Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23569 on 13 December 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.

Scottish Ministers prioritise consequential funding in the financial year in which it is received to support public services in Scotland and a balanced budget.

Scottish Ministers have said they will spend the equivalent value of the £97.1 m received in consequentials on cladding remediation at the time it is appropriate to spend it.

Details of impact assessments in relation to the measures set out in the Fiscal Statement will be published in the coming weeks on the Scottish Government’s website.

The Scottish Government sought advice from the Investor Panel on how we can attract investment to Scotland that supports our transition to net zero, and bring investor intelligence to policy and regulatory development early in the process. One of the recommendations in their report, 'Mobilising international capital to finance the transition to Net Zero', was to use existing devolved powers to issue debt, i.e. bonds. Further information can be found in the Scottish Government response to the report: Investor Panel recommendations: Scottish Government response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Over the past four years, the Scottish Government provided a total of £12.13 million of additional funding to address Mental Health Officer (MHO) shortfall across Scotland. Under the Training Grant Scheme alone, we provided £1.93 million for local authorities to train 83 additional MHOs. This funding exceeded our original commitment to invest £1.5 million over three years to train MHOs. Under the Capacity Increase scheme, the Scottish Government provided another £10.2 million for local authorities to increase MHO capacity. These schemes were intended to run for a limited number of years to alleviate system pressures raised specifically from the pandemic and to allow local government to undertake statutory duties.

Since 2022-23, the Scottish Government has been providing local authorities with an additional £22 million per annum to increase social work capacity in adult services. Given the close links between social workers’ and MHOs’ duties, this additional £44 million in funding is thought to have also benefited MHO capacity.

We monitor the state of the MHO workforce through the annual MHO Report published by the Scottish Social Services Council. The most recent report, published in August 2024, showed an increase of 27 individuals (headcount) working as MHOs, compared to the previous year. This figure represents the net headcount after considering the MHOs who have left the sector. The actual number of MHOs who have joined the workforce over the previous year, therefore, is higher.

In addition to providing funding, the Scottish Government is working closely with partners to improve MHO capacity, for instance, we have set up a Joint Social Services Taskforce with the aim of exploring opportunities to deliver improvements for the adult and children’s social care and social work workforce. This group is exploring options for a pilot exercise to increase capacity for the MHO workforce by reducing administrative burdens.

The Scottish Government is proud to have played a leading role in the Under2 Coalition for the past four years. The Coalition is made up of 260 governments representing over 1.75 billion people and 50% of the global economy and has been named one of the international partnerships with the highest potential for emissions reduction - 3.3-3.9GtCO2e/year in 2030 – more than the current annual emissions of the EU.

Over the last four years as co-chair, we have increased member governments’ ambition via a new MoU committing them to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier.

We have increased the influence of non-party governments in the global climate debate, including in UNFCCC processes and in COPs. Finally, we have increased the sharing of best practice between sub-nationals via our co-chairing of the Net Zero Futures Policy Forum and establishing and funding the Just Transition Taskforce.

Going forward, the Scottish Government will continue to play a key role in the strategic direction of the coalition. We will look to increase devolved, state and regional government’s role and influence within international climate policy and processes and to develop the capacity building and knowledge exchange offer for the coalition, via the Net Zero Futures Policy Forum.

The Scottish Government remains committed to taking forward a Bond issuance subject to ongoing due diligence.

This will be done in line with our Capital Borrowing strategy and the objectives we published in December 2023 in the Memorandum available at Scottish Government capital borrowing and bonds: memorandum - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

I will say more about our future borrowing plans in the upcoming Scottish Budget.

A] The Scottish Government believes that the community social work model remains an important approach and undoubtedly, in the right circumstances, offers a targeted early response to tackle a wide range of issues which may in some circumstances lead to crisis.

B] The Scottish government recognises that, as part of range of approaches, the community based social work model holds an important place in responding to the needs of deprived communities with the main strength being the proactive and accessible nature of the approach.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28974 on 19 September 2024. 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.

Operational decisions on course delivery are a matter for individual colleges. I did however, write to the Principal of City of Glasgow College on 8 July to encourage continued constructive dialogue between the College and its trade union partners to find ways to keep the centre open.

The Scottish Government welcomes the new partnership agreement reached between the College and the Trade Union Congress to safeguard the delivery of trade union education at the City of Glasgow College.