Chamber and committees

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)

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.

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.

Fair Start Scotland (FSS) is Scotland’s flagship employability programme, designed to support those who face the greatest challenge to moving towards and into work. Participation in the programme is entirely voluntary, and it offers up to 18 months of tailored, person-centred, pre-employment support and up to 12 months of further in-work support.

The service launched successfully on 3 April 2018, and is delivering the employability powers of the 2016 Scotland Act, specifically to provide intensive bespoke support for unemployed disabled people and those with long-term health conditions. While unemployed people with a range of other barriers to work can also access the service, 65% of those receiving support through the programme report having a long-term health condition, and 47% of participants also identify as disabled people.

In addition, our A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan, published in December 2018 and available online at www.gov.scot , outlines the actions we will take to tackle the barriers that disabled people, and those with a long-term health condition, face when entering or attempting to progress within the labour market.

People have a right to feel and to be safe at work, and on their return to work. On 19 July the Cabinet Secretary for Economy issued a fresh joint statement with the STUC, CoSLA, SCVO, the IoD and SCDI outlining the shared commitment to fair work practices in Scotland across the public, private and third sectors. The statement urges employers to support workers to follow the guidance available. No-one should feel under pressure to breach that advice and workers should not be put at unnecessary risk, nor should they put others at risk of infection.

We have also published sectoral guidance for employers on returning to work safely during the coronavirus pandemic. This guidance is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-
returning-to-work/pages/employers/

From 1 April 2017 Scotland exercised newly devolved powers on employment support through 12 month transitional arrangements (Work First Scotland and Work Able Scotland) before Fair Start Scotland was launched in April 2018. Prior to April 2017, the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was responsible for providing employability services in Scotland. The Scottish Government does not hold data for services provided by the DWP.

Between April 2018 to June 2020 Fair Start Scotland has helped 7,050 people into employment, of which 4,193 sustained employment for at least three months. It is important to note that not everyone supported by Fair Start Scotland has had enough time to start a job or sustain it for 3 months.

Work First Scotland and Work Able Scotland operated between April 2017 to September 2019, and helped 1,194 people into employment, of which 1,134 sustained employment for at least three months.

This Government has a strong track record of assisting young people into employment through our internationally recognised Youth Employment Strategy – Developing the Young Workforce.

There is a broad range of support available to school leavers including a careers service provided by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) which offers free and impartial expert advice to all those who need this support. SDS also works closely with schools to identify those leavers who are less likely to engage with mainstream opportunities as well as working with local partners who offer targeted transitional support to this vulnerable group.

Together with Local Authorities, the Scottish Government rolled out the first phase of No One Left Behind (NOLB) in April 2019-20. This flexible, person-centred approach to providing employability support is aimed at those who need extra help and training to transition into employment or further learning. In its first year NOLB, supported by more than £7 million of investment, helped almost 3,500 participants, 79% of whom were 16-19 year olds. We are continuing to work closely with our Local Authority and third sector partners to develop and deliver the next phase of NOLB.

We are also continuing to fund the delivery of a number of well- established employability programmes, including: Community Jobs Scotland, the Employability Fund, Discovering Your Potential and Our Future Now - all of which are aimed at helping young people to transition into further learning or employment. In these especially challenging times, all of our delivery partners are working hard to engage with young people, adapting their services to ensure they are able to support as many young people as possible in the way that best suits their individual needs.

We have appointed Sandy Begbie to advise on the implementation of a Youth Guarantee, which will promote the importance of giving young people the opportunity to access employment, education and training. The Scottish Government has now published the Youth Guarantee- No One Left Behind- Preliminary report and this can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/addressing-labour-market-emergency
-scottish-governments-response-report-enterprise-skills-strategic-board
-sub-group-measures-mitigate-labour-market-impacts-covid-19/

We have committed to investing £60 million, this financial year, in a Youth Guarantee as part of the £100 million investment for employment and skills we announced last month. The Guarantee is one of the first actions to be taken forward from the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery Report and sets out our employer led plan to give all young people access to work, training or education.

The Social Security and Older People portfolio was established in 2019-20. Prior to this, Social Security was included as a portfolio section for the first time in the Communities, Social Security and Equalities portfolio from 2016-17, before which, the Scottish Government’s expenditure on mitigating the UK government’s welfare reforms was included in other cabinet portfolios.

The Social Security Budgets for each year can be found in the following documents:

• 2016-17 Draft Budget - https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00491140.pdf
• 2016-17 Spring Budget Revision - https://www.gov.scot/publications/2016-17-spring
  -budget-revision-supporting-document/
• 2017-18 Draft Budget - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-budget-draft
  -budget-2017-18/
• 2017-18 Spring Budget Revision - https://www.gov.scot/publications/2017-18-
  spring-budget-revision-supporting-document/
• 2018-19 Draft Budget - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget
  -draft-budget-2018-19/
• 2018-19 Spring Budget Revision - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands
  -budget-documents-2018-19-spring-budget-revision-budget-scotland-act-
  year-ending-31-march-2019/pages/2/
• 2019-20 Budget - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2019-20/
• 2019-20 Spring Budget Revision - https://www.gov.scot/publications/spring
  -budget-revision-2019-20-supporting-document/
• 2020-21 Budget - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2020-21/
• 2020-21 Summer Budget Revision - https://www.gov.scot/publications/
  2020-21-summer-budget-revision/

During 2020-21 the Scottish Government has announced over £69 million of extra funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund, Carer’s Allowance Supplement and Discretionary Housing Payments. In addition, a fund of £50 million has been established to meet increased demands from Social Security and Council Tax Reduction Scheme. Before the conclusion of the financial year further transfer to the portfolio will also recognise the launch of the Scottish Child Payment.

Under the Fiscal Framework, where the Scottish Government introduces additional benefits or new policy then it must pay for this from its own resources, and the 2020-21 Social Security and Older People portfolio budget includes over £251 million of funding for which we do not receive a corresponding Block Grant Adjustment or other transfer, as set out below.