Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17602 on 12 May 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at the questions and answers page on the Scottish Parliament website .

Currently generative AI is not being used by The Scottish Government in a policy environment. However, through our CivTech challenge process we are engaging with technology providers around how we might in future make use of AI to solve particular public issues. Current examples include helping disabled citizens better access online services and in identifying children at risk. You can see details of this work on the recently launched Scottish AI Register .

We are continuing to work within the recently issued UK Government guidance on the use of AI. This guidance encourages civil servants to stay curious and connected with all that data technologies can offer, but at the same time to do this in a way which prevents the risk of harm to our communities, government or economy.

This is a rapidly developing area and the Scottish Government has a responsibility to use AI in a way which will make the most of any opportunities and limit any potential harms to our people. We are very fortunate to have the Scottish AI Alliance behind our efforts, with their strong academic, business and technology experience they offer the correct level of support and challenge to ensure we continue to work in the trustworthy, ethical and inclusive manner set out by our AI Strategy.

The Scottish Government does not hold centralised records for the number of mobile phones purchased in the last 5 years as they are purchased by individual business areas and agencies to meet their requirements. In terms of mobile spend, the spend via the Scottish Government’s mobile voice and data contract is as follows:

January 2022 to December 2022 - £717,288.05

January 2021 to December 2021 - £903,220.11

January 2020 to December 2020 - £1,538,112.41

January 2019 to December 2019 - £1,163,311.25

January 2018 to December 2018 - £1,218,978.37

All costs are ex VAT.

Please note:

1. The above figures include all mobile contract spend; it is not possible to separate this out into just mobile phones.

2. The above figures include other Scottish central government bodies to whom Scottish Government provides IT shared services. These costs will have been recharged to that organisation at the time.

The Scottish Government meets with South Lanarkshire Council on a regular basis to discuss housing matters. We last met on 19 April to discuss the Local Housing Strategy (LHS) which covers all housing issues across the Council area.

The Scottish Government provided funding to the STUC for research into collective bargaining coverage in Scotland. This research was published in a report for the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) by the Labour Research Group in July 2021. It included recommendations both for the Scottish Government and STUC on how more collective bargaining - and the "voice" at work it provides - can be encouraged.

We have provided £250,000 annually to the STUC for the last seven years through the Trade Union Fair Work and Modernisation Fund which has supported unions in embedding the Fair Work Framework in Scotland’s workplaces. This funding has enabled unions to work proactively, building upon ongoing efforts, to tackle precarious work, and organising for Fair Work in less unionised sectors. The Scottish Government engages regularly with STUC in relation to this Fund.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-17602 on 12 May 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at the questions and answers page on the Scottish Parliament website .

As noted in response to S6W-08055 on 10 May 2022, the concept of elder abuse is very broad. Whilst there is no legal definition of elder abuse, the World Health Organisation has defined it as ‘a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person' ( Elder abuse (who.int) ). The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 is designed to protect people; aged 16 years and over who are unable to safeguard their own well-being, property, rights or other interests; are at risk of harm; and, because they are affected by disability, mental disorder, illness or physical or mental infirmity, are more vulnerable to being harmed than adults who are not so affected.

While the Scottish Government doesn’t hold information on elder abuse, specifically, it does hold information on adults at risk of harm (or who have been harmed) by age; where an Adult Support and Protection investigation commenced. The figures, along with many data quality issues explained, were published on our website on 9 th May 2023. The release indicated that, in 2021/22, about 40% of those subject to an ASP investigation were over the age of 75 (15% were men and 25% were women). These figures are national estimates due to differing local processes.

In addition, there are a number of data developments aimed at strengthening the information available, including:

• The Scottish Government has developed an improvement plan for adult support and protection which includes reviewing current ASP data to develop more robust, meaningful and comparable data. The review and development of an ASP minimum dataset is being taken forward by The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS). The minimum dataset will provide a clearer picture of Adult Support and Protection in Scotland.
• The Official Statistics on police recorded crime and criminal proceedings do not include details on whether the victim was an older person, or their relationship to the perpetrator. However, the new crime system will allow crime stats by victim age, therefore a measure of recorded crimes against older people.
• The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey are developing a new Fraud and Computer Misuse module. This module will help estimate the prevalence of victimisation from these crimes in Scotland for the first time and will allow for a breakdown by age. These new questions will be included in the 2023/24 survey due to go into the field this summer. Users will be kept informed as to when the first results from these questions will be published.
• The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, once in force, will require information about police recorded hate crime and convictions data to be published annually, and with greater detail where known. The Act will – for the first time – introduce new protections against offences aggravated by prejudice towards a person’s age.

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

As set out in the answer to S6W-17550 on 12 May 2023, officials are in the process of providing advice to Scottish Ministers on community eyecare services work, including the unique challenges of providing these services in remote and rural areas and domiciliary settings.

In addition, as part of the continuous review of service provision, the Scottish Government recently worked with stakeholders to undertake a separate report into supporting the sustainability of community eyecare services in remote and rural areas.

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

The Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) met with the Accountable Officer (AO) to discuss the gateway review recommendation suggesting a "Portfolio approach". After due consideration it was deemed that at this moment in the programmes development it was not the appropriate course of action to take and would be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The safety of residents and homeowners in Scotland is our priority as we work to tackle cladding safety issues. We are undertaking a programme of work to identify, assess and remediate building with potentially unsafe cladding. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) are members of the Cladding Remediation Stakeholders Group which meets regularly, the last meeting being on 29 March 2023. Work has been undertaken between the UK Government and UK Finance to develop a solution which reflects the situation in England and we are in urgent discussion with UK Finance about adapting that solution for Scotland as quickly as possible.