Chamber and committees

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of Carer Support Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of the Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of the Best Start Grant School Age Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of Winter Heating Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of Child Winter Heating Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.

In June 2017, following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower in London, the Scottish Government requested information regarding the NHSScotland estate, owned or otherwise, in respect of external cladding systems. Health Facilities Scotland issued an email to all Boards that stated - Provide a list of all buildings within your Board area that have external cladding fitted to the original structure other than concrete, render, brick or blockwork

Two hospitals were identified as having combustible cladding:

• The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow
• The Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh

Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding was subsequently removed from areas of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital as a precautionary measure and replaced with non-combustible cladding and insulation.

The Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh was constructed with sandwich panels that contain insulation treated with fire retardancy. Health Facilities Scotland commissioned Glasgow Caledonian University to carry out an assessment of the cladding including fire engineering computer modelling. The report concluded that the cladding would be very difficult to ignite, the cladding would not continue to burn unless there was an external and sustained heat source, therefore it was considered that the cladding system does not present a hazard in terms of life safety.

There have been significant developments in the data collected on veterans in recent years, offering enhanced insight into the size, nature and circumstances of the veterans community in Scotland.

Scotland’s 2022 Census included for the first time a question on former Service in the Armed Forces. It was found that 176,100 people across Scotland had previously served in the UK Armed Forces, representing 3.9% of people aged 16 and over. The Scottish Government published a report in November 2024 outlining differences between Scotland’s veteran and non-veteran population and providing high-level statistics on veterans’ demographic characteristics. This can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-characteristics-of-uk-armed-forces-veterans-scotlands-census-2022/.

Alongside the November release, National Records Scotland published a Flexible Table Builder to support further analysis of the veteran population, including a wider range of variables such as ethnic group, religion and disability, as well as health, housing and employment. Scottish Government analysts have been examining this detailed data to better understand veterans’ demographic characteristics and explore key differences between the veteran and non-veteran population.

Another key development has been the inclusion of the veterans question from the Census in the three Scottish Government major household surveys (Scottish Household Survey, Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, and the Scottish Health Survey). Findings from these sources have started to emerge, including chapters outlining headline results for veterans compared to non-veterans, as can be found here: Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24: Main findings - gov.scot

Scottish Government officials also worked with ONS, OVA and the other Devolved Governments to develop and facilitate the first UK-wide Veterans’ Survey, which aims to understand current access to and perception of services in addition to veterans’ experiences and circumstances. Findings on a range of topics from the survey include information on whether patterns seen in results at UK level were replicated amongst respondents in Scotland.

Scottish Government analysts will continue to work with the UK Government to robustly analyse, collate and make use of emerging data to better understand veterans’ demographic characteristics and explore key differences between the veteran and non-veteran population.

The 2022 Census represents the most current comprehensive snapshot we have of the veterans population in Scotland. It estimated there were 2,700 unemployed veterans at that point in time. This equated to 3.6% of economically active veterans, which compared favourably to economically active non-veterans at 4.4%.

However, it should be noted that caution is needed when making comparisons between veterans and the rest of the population. For example, Scotland’s Census showed that the structure of the veteran population differed substantially to the non-veteran population in relation to age and sex, with the veteran population being older and predominantly male.

Any new schools or hospitals must comply with current building standards, which include a requirement for non-combustible cladding material at a storey height of over 11m. High risk MAC-PE cladding material is banned on buildings of all height. It is the statutory responsibility of local authorities and Health Boards to manage their estate, and we expect them to provide safe environments for all school and healthcare estate users.

With specific reference to Hospitals the NHS Scotland Firecode, Scottish Health Technical Memorandum (SHTM 81) Fire Safety in the design of healthcare premises stipulates that external wall systems, including cladding and insulation, on all hospitals with a total floor area of more than 200m2, should be constructed of products achieving European Classification A1 (non-combustible) or A2 (will not significantly contribute to fire load and fire growth).

Social Security Scotland publishes benefit specific information on overpayments in their Annual Report and Accounts. It does not publish data on the number of occasions, or the amounts, where individual recipients of the Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment have been required to repay either part or all of the payment. As such, this information is not available broken down by year or local authority area.