Chamber and committees

In regards to part A of the question, the best source for care home closure data sits with the Care Inspectorate (CI) via their ‘service cancellations and registrations publication’. The most recent version was published on 22 January 2025, which you can access via the link below

https://www.careinspectorate.com/images/documents/7934/CI_Stats_Report_RegCanxQtr3_24_25.csv

37 care home services have cancelled their registration with CI since the start of 2024, according to this most recent report. This includes care home services for older people, children & young people, mental health, alcohol & drugs misuse, learning disabilities and respite services.

In order to see those services that have been cancelled you can look at the cancelled services column the publication table.

It is important to note that often the services listed will most likely have been reopened under a different business name and care service number since this data was released. Over the same period, there have been 30 registered care homes services, you can view this in the registered services columns in the same table.

In regards to Part B, to understand the care home services that are at risk of closure you can look at the RAD score – current Scrutiny Assessment Tool (SAT) score, High-Medium-Low – for each service which is available on the Care Inspectorate data store publication. The most recent one was published on 28 February

https://careinspectorate.com/images/documents/8039/MDSF_data_28%20February%202025.xlsx

The SAT is a trigger tool to identify indicators of potential concerns in services. The SAT was developed using feedback from staff, information from our enforcement review, intelligence and learning from the pandemic and the Hull early indicators of concern (which has been widely adopted by the health and social care sector). It only provides a picture of the services that have been inspected, rather than all care homes in the country.

I would highlight that although we have overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivering, commissioning, providing appropriate social care capacity at a local level lies with local authorities, NHS boards and Integrated Joint Boards. This includes the responsibility for these organisations to develop contingency plans for each service they commission or provide and to have robust plans in place should a service close. COSLA have provided guidance on how to manage a service closure and under procurement contracts, including the National Care Home Contract, providers are required to have appropriate business continuity plans in place.

However, we do understand that additional pressures have been brought to the sector by the decisions of the UK Government, such as the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions, changes to the social care visa system and salary threshold levels.

Safeguards are in place to support the sector with regulators, COSLA and the Scottish Government available to provide additional support where necessary. We will continue to provide targeted support to local areas through the Collaborative Support and Assurance Group, co-chaired by myself and the COSLA spokesperson on Health and Social Care, Councillor Kelly. COSLA also chairs the National Contingency Planning Group, which can be stood up in the event of a large-scale threat to the sector affecting more than one local authority.

The Scottish Government are undertaking a programme of work to understand and respond to the current financial viability pressures facing the care home and wider social care sectors, and identify where extra support, contingencies and mitigations may be required. This work has included collaboration with COSLA, sector partners and representative bodies. Work remains ongoing but is proceeding at pace.

As detailed in its ‘Designation Policy and Selection Guidance’, Historic Environment Scotland aims to act proportionately within the Scottish Regulators Code of Practice.

Although that means usually avoiding any unnecessary intervention in the planning process or other regulatory processes where there are development proposals by adding a new designation, the individual circumstances are fully considered, including the implications of the proposed designation and the effect development proposals would have in each case.

I have asked Historic Environment Scotland to write to the member to explain its policy further.

Numerous Scottish public bodies deliver support and tailored strategic investment into Scottish businesses including Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish National Investment Bank, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise, Business Gateway and the Scottish Government’s £42m national Techscaler programme.

The Scottish Government-backed investment funds deployed by these organisations are designed to fill gaps in the supply of capital available to businesses and at the same time crowd in private capital to create a busier ecosystem of investors active in Scotland. Underpinned by Techscaler offering online education, expert mentoring, and a network of 14 hubs across seven regions in Scotland, these funds support tech startups from creation through to scale, ensuring support is accessible and rooted in communities across the country.

Examples of this funding and support include:

• Over £118m capital raised by founders since the inception of Techscaler in 2022 and in November 2024 Techscaler, in partnership with Focused for Business launched the Funding Accelerator programme designed to help Scottish startups secure their first or second equity funding round, with investments ranging from £100k to £1m.
• In 2024/25, Scottish Enterprise made 125 investments totalling £42.5m in early-stage companies, with 52% of these investments in companies located out with Edinburgh and Glasgow.
• South of Scotland Enterprise has supported 391 individuals in the South of Scotland as part of a Pathways pre-start pilot for under-represented groups, providing start-up grants of £1,000 to eligible participants.
• Highlands and Islands Enterprise IMPACT30 programme has supported 301 young entrepreneurs across its region and the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Techscaler Kickstart Grant Scheme offers grants ranging from £5,000 to £10,000 to ambitious tech founders and entrepreneurs in developing their business ideas.
• Through our Ecosystem Fund, we have supported various in-person and remote projects specifically focussed on access to finance, resulting in over 700 individuals growing their investment network.
• Scottish Government has consistently provided support for the Scottish EDGE business competition, including £1.4m in 2024-25, with an aim of identifying and supporting Scotland’s innovative, high growth potential entrepreneurial talent. This recently included a pilot Regional EDGE competition to specifically target support to different regions.
• To support the establishment of a network of entrepreneurial campuses, the Scottish Government allocated Converge with £100k to provide early-stage business microgrants. These microgrants have enabled 55 projects, run by university students and staff, to test their initial business idea. Microgrants were awarded to every university in Scotland to ensure all parts of the country have educational institutions that support entrepreneurial activity.

Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTROs) formed part of the general TRO process review that was carried out in 2021. This review indicated that local authorities were content with the TTRO process already in place.

However, Transport Scotland continues to monitor the feedback from local authorities and other stakeholders to ensure that the system remains responsive and meets the needs of communities and road users.

Officials are working to update the national pipeline on an ongoing basis and are developing governance and information management protocols to ensure appropriate controls are in place to manage commercially sensitive information.

The national pipeline contains information on a range of investment propositions or projects, all of which are at different stages of development.

In general, it is an offence to collect native oysters from any location in Scotland. Currently the Loch Sween MPA is the only marine protected area that lists native oysters as a protected feature, and there are specific management measures in place for the MPA which prohibit fishing with a demersal trawl, mechanical dredge or by hand. British sea-fishery officers from the Marine Directorate will investigate any alleged reports of illegal fishing activity wherever it occurs.

The commitment to develop a national pipeline of investment propositions is led by myself, working across portfolios and with public sector delivery partners.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 establishes a framework for the assessment and mapping of flood risks and the planning in relation to the management of such risks. Under section 9 of the Act SEPA must prepare a flood risk assessment for each flood risk management district providing an assessment of any flood risk for the district. This is commonly referred to as the National Flood Risk Assessment and was last published by SEPA in 2018.

In addition, section 13 of the Act requires SEPA to prepare and submit to Scottish Ministers a document identifying for each flood risk management district any area in the district for which it considers that significant flood risk either exists or is likely to occur. These are more commonly referred to as Potentially Vulnerable Areas.

Under section 14 of the Act SEPA is required to update the document provided to Scottish Ministers on a six yearly basis. Scottish Ministers approved the latest update of the document in December 2024 and it can found on SEPA’s website.

Under section 2 of the Act the Scottish Ministers may give directions or guidance to SEPA in relation to the exercise of its flood risk related functions.