Chamber and committees

We provided £0.5 million to Care and Repair in September 2021 and in response to levels of demand, have provided a further £0.5 million in February 2022. This £1 million funding will enable Care and Repair to support eligible older and disabled households with making the necessary changes. We continue to work closely with Care and Repair to understand how best to support them and their clients.

The latest available data from the Scottish Health Service Costs book shows that for 2019-20 the percentage of NHS expenditure spent on mental health services was 8.49%.

We are working with partners to deliver the 2021-22 Programme for Government commitment to ensure that at least 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health and 1% goes on child and adolescent services by the end of this Parliament.

As at 28 February 2022 a total of 32 staff earning over £100,000 per annum were employed in Core Scottish Government at a total salary cost of £3,680,537.

The latest available data from the Scottish Health Service Costs book shows that for 2019-20 the percentage of NHS expenditure spent on child and adolescent mental health services was 0.61%.

We are working with partners to deliver the 2021-22 Programme for Government commitment to ensure that at least 10% of frontline NHS spend goes towards mental health and 1% goes on child and adolescent services by the end of this Parliament.

The majority of funding local authorities receive for preventing and responding to homelessness is provided through the annual local government finance settlement. On top of that, we have committed £53.5 million to local authorities to support the development and implementation of local authority rapid rehousing transition plans (RRTPs). This funding also includes an investment of up to £6.5 million for the Housing First pathfinder programme to support people with multiple and complex needs. The RRTP funding distribution is agreed with COSLA.

Annually, local authorities complete an activities and spend template which provides details of all RRTP activities over the course of the year, including details of funding sources in addition to Scottish Government funding. This allows the Scottish Government to monitor how local authorities are allocating resources to deliver priorities in their RRTPs.

Alongside the funding, there are a number of supporting structures which help local authorities develop and implement their RRTPs. These include five housing options hubs which bring together all 32 local authorities to share practice and experience; RRTP co-ordinators’ meetings; and the RRTP sub-group of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group.

The Care Inspectorate for Scotland are responsible for setting and reviewing the expected adult to child ratios for all childcare settings in Scotland. They also hold legislative responsibility for the scrutiny of childcare settings, which includes ensuring that the child to adult ratios are being adhered to.

The statistics that Social Security Scotland publish on Child Disability Payment applications are a snapshot in time. The high level statistics from the 26 July to 21 November 2021 show only part 2 application forms that were registered up until the 21 November.

Applications without a part two registered by the snapshot date can be due to applicants still being within the six-week time period following completion of a part 1 application, and a part 2 may be registered after this snapshot date. In such instances, part 2 applications will be reported in subsequent statistics publications and will still have the opportunity to progress. Those applications where a part 2 application is not submitted may be as a result of repeat applications or the applicant already being in receipt of Disability Living Allowance for Children.

The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) features within the Scottish Tribunals Annual Report. In addition to this the Housing and Property Chamber has recently published a statistical report which provides information including; the jurisdictions of the Chamber, the application process, case volumes and outcomes. Both of these reports can be found using the following link:

https://www.housingandpropertychamber.scot/who-we-are/annual-reports

The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (Procedure) Regulations 2017 section 26.-(10) requires that a decision of the First-tier Tribunal with a statement of reasons must be published. The Housing and Property Chamber has developed searchable databases of all decisions, from each jurisdiction, which can be found using the following link:

https://www.housingandpropertychamber.scot/apply-tribunal .

In accordance with Section 78 of the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014, the President of Tribunals is to prepare an annual report about the operation and business of the Scottish Tribunals. To draft this report, the President of Scottish Tribunals requests that each chamber president within the First-tier Tribunal provides details as to their chamber's business and any important changes or projects within their respective chambers. This information is collated by the Judicial Office for Scotland and then presented to the President of Scottish Tribunals for consideration and approval. S78(3) provides the statutory basis for the information that is to be contained within the report, primarily that the annual report must explain how the Scottish Tribunals have exercised their functions during the financial year, as well as any other information that the President of Scottish Tribunals deems appropriate. The report is approved by the Lord President and sent to the Scottish Ministers in advance of publication.

A copy of this letter will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (bib number 63213) and published on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service website.

As the First Minister set out we are developing a managed transition plan which will ensure that Scotland continues to have a proportionate and effective testing response as we learn to live with COVID. As part of this we are reviewing the groups of individuals who will need to access a COVID test for treatment in line with the latest clinical advice and risk assessments. We will outline our plans later this month.

We have introduced a range of targeted measures to support people experiencing homelessness who are affected by the rising costs of living. We have committed £52.5 million since 2018-19 to support local authorities to implement rapid rehousing approaches, including Housing First. We are allocating £79 million in 2022-23 for Discretionary Housing Payments to support those struggling to meet housing costs.

As part of a wider package of funding to tackle the cost of living crisis, in 2022-23 we have committed a further £10 million to continue our Fuel Insecurity Fund, which has been helping households with energy costs since late 2020.

No-one should go hungry or have to rely on charitable food provision. That is why we published a consultation on a plan to end the need for food banks. We will continue to work with partners to strengthen cash-first responses to hardship to ensure people have sufficient income to meet their needs and reduce the need for food banks. In line with this approach, we provided local authorities with £25 million of flexible funding from our Winter Support Fund to tackle financial insecurity over the winter.

For those experiencing the most acute forms of homelessness, we have provided over £690,000 of funding to support the introduction and operation of rapid rehousing welcome centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh. We have also made over £51,500 of flexible emergency funding available to third sector homelessness organisations for personalised budgets.