Chamber and committees

In February 2021, the then Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government, wrote to the Chief Operating Officer of Mears Housing Management about issues that had been raised with her about the mother and baby unit. She asked that no new women be transferred to the unit until there had been further engagement with local partners on its operation and concerns were addressed. In June 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government wrote to Mears Group about issues raised with the suitability of the accommodation provided and asked for information about how they are addressing them. On both occasions we received a response from Mears Group setting out measures they have taken.

Officials from Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and Mears Group sit on the Asylum Regional Partnership Board and the Delivery and Procurement Group, which support collaborative working on asylum accommodation and support in Glasgow.

Asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament. This includes the provision of asylum accommodation, which is delivered by the Home Office through contracts with private sector companies, known as Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contracts (AASC). In Scotland this is being delivered by Mears Group, who operate the mother and baby unit in Glasgow.

Scottish Government officials have no direct role in the delivery and management of the Home Office’s Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contract. We have made it clear that the Scottish Government's preference would be for asylum accommodation to be delivered by the public sector or the third sector.

The development of the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) published in December 2020 by Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Government involved close engagement with Industry Leadership Groups and associated skills groups to identify skills requirements and activity underway in support of the transition to net zero.

The CESAP Implementation Steering Group meets quarterly to drive forward progress and is attended by industry representation bodies such as Scottish Renewables and Scottish Engineering as well as trade unions who feed in their expertise.

As outlined in CESAP and our 100 Day Commitment Manifesto, we will shortly launch the Green Jobs Workforce Academy, a national long term programme to support the retraining and upskilling needed for the transition to net zero.

Sectoral discussions between the Scottish Government and industry regarding training for workers transitioning to net zero is ongoing. Some recent examples include:

• Last year Transport Scotland worked with the Scottish Motor Trade Association, and the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) to research the skills required for mass uptake of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles.
• The Scottish Government has discussed skills required to deliver a just transition to net zero with industry representatives through its manufacturing recovery plan, delivered via a public and private sector partnership.
• In December 2020 the Implementation Steering Group for the Skills Action Plan for Rural Scotland discussed alignment to CESAP. Its membership includes Confor (forestry and timber industry), Seafood Scotland, tourism bodies and business organisations.
• The Energy Skills Alliance, which includes industry membership bodies and government agencies discussed the delivery of a work programme to ensure industry is prepared to meet the future demand for skills in oil and gas, and other related energy industries.

Scotland’s first long-term national housing strategy ‘Housing to 2040’ was published in March 2021. It outlined the Scottish Government's ambition to deliver 100,000 affordable homes by 2032.

We are committed to ensuring that new homes, consented from 2024, must use heating systems which produce zero direct greenhouse gas emissions (at the point of use). While our approach will be technology neutral, it is envisaged that the electrification of heat will increase substantially through the use of technologies such as heat pumps in new homes.

To illustrate this: in 2019, 83% of all electrically fuelled properties were fitted with a heat pump - rising to 89% in 2020. In line with this trend, whilst noting that not all of the 100,000 affordable homes to be delivered by 2032 will be new build, it is anticipated that the majority of the newly-constructed affordable homes consented from 2024 would be served by heat pump technology - with the remainder being served by an alternative zero direct emissions heat source, such as heat networks.

We have commissioned a heat pump sector deal expert advisory group to outline how government and industry will work together to grow the supply chain and scale deployment of the heat pumps to the ambitious levels required. The group provided an interim report in June and are due to publish a final report later this summer. We have committed to responding to their recommendations in our final Heat in Buildings Strategy.

The Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan (WHP) will be published within the first 100 days of this new government and includes a number of actions to improve access to appropriate support, speedy diagnosis and best treatment for endometriosis.

We are working closely with organisations and support groups representing women with endometriosis to implement these actions and work is already underway, for example, through the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme to develop a pelvic pain pathway for Scotland. This integrated care pathway will assist women to access and be better informed and empowered to make choices about treatment and management for endometriosis.

The dental sector has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Pre-COVID levels of patient volume are currently not achievable within the current framework of infection, protection and control (IPC) measures.

The Scottish Government has recently announced a 50 per cent increase in free PPE to dental practices and new funding of £5m to support improved ventilation facilities in dental surgeries. Both these measures are intending to increase the productivity of practices, enabling them to see more patients, within the current set of IPC constraints.

