Chamber and committees

I met with South Ayrshire Council prior to the Local Elections to discuss their ongoing obligations in relation to the Station Hotel at Ayr Station. The Ayr Station Strategic Governance Group met on the 1st June where positive discussions around the progress of the project took place and it is expected that the Options Review report will be published by the Group in the coming weeks.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended) requires education authorities to identify, provide for and to review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those from armed forces and veterans’ families. Local authorities are supported to carry out their duties under the Act by the statutory Supporting Learners’ Code of Practice, which provides guidance to education authorities and schools on their duties under the Act.

The Scottish Government and COSLA published our joint national response to the independently chaired review of implementation of additional support for learning in October 2020. The joint action plan sets out the measures we will take to implement her recommendations.

We published an updated action and progress report on 1 st November 2021. The action plan and governance arrangements for this work are available from: Additional support for learning action plan: progress report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Local authorities should consider these recommendations as part of implementation of additional support for learning policy locally.

In addition, the Scottish Government chairs the Scottish Armed Forces Education Support Group (SAFESG). This group takes a strategic approach to supporting the issues affecting children armed forces children and young people, working closely with Education Scotland, the Ministry of Defence, Tri-Service reps and third sector partners.

We also recently provided £50,000 of funding to continue the ADES National Transitions Officer (NTO). The NTO plays a key a role in supporting schools and school leaders, particularly through the Service Pupil Champions and head teacher’s networks. These networks enable the sharing of information and best practice among all local authorities, to improve the support offered to children and young people from armed forces and veterans’ families.

As the independent review of Additional Support for Learning (ASL) made clear, all teachers have a central role in assessing and supporting all children with additional support needs, including those from armed forces and veterans’ families.

Although the Scottish Government cannot mandate content for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses, as part of our jointly agreed ASL Action Plan, we have taken a number of actions to support the training and professional development of teachers:

• In 2021, the GTCS refreshed both the professional standards and the standards for ITE providers to make explicit reference to Additional Support Needs throughout.
• In June this year, the Scottish Universities Inclusion Group published an updated edition of the National Framework for Inclusion . This reflective tool supports both student and qualified teachers to continue developing their inclusive practice.
• Education Scotland, working collaboratively with the ADES National Transitions Officer and Forces Children Scotland, developed a professional learning resource – Supporting Armed Forces Families . This resource provides information about deployment, mobility, transitions and the impacts these can have on children from Armed Forces families.

As part of our ongoing work to implement the ASL Action Plan, we will continue to support the training and professional development of teachers in developing inclusive practice which supports all learners.

Further, the statutory Code of Practice on Additional Support for Learning which provides guidance to education authorities on their duties under the Act, makes clear that children of parents in the Armed Forces may have additional support needs.

As our joint ASL action plan shows, the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Association of Directors of Education (ADES) are committed to including and involving children and young people in policy development, including those from armed forces and veteran’s families.

This includes publication last year of the vision statement for success for children and young people with additional support needs which was created by young people from the Young Ambassadors for Inclusion network with the support of ASLIG.

Work is also progressing to develop a measurement framework, seeking to value and increase visibility of the diverse achievements that young people achieve and develop a mechanism to ensure that these are fully recognised and celebrated.

We are working closely with the ADES National Transitions Officer, Forces Families Federations and other third sector partners to ensure that the children and young people from armed forces and veterans’ families are included in this on-going work.

We have also provided funding to Forces Children Scotland through this year’s Scottish Veterans Fund. This will support their Mindful Connections work exploring the lived experiences of veterans’ families, including children and young people, with the aim of enhancing their transition into civilian life and integration into communities.

As we discussed in our meeting of 24 March and in my letter to you of 19 May, skills recognition is central to Scottish Government’s just transition ambitions, and is also set out in the North Sea Transition Deal. You will be aware that on 24 May OPITO published the People and Skills Strategy and the first of five Action Plans, which is focused on Aligning Offshore Standards. This work is supported by the Skills Passport Industry Steering Group which meets monthly, providing insight and sharing information to support the development of a Skills Passport. A range of energy industry organisations are represented on the Steering Group, ensuring different needs and perspectives across the industry are represented.

This must be an initiative led by industryand taken forward in partnership with the workforce. OPITO continue to engage with stakeholders, including the offshore unions. The Aligning Offshore Standards Action Plan, which includes key activities and timescales, was supported by unions at a recent meeting of the North Sea Transition Deal Delivery Group, attended by UNITE. The North Sea Transition Deal Delivery Group will continue to oversee delivery of the Deal commitments, including oversight of the Strategy and Action Plans.

In May 2022 the Scottish Government established a short-life working group to provide analytical expertise and insight into the impacts of the cost of living crisis. Part of the purpose of the group is to assess the impact on priority groups in particular, including unpaid carers, who were identified as a sub-group of low income households likely to be disproportionately impacted. Input from partners forms part of the evidence, informing policy responses to cost-of-living increases. The outputs from this working group have been used for internal briefing purposes, including preparing a paper to inform discussions at Cabinet. The material has also informed discussions with the UK Government on cost of living.

