Chamber and committees

All 32 Scottish local authorities are working to conduct the necessary person and property checks for volunteers in Scotland who, having signed up initially for the UK Government scheme, have continued to express interest in hosting displaced people. Once checks have been completed, if the offer is deemed suitable, these hosts' details are uploaded onto the national matching service database, so that displaced people can be offered the opportunity to move into their homes.

We are aware that some volunteer hosts have expressed interest but have not yet been contacted, while others are still awaiting the outcome of checks. The Scottish Government is grateful to volunteer hosts for their generosity, and their patience. We are working closely with local authorities and with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), doing all we can to speed up the matching process and increase the numbers of displaced people moving into host accommodation, including enhancing teams to boost capacity.

The Scottish Government has made available £11.2 million in funding to help local authorities increase their teams to help people with temporary resettlement into communities across Scotland, and also to invest in making improvements to housing stock so that there are more homes available for Ukrainians to move into.

The Scottish Government has also published guidance for local authorities which includes what safeguarding measures, such as disclosure checks, should be in place for people arriving. This guidance can be found on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/super-sponsor-scheme-and-homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-local-authorities/pages/person-checks/ .

When displaced people from Ukraine arrive at Scotland’s Ukraine Welcome Hubs, they are given an immediate warm welcome to Scotland and immediate support in a safe and secure space. Welcome Hub staff will talk to those who have arrived about their immediate needs, including language support.

Public services in Scotland – including healthcare, welfare, schools, councils and housing services – must provide individuals with a qualified interpreter if they need one. Some councils are also offering translated information on a variety of subject matters, and guests from Ukraine can discuss the availability of these with their assigned local authority caseworker.

The Scottish Refugee Council are working with the Scottish Government to deliver the Warm Scottish Welcome scheme, which includes translation and interpreting services. The Scottish Refugee Council have received funding from the Scottish Government to recruit additional advisors for their Refugee Integration Service, including Ukrainian speakers, as part of their work to deliver the Warm Scottish Welcome scheme.

We recognise that translation and interpreting services for people arriving in Scotland from Ukraine are extremely important and the Scottish Refugee Council have asked that anyone wishing to offer assistance in this area contact them to discuss what support they can offer.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care attends regular meetings with his counterparts in the UK and other Devolved Administrations to ensure that the Scottish Government is represented in relation to public health incidents which require a coordinated 4 Nations response.

Additionally, Public Health Scotland (PHS) are leading on the response in Scotland and are working with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Wales and Northern Ireland HSC Health Protection Agency to ensure a coordinated response to monkeypox in the UK. Where appropriate, Scottish Government officials are also represented on 4 nations groups established to support these coordination efforts.

Evacuation alert systems were introduced to all new high rise domestic buildings over 18m to assist the Fire and Rescue Service in the unlikely event of a partial or full evacuation of the building following the outbreak of fire.

The guidance in the technical handbooks is not retrospective and applied to new buildings or conversions from 1 October 2019. Local authority building standards services hold building warrant records, which should show which buildings have evacuation alert systems installed.

There are currently no plans to translate the guidance into formal regulations, however the Scottish Government keeps this under review.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on individuals who have personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs). Further information on fire safety and PEEPs can be found in the Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing and Similar Premises and Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing Specialised Housing and Similar Premises .

Local authorities receive a notional element for housing activities in their general and capital grant funding, but it is for each authority to determine how its funding is used and we do not collect data on allocation.

As at 1 October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland )

The Scottish Government does not hold a global figure for the percentage of practices with dedicated mental health professionals. However, at 31 March 2022, nearly 80% of GP practices across Scotland had access to a Mental Health Worker under the Primary Care Improvement Fund (PCIF) and Action 15 alone. Further detail is set out in the latest PCIF data which was published on 21 June 2022 - ( Primary Care Improvement Plans: Summary of Implementation Progress at March 2022 ).

In total, 259.9 WTE mental health workers have been recruited under the PCIF as at March 2022. Under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-27, an additional 356.1 WTE posts were recruited to GP practices by the end of the commitment. Further detail is available in the quarterly performance update on Action 15 implementation published on 12 July 2022 ( Mental health workers: quarterly performance reports - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ).

There are also mental health professionals directly employed by GP practices in addition to those employed under the PCIF and Action 15. Mental health professionals employed directly by GP practices are not separately identifiable within the published GP in-hours workforce survey results . However, we expect numbers to be relatively small.

Scottish Government Ministers regularly meet with and are briefed by health officials and clinical advisers to ensure they are kept up to date with the ongoing situation regarding case numbers, treatment pathways and public health information messaging on the current monkeypox outbreak. This includes all relevant updates from the public health agencies across the UK, which are leading on the Monkeypox response.

The Scottish Government Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Existing High Rise Domestic Buildings includes a template and advice on carrying out a fire risk assessment of the building. The outcome of this assessment will give an idea of the relative risk of the premises and what mitigations might be helpful.

The Scottish Government worked with key partners including the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Her Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate for Scotland when drafting the guidance. The guidance was widely consulted on setting out the reasoning for the approach taken.