Chamber and committees

Each Health Board requires staff to undertake mandatory training to help them understand the Board’s policy on equality, diversity and human rights, and what it means for them in terms of both their rights and any associated responsibilities.

The Scottish Government is exploring how to best deliver a more robust and up-to-date learning on equality, diversity and inclusion based on engagement with those with relevant experience and expertise.

The Scottish Government also fully supports all staff diversity networks and is developing an online platform to help networks across Scotland to share information and resources. We have established a staff led National NHS Ethnic Minority Forum that aims to amplify the voices of ethnic minority staff across the health service and tackle issues of systemic racism.

The Scottish Government has proposed a methodology to the Settlement and Distribution Group which was considered on 17 November. A recommendation has been made to COSLA Leaders for adoption when they next meet on 26 November.

The Scottish Government has issued national guidance to inform local authority deployment of this funding, which has been sent to the relevant local authority officers and is available online: Financial insecurity: guidance to local authorities over winter 2021-2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The guidance provides a strong steer in favour of cash-first responses, and the integration of money advice and holistic support services to prevent future hardship. Local authorities will have flexibility to decide how to provide assistance for those most likely to experience hardship – including people who may have been impacted by the recent UK Government cut to Universal Credit and those who may not be eligible for mainstream support.

The Scottish Government published the British Sign Language (BSL) Progress Report on 27th October 2021, which outlines progress being made towards implementing the BSL National Plan. It outlines progress on a range of fronts, including education, BSL/English interpreting, and public life. The report outlines how Scottish Government has funded BSL Partnership organisations to engage and support public bodies with their BSL plans, and notes important developments such as the decision that Scotland’s next census, in 2022, will ask 'can you use BSL?' for the first time.

Significant progress has been made towards making our country more inclusive and supportive of BSL users. The language enjoys a higher profile than ever before in public life, and is ever more visible in media and communications. For example, during the COVID-19 crisis, BSL/English interpreters were present at the daily Scottish Government Coronavirus briefings. This work was recognised by the British Deaf Association and the European Union of the Deaf.

An evaluation of the Scottish Government shared equity schemes (Help to Buy, Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) and New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE)) was published in June 2020. The evaluation can be found on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-scottish-government-shared-equity-schemes/

The evaluation estimated that 64% of Help to Buy purchasers, 71% of NSSE purchasers and 95% of OMSE purchasers were first time buyers. All households supported by the First Home Fund include at least one first time buyer.

The annual number of households supported by the shared equity schemes since 2007, broken down by local authority, can be found on the Scottish Government website at:

OMSE and NSSE

Affordable Housing Supply Programme out-turn reports

https://www.gov.scot/policies/more-homes/affordable-housing-supply/

Help to Buy

Help to Buy (Scotland) monitoring information 2013-2016: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Help to buy (Scotland) Spend and Units Monitoring Information Report 2020-2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

First Home Fund

First Home Fund Spend and Units Monitoring Information Report: December 2019 to March 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

This year the Scottish Government has made available £12 million to support the wellbeing of the health and social care workforce. This includes £8 million from the NHS Recovery Plan to provide ongoing wellbeing support alongside an additional £4 million for practical, emotional and evidence-based psychological support to help staff as they respond to winter pressures.

The Scottish Government’s national resources are available to support the mental wellbeing of paramedics. These include the 24/7 National Wellbeing Helpline, the National Wellbeing Hub, Coaching for Wellbeing, the Workforce Specialist Service and additional funding for psychological interventions and therapies specifically for the workforce.

On 21 September 2021 the Cabinet Secretary announced additional funding of £20 million specifically for the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) to help improve response times, alleviate pressures and improve staff wellbeing. Some £500,000 of this funding is being used to provide additional welfare for crews and a range of wellbeing initiatives, such as personal resilience packages and a dedicated wellbeing team.

The Scottish Government has had no recent discussions with Police Scotland, or the Scottish Police Authority, regarding how much Police Scotland has spent on dealing with cases of sexual harassment and discrimination.

It is a matter for the Chief Constable, with oversight by the Scottish Police Authority, to consider all cases of sexual harassment and discrimination reported to Police Scotland. If any cases result in severance payments the severance payment costs will be set out the SPA Accounts, such as those for 2020-21, set out in the following SPA Annual Report and Accounts: https://www.spa.police.uk/spa-media/zn3niyle/35372-spa-annualreport-2021_fa-1-1.pdf .

Last year, the Scottish Government commissioned Dr Nadine Cossette, a liaison psychiatrist, to examine the mental health needs of people hospitalised due to COVID-19. Dr Cossette’s report was published on Friday 2 October and is available online .

Work is well underway to implement the recommendations from Dr Cossette’s report. Funding of £4.5 million has been approved to enable Health Boards to set up local networks of mental health clinicians across Scotland, supported by a national strategic advisory group offering clinical expertise and guidance. These local networks will proactively contact all patients who have been hospitalised as a result of COVID-19. At this stage it is anticipated that roughly 3,000 people will benefit directly from treatment.

We are also working to implement our ‘Framework on recovery and rehabilitation from COVID-19’, which puts in place clear principles, priorities and objectives to support planning to meet increasing demand and provide high quality person-centred rehabilitation in different settings. We will develop and implement a rehabilitation pathway that will ensure everyone who requires rehabilitation will be able to access it.

As set out in the latest Tackling Child Poverty Progress Report, published in June 2021, the Scottish Government invested almost £2.5 billion in support targeted at low income households including nearly £1 billion to support children in low income families.

The report also highlights that the data indicates that significant progress needs to be achieved in the years ahead to deliver upon the 2030 targets. That is why the Scottish Government has declared a national mission to tackle child poverty and committed to ambitious new action through the COVID Recovery Strategy. This includes doubling the Scottish Child Payment to £20 per week as quickly as possible during this Parliamentary term, continuing investment in the Parental Employability Support Fund and designing a wraparound childcare system providing care before and after school, all year round.

The Scottish Government will publish the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan by the end of March 2022, setting out a range of actions which will put us on a critical path to the targets set. The Plan, when published, will include an assessment of the financial resources required to fund the proposed measures.

The Scottish Government will publish the second Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan by the end of March 2022, setting out a range of actions which will put us on a critical path to the 2030 child poverty targets.

We have declared a national mission to end child poverty, recognising the need for urgent and targeted action which is underpinned by work across the Scottish Government to shape the next delivery plan.

Consultation for the plan is ongoing, in compliance with the requirements of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. Inputs have been received from national and community based third sector organisations, local authorities and health boards. Working in partnership with third sector organisations, the experiences and priorities of people with lived experience of poverty are informing the development of the plan.

Further consultation activity with third sector organisations and people with lived experience of poverty will take place in advance of publication of the plan. This will focus on the priority family types identified in the first Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan and the experience of those most affected by child poverty.

The Scottish Government is working with COSLA to facilitate the full engagement of local authorities.