We can also confirm that we are working closely with UK partners as part of the review of IPC Guidance as we emerge from this pandemic. The intention is to ensure that as soon as it is safe to do so dental services can resume normal levels of activity.

The responsibility for the delivery of prisoner healthcare, including services to women living in the new community custody units in Dundee and Glasgow, rests with local NHS Boards.

The Scottish Government is working collaboratively with the SPS, NHS Tayside and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to determine what the healthcare provision will be in the community custody units. We are aiming to deliver a healthcare model that better meets the healthcare needs of women in custody and aligns with the transformative vision for the new female prison estate.

The Scottish Government has an annual dedicated budget for our autism strategy programme of work supplemented by additional support provided throughout the pandemic. (£3.1m for financial year 2021-2022) However, a much wider range of Scottish Government and Local Authority funding helps to support autistic people through education and employment initiatives, for example, as well as social care funding.

a) Strategy funding is currently directly supporting autistic people through:

-The Increasing Understanding of Autism Programme - we are aiming to make Scotland a more accessible, inclusive, and understanding place for autistic people to learn, work and live. As part of this Programme, Inspiring Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Government has distributed £470,709 of funding from December 2019 to date. Funding decisions include input from the autistic people on the autism advisory forums.

-A new National Post Diagnostic Support Service pilot launched on 1 December 2020. Following a diagnosis of autism, individuals, parents and carers living across Scotland are routed to appropriate support to understand and embrace their identity as an autistic person. So far, £394,645 has been allocated to various autism organisations to provide direct support to autistic people.

b) Sportscotland has agreed £572,500 of investment for 2021-22 for Scottish Disability Sport (SDS). SDS has the lead role for developing the quality of disability sport for disabled people in Scotland; this includes supporting autistic people. Sportscotland also invests in and supports a number of programmes and projects that deliver wider benefits to autistic people in their communities through sport. This includes £30,000 to Strathmore Rugby Club to support Scotland’s first autism-friendly rugby sessions, and £51,600 to the Changing Lives Fund project , delivered through a partnership with Forth Valley College and Falkirk Community Football Foundation, which focussed on young people with learning needs (including autistic young people.),

c) The information requested is not held or monitored centrally.

The Scottish Government and COSLA jointly published our Learning/Intellectual Disabilities and Autism: Towards Transformation Plan in March 2021, which builds on existing autism and learning disabilities strategies. The plan looks at the actions needed to shape supports, services and attitudes to ensure that the human rights of autistic people and people with learning/intellectual disabilities are respected and protected and that they are empowered to live their lives, the same as everyone else.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board has recently agreed the final version of the National Neurodevelopmental Principles and Standards of Care. The Principles and Standards of Care is for those children and young people who have neurodevelopmental profiles and support needs, including those with autism, and require more support than is currently available. The National Neurodevelopmental Principles and Standards will be published shortly.

The Additional Support for Learning Act places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils, including those with autism. We provide free professional learning opportunities for practitioners, including the Autism Toolbox and Inclusive Practice online professional learning modules.

In addition, we published our Autism Action Plan in December 2020, setting out the actions we will take to improve the support to children and young people with autism in Scotland’s schools. We have made significant progress in implementing these actions and will formally report our progress in December 2021. Our work on supporting young people with Autism in mainstream schools is also supported by our guidance on the presumption of mainstream education.

The Scottish Government also directly funds the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) which supports NHS Boards to consider best practice and improve service in the redesigning of autism diagnostic services.

The Scottish Government has recently announced a suite of measures to continue to support NHS dentistry, including a vital funding package of up to £5M for improved ventilation in dental premises, and an extension of free PPE for the dental sector, which from this month has increased by up to 50%. This builds on the continued phased remobilisation of NHS dental services, ensuring that as many patients can be seen within the current set of infection, protection and control measures required for the safe operation of dental treatment.

NHS dental services are largely provided by independent dental contractors. Information on appointments is held by each individual dental practice.

The removal of all dental charges for NHS dental treatment is a Scottish Government manifesto commitment and more detail will be published in due course. These changes will take place in the lifetime of this parliament and the processes are currently underway.