Chamber and committees

We recognise the hazard of asbestos and the risks to health it poses. However, asbestos is only dangerous when it is disturbed or in poor condition. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance states that it is safe for asbestos to remain in place if it is in good condition, well-protected and unlikely to be disturbed. Health boards carry out annual asbestos monitoring surveys and asbestos management plans are in place across the NHS estate.

Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical missions of this government.

The Tackling Child Poverty Ministerial Oversight Group, which I will convene, will provide Ministerial-level oversight and assurance of the delivery of the actions set out in Best Start, Bright Futures.

Scottish Government analysis, published in April 2022, estimated that reversing key UK Government welfare changes that have taken place just since 2015 could lift an estimated 70,000 people out of poverty, including 30,000 children, in Scotland this year. We will continue to urge the UK Government to match our ambitions in tackling child poverty head on through reversing its policies such as the benefit cap and child cap and bedroom tax.

The Scottish Government is providing the funding per the following table for the financial year 2023-24. Health boards can use this funding to manage and remove asbestos as and when it is appropriate to do so.

The Scottish Government is enabling access to superfast broadband through the R100 contracts (North, Central and South) and the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS).

As at 30 June 2023, the total number of properties included in the R100 contracts yet to receive a connection in the (a) Aberdeenshire and (b) Angus local authority areas are as follows:

Core central funding for digital technologies across health and social care in each of the past three years is as below:

22-23 - £99,522

21-22 - £ 112,267

20-21 - £103,232

This is an operational matter for ScotRail. The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is aware of the pressures faced by the Social Care sector at present and while the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, it is local authorities and health and social care partnerships who have the responsibility for commissioning appropriate services for local needs. We are however, taking steps at a national level to assist in reducing these pressures.

We are continuing to invest in social care to support the people who deliver, and rely, on these services with £1.7bn being provided for social care support and integration in 2023-24.

We have invested a further 3.6 million pounds to continue the development and expansion of Hospital at Home services. This additional funding brings the Scottish Government’s total investment in Hospital at Home services to more than 10.7 million pounds since 2020 and will see the number of patients accessing Hospital at Home grow by 50%.

We are progressing our commitment to increase spend in social care support by 25% by the end of this Parliament - an increase of over £840m, laying the groundwork for the establishment of a National Care Service.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested, as responsibility for managing Police Scotland’s call handling system, including for non-emergency 101 calls, rests with the Chief Constable.

Police Scotland publish performance data, including for the non-emergency 101 service, on their website at Call Handling Reports 2023 - Police Scotland . The average wait time for non-emergency 101 calls in the last 6 months is below.

Police Scotland has advised that when there is a surge in 999 calls they will re-prioritise Advisors from non-emergency (101) calls and emails as they aim to answer 999 calls under 10 seconds. Therefore there is a direct link between increase in 999 volumes and the average speed of answer for 101 non-emergency calls performance. As shown below, the months where there has been a notable increase in Police Scotland’s average answer times for 101 is as a direct consequence of aiming to achieve an average speed of answer of under 10 seconds for 999 calls. The average speed of answer for 999 calls for the same period is also below.

There has been a significant change in the contact volume profile (999, 101, Other Emergency Service calls and Contactus E-Mails) being experienced by the Police Scotland Service Centre following the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes sustained annual growth in 999 call volumes which have risen by 34% since 2018. This year there has been an increase of 18% in January to June when compared to 2022; with May and June increases of 25% and 37% respectively in 999 calls compared with the same month the previous year.

101 average speed of answer – Jan to July 2023

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) is responsible for administering the Teacher Induction Scheme and as such undertakes seminars and information sessions with prospective probationary teachers. This includes encouraging probationary teachers to consider taking a placement further afield.

The Preference Waiver Payment (PWP) was introduced in 2004-05 to attract newly qualified teachers to more remote and rural local authorities who experience difficulties in securing probationers . Students can opt for the PWP whereby they waive their right to express a preferred local authority and will be prioritised to remote and rural local authorities such as the north east in return for an additional payment.

Currently the PWP is £6000 per annum for Primary teachers and £8000 per annum for Secondary teachers.

As noted in S6W-19781, we committed to publish the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan Update by the end of the year alongside the Climate Change Plan.