.

I will make announcements regarding individual benefits in due course, and can confirm that the Scottish Government will lay the necessary regulations to support delivery of Child Disability Payment in time for implementation of this new form of assistance.

The Scottish Government has engaged regularly with DWP over the past 12 months regarding devolved social security. This has included through ministerial correspondence and at two Joint Ministerial Working Groups on Welfare. Scottish Government officials working on social security also have near-daily contact with their counterparts in DWP, and senior officials from both governments meet regularly to discuss benefit delivery and facilitate the transfer of these powers.

Coronavirus, whilst primarily a public health emergency, has had significant impacts on our economy, our society, our communities and on the lives of every person in the country.

At the outset of the pandemic we committed £50 million, as part of our initial £350 million Communities funding package, to meet increased demand for both devolved social security entitlements and Council Tax Reduction. We also more than doubled investment in our Scottish Welfare Fund and made a further £5 million available for Discretionary Housing Payments in 2020-21 to support those in financial need.

Whilst it is too early to robustly estimate the impacts of the pandemic on measures to reduce child poverty, we have committed significant investment to protect and create jobs, including over £2.3 billion in direct support to business, £100 million in new employment support including a Youth Jobs Guarantee, and a £2.35 million increase to our Parental Employability Support Fund this year.

As outlined in the second annual progress report on child poverty, published on 20 August 2020, we estimate that over £672 million of investment was targeted specifically at children in low income households in 2019-20. This was part of over £1.96 billion targeted at low income households and does not include investment in key universal services including funded tuition, healthcare and Early Learning and Childcare.

This is an increase of £144 million from 2018-19 when the first estimates were produced. In 2018-19, £527 million was targeted specifically at children in poverty as part of over £1.4 billion of investment targeted at low income households.

Estimates for spend in 2020-21 will be published, by the end of June 2021, as part of the annual progress report for that period. Estimates are not available for the period pre-dating the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 sets out both interim and final targets across four target measures towards the eradication of child poverty in Scotland.

The latest statistics, covering the period 2018-19, were published both as part of the second annual progress report on child poverty , on 20 August 2020, and as part of a statistical child poverty update , published on 26 March 2020. The latest data show a slight reduction against three of the four target measures.

By the end of the first delivery plan period, ending March 2022, we will have delivered considerable new support to tackle child poverty, including the Scottish Child Payment - worth £10 per child per week. We will set out further action, at the scale and pace required, within our subsequent Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plans to be published in 2022 and 2026.