Chamber and committees

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.

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.

In the lead up to the introduction of "Frank's Law" in 2019 there were a number of discussions between Scottish Government officials and stakeholders which covered all aspects of the legislation. At the time of its introduction the Scottish Government issued advice in the form of a Questions and Answers brief which can be found at:

Free personal and nursing care: questions and answers - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

In terms of funding, it was first distributed in the 2019-20 Local Government settlement and then baselined in 2019 it included £29.5 million is to support expansion of Free Personal and Nursing Care for under 65s. With effect from 1 April 2021 the £29.5 million funding was merged into the overall local government finance settlement block grant and as such individual local authority allocations are no longer separately identifiable.

The draft budget for this year is still under consideration while we respond to wider Health and Social Care budget pressures. The proposed allocation for the Technology Enabled Care programme in 2023-24 is circa £8m.

The Scottish Government is not a delivery partner on the Learn to Swim programme and as such, we do not hold this data . This programme is a partnership between Scottish Water and Scottish Swimming, to support a new generation of children to become safer, happier, and healthier through the delivery of the Learn to Swim lessons. Information relating to the programme is held by Scottish Swimming.

However, we are working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sportscotland and Scottish Water to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers. This includes the delivery of 4 small scale school swimming pilots to better understand how to provide opportunities for children across Scotland to experience the water in a fun, safe and inclusive approach.

Following the appearance of the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport at the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 9 May, the Scottish Government intends to provide a further update to the Committee in early July. The Scottish Government has also agreed to provide an updated Financial Memorandum to the Finance and Public Administration Committee at least 4 weeks before the Stage 1 debate.

As set out in the Scottish Government’s Framework for Tax, engagement is one of the six principles for good tax policymaking. We already consult widely on tax ahead of each Budget, listening to the views of tax experts, trade unions, anti-poverty campaigners, wider civic society and business organisations before making tax decisions. The Tax Advisory Group will build on this inclusive approach. It will be a key part of achieving our ambitions for Open Government and greater engagement on tax policy, including as part of the policy cycle for Budget 2024-25.

Summer 2022 was the first time that SEPA has imposed suspensions on abstraction licences, imposing both full (a complete suspension on all water abstractions) and partial (allowing for a reduced volume to be abstracted) suspensions.

All abstraction suspension decisions by SEPA were made in August 2022 but the suspensions for two catchments were effective from 1st September 2022. The breakdown of suspensions are as follows: August 2022, 87 full suspensions and 39 partial suspensions; September 2022, 30 full suspensions and 19 partial suspensions. There were no other suspensions.