Chamber and committees

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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09748 on 27 July 2022. 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 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09444 on 27 July 2022. 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 Scottish Government spent a total of £507,452.36 in 2021-22. This spend relates to a public information for the Travel Demand Management campaign, which ran during October-November 2021 to encourage people who would previously have driven into Glasgow city centre during the two weeks of COP26, to leave their car at home and commute using public transport.

b. No campaign activity involving buses or coaches has taken place from April 2022 to date.

The Scottish Government has not spent any money directly on marketing of trains in 2021-22 or since the 1 April 2022, and has no specific budget for this purpose because this is a matter for ScotRail as the relevant train operating company.

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.

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 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.

The Scottish Government’s investment of £25m announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget was additional funding to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23, as agreed by COSLA Leaders, and 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.

Over the last five years, the Scottish Government has provided over £25m to support the training of social workers during this period, including for post-graduate bursaries and support for practice-based learning to increase the number of entrants into the profession.

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

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 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.

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 by among other things, ensuring adequate retention schemes are in place.

The Scottish Government is scaling up work across Scotland to ensure a mandatory supported year for the first year in practice for Newly Qualified Social Workers. Work has also started on the development of an Advanced Practice Framework that will set out the structures which support social workers to progress through different career phases.

Our ambition is to raise the status of and ensure investment in the social work profession. This is to be delivered through our commitment to establishing the National Care Service and National Social Work Agency.

Considering the findings of the report, the Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders to help local authorities maintain appropriate workforce levels.

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.