The Scottish Government’s 2022-23 budget has allocated almost £3 billion to a range of support that will help mitigate the impact of the increased cost of living on households, including those of unpaid carers. This consists of work to tackle child poverty, reduce inequalities and support financial wellbeing, alongside social security payments not available anywhere else in UK.

To keep pace with rising costs, the Scottish Government has increased eight Scottish benefits by 6%, including Young Carer Grant and Carer's Allowance Supplement, through an investment of £4.6 million in 2022-23, and continues to urge Westminster to match efforts and increase the level of support for unpaid carers, including ensuring that unpaid carers not on Universal Credit also benefit from the UK Government’s cost of living payments.

Carers in Scotland continuously in receipt of Carer’s Allowance have received over £2,520 more than carers in England since 2018, through an investment of £188 million following the introduction of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement. Each carer received a further £245.70 on 10 June 2022.

The Scottish Government engages regularly with unpaid carers and carer representative organisations to better understand carers’ lived experience. This ongoing engagement informs decision making with the aim of improving the support available for carers. The Scottish Government funds Carers Scotland, which has produced a number of reports on the various impacts of caring, including financial.

We will publish a Carers Strategy which will set out a cross-government approach to carers’ financial inclusion including through social security policies, the Scottish Welfare Fund, action on fuel poverty and supporting carers in employment and education.

Scottish Government funding schemes, in the main, do not fund community-run retrofit organisations directly.

However, a number of our schemes do support retrofitting. For example, our flagship Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), delivered by Local Energy Scotland, has offered advice to over 900 organisations and supported over 600 community and locally owned renewable projects throughout Scotland, offering funding of over £58 million since its inception in 2010. CARES has supported 119 organisations to retrofit decarbonised heat and/or install renewable generation into their buildings.

The following schemes also provide support to households, businesses and other eligible organisations for retrofitting, though not exclusively:

• Warmer Homes Scotland – more than £176 million has been invested through the scheme since its launch in September 2015 helping over 27,000 households throughout Scotland.
• Area Based Schemes – up until the end of the 2020-2021 programme, £400 million has been invested delivering 110,000 measures to homes since 2013.
• Home Energy Scotland loans and cashback – since 2017, the scheme has issued 6808 loans, valued at over £37 million, and 4097 cashback offers, valued at over £11 million, to existing homes.
• SME loans and cashback – since 2008, the scheme has paid close to £40 million in loans and cashback, funding more than 1627 projects.
• Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund – since August 2020, the fund has committed over £14 million to the retrofit of 1800 social homes across Scotland.
• Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme – this programme has provided grant support for the retrofitting of over 1000 homes to decarbonise their energy consumption.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Setting the Bar report and its findings will inform future policy decisions. Social workers make a valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. Social work professionals need to have the time to build relationships and trust, undertake person-centred assessments, plan for the future and arrange or provide appropriate support. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all of which have been exacerbated by COVID.

Social workers are primarily employed by local authorities and it is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their workforce and ensure they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide social services for their residents. To aid with this, the Scottish Government provided additional funding of £25m, announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. As agreed by COSLA Leaders, £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23, It will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will support social work in a range of areas, including: workforce planning and social work terms and conditions.

Considering the findings of the report, the Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy.

Social workers, and the business support staff that assist them, are primarily employed by local authorities. It is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their workforce and ensure they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide social services for their residents. To aid with this, the Scottish Government provided additional funding of £25m, announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. As agreed by COSLA Leaders, £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23. Local authorities have the flexibility to allocate Scottish Government funding based on their individual needs. The intention of the funding is to allow local authorities to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

Considering the findings of the report, the Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all of which have been exacerbated by COVID.

There are a range of social work degrees available from full-time undergraduate to in-work postgraduate courses. Social work courses are offered at nine universities across Scotland. More information can be found here: Studying social work at university - Scottish Social Services Council (sssc.uk.com)

The number of individuals applying for these courses continues to exceed the number of places available, with an overall increase of almost 100 individuals in the last three years. This is shown by 629 applications in 2018-19 versus 720 applications in 2021-22.

As part of our ambition to increase access to the social work profession the Scottish Government is working with Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council to explore the creation of a Graduate Apprenticeship in Social Work, and is providing £264,000 funding to Robert Gordon University and Open University to increase their intake of students over the next 12 months.

Further, we are clear that a strong and well supported social work profession is key to delivering the aims set out in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care (IRASC) and the Promise and our commitment to set up a National Care Service (NCS) within the current Parliamentary session.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will invest in the social work profession by providing national leadership, and overseeing and supporting social work in a range of areas, including: workforce planning, improvement and education.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.