Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5O-04795 on 26 November 2020, the official report can be viewed at Meeting of the Parliament: 26/11/2020 | Scottish Parliament Website

As previously confirmed in the Chamber, a review of the arrangements in place for provision of financial support for patient travel will be undertaken. The review will consider the scope and arrangements for provision of financial support for patient travel across Scotland, where such travel is necessary.

Regrettably, the review has been delayed due to ongoing prioritisation of the recovery of services. It will be taken forward as soon as possible, taking full account of the matters raised by Members.

The Scottish Government firmly opposes the inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts and other non-standard types of employment that offer workers minimal job or financial security. We continue to press the UK Government for the full devolution of employment powers in order to allow us to protect and enhance workers’ rights and tackle the inappropriate use of zero hours contracts.

We are limited to what we can achieve at present and recognise that only with independence can we realise our full potential. Our Fair Work Action Plan sets out the action we are taking, using the levers we have control over, to promote and deliver fairer working practices.

Through our flagship Fair Work First policy, we are applying Fair Work criteria to as many funding streams, business support grants and public contracts as we can. The inclusion of the criterion no inappropriate use of zero hours contracts is a key mechanism for driving fair pay in Scottish workplaces.

For the last seven years we have funded the STUC to support its efforts in tackling precarious work and promoting fair work in under-unionised sectors.

In 2021 we introduced a Living Hours Employer Accreditation Scheme for Scotland, recognising that as well as payment of the real Living Wage, the number and frequency of working hours and security of contract are critical to addressing in-work poverty.

My previous answer to S6W-18372 on 8 June 2023, S6W-18374 on 9 June 2023 & S6W-18375 on 6 June 2023 provides the details on how the Scottish Government is engaging in these areas with various stakeholders, businesses, unions and employers on the matter of Zero Hours Contracts using our Fair Work policy to promote fairer work practices across the labour market in Scotland.

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 part of the development of the National Care Service (NCS), the Scottish Government is considering options to improve the ways people access social care support. This includes the processes by which their needs are assessed, their care is planned and their supports are provided. We are committed to embedding a human rights-based approach across the NCS. This means ensuring that services for accessing support planning can meet people’s wide-ranging individual access needs and that support plans are co-produced with the person seeking support, and where appropriate unpaid carers and others important to them. This will help ensure people have choice and control over their care.

The Scottish Government is also committed to improving independent advocacy services so people are supported to participate in decisions about their care. Improvements to the provision and consistency of independent advocacy services will support people who have complex needs or find the system difficult to navigate to access the social care supports they need.

The Scottish Government wants the NCS to make it easier for people to get care and support in their homes, in their communities and among their family and friends. In line with the Independent Review of Adult Social Care recommendations, we recognise that there are some very complex and specialist care and support services where it would be better to commission them once, to ensure a high quality and consistent quality of service for people, regardless of where in Scotland they live. Therefore, part of the NCS approach will see such services commissioned at a national level.

As we build the NCS, we will listen to the voices of the real experts: People who use community health and social care, including unpaid carers, and the staff who provide it, listening to their needs and acting on what they tell us. We will co-design the detail through our continued engagement with people with experience of using these services, and with partners and stakeholders who deliver community health and social care services to develop the final scope of a National Care Service for everyone.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting people with profound and complex care needs right now. In 2021, £20m of funding under the Scottish Government’s ‘Community Living Change Fund’ was distributed to Integration Authorities across Scotland to help in the design of community-based solutions that negate or limit inappropriate out-of-area placements for adults with learning disabilities and complex care needs.

While labour market enforcement is a reserved matter, the Scottish Government is committed to promoting positive outcomes for workers and their rights. Last year, we published our Refreshed Fair Work action plan that set out our vision for Scotland to become leading Fair Work Nation by 2025, where Fair Work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, organisations and society.

To that end, public sector grant recipients must agree to a specific criteria, as part of the Fair Work First program, to be eligible for funding. We believe that public sector funding should generate broader gains, enhancing a sustainable and prosperous wellbeing economy. Fair Work First criteria have been attached to some £4 billion of public funding since 2019.

Furthermore, Scottish Government has provided £250,000 each year for the last 7 years through the Trade Union Fair Work and Modernisation Fund, which has supported unions in implementing Fair Work in Scotland's workplaces.

However, we are aware we are limited to what we can achieve and that only with independence can we realise our full potential. In a 'Building a New Scotland: A Stronger Economy with Independence', we outlined plans to offer comprehensive employment rights including flexible working, parental leave, and unfair dismissal claims on day one of workers taking up employment. It also set out how we would prevent exploitation in the gig economy by providing written statements of status and conditions from the first day of work.

The Scottish Government currently has no plans to introduce regulations under the Act.

However, involvement in local football clubs can be important to communities and that is why the First Minister recently launched the Fan Bank on 31 May 2023. This initiative is aimed to help support fans organisations who want to become involved in the decision making affecting their club where this is appropriate and where viable proposals have been developed.

Social Security Scotland is committed to giving people decisions as quickly as possible, while allowing time to make sure they have the information required to get decisions right first time.

Most recent statistics show that since the introduction of Adult Disability Payment, less than a year ago, most people have had a decision within four months. However we know others have waited longer. This is unacceptable, and work to make sure people get faster decisions is already underway.

This includes a comprehensive look at every step in the journey from people applying for a disability benefit to getting paid.

One of Social Security Scotland's key principles is making sure people can access and understand all the information relating to their benefits. Easy Read was identified as a solution to help clients to engage with materials in a format best suited to them, and ensure that the processes and ways of communicating could be adapted to meet the wide-ranging needs of clients.

In addition the Local Delivery service, provided by Social Security Scotland, has teams of specially trained Client Support Advisers based in every Local Authority across Scotland. The service offers a range of support to suit people’s needs, including appointments in clients’ homes, at local community venues, by video appointment or by telephone.

Fixed Penalty Notices are issued to individuals rather than businesses. There were 106 individuals offered a Fixed Penalty Notice between 26 May 2020 and 30 June 2022, a number of these individuals were offered more than one. The total value of fines paid was £224,000.

Scottish Government and UK Government officials are actively discussing a partnership approach to possible Investment Zones in Scotland. The Scottish Government has been clear in these discussions that any Investment Zones must be a good fit for Scotland's policy, economic and governance landscape; must build on, rather than cutting across, existing economic activity; and must be taken forward jointly by the two governments working closely with local authorities and their partners.

The Scottish Government and all of Scotland's local authorities are committed to the principles of Fair Work First. So we would expect to see fair work practice embedded from the outset in any Investment Zones in Scotland, just as we have done for Green Freeports.

Details are as follows: