Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government’s National Carers Strategy published in December 2022 sets out a cross-government approach to tackling issues that affect carers, including through health and social care policies. The Strategy sets out our intentions regarding carers’ healthcare at chapter 3. We are considering whether it is feasible to provide flexible health appointments for carers, including replacement care for appointments as part of the implementation process of the Strategy.

There are already a range of services in place, including access to personalised, flexible short breaks and preventative support through the Carers Act, that can support unpaid carers to better manage their health. Some have a carer-specific focus, while others are more general. The Scottish Government will continue to raise awareness of these services among unpaid carers and will ensure that our health services consider the needs of carers. Taking a strategic approach to this will support a joined-up approach that supports all aspects of carers’ lives, and this will be done under the auspices of the National Carers Strategy.

Information on Ministerial engagements is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/.

Visits are not recorded by parliamentary constituency.

A Scottish Government amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Bill will, if passed, confer a new power for relevant bodies to share information in connection with their new duties to prevent homelessness. This should help decision makers plan better services but will also mean that those seeking assistance do not have to share distressing information on multiple occasions with different services.

The Scottish Government published updated information sharing guidance in September 2022 as part of a suite of refreshed ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) policy and practice guidance, which is intended for practitioners and service leads in services that work with children, young people and families. This guidance promotes lawful, fair and proportionate information sharing that complies with all relevant legal requirements. The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with stakeholders to better understand local challenges around GIRFEC implementation, including information sharing, in order to strengthen its consistent, high-quality application across Scotland.

The National Care Service Bill, as introduced, contained two critical provisions, section 36 (information sharing) and section 37 (information standards), within part 2 of the bill to support our data and digital infrastructure across health and care in Scotland. Section 36, as introduced, sets out the power of Scottish Ministers, by way of regulations, to establish a scheme for sharing information in order that public health and social care services can be provided efficiently and effectively. This will allow safe, secure and efficient sharing of social care and health data across relevant care settings, including with the individual and will ensure up-to-date information is available to those who support and provide care.

The Scottish Government recognises the disruption a homeless household can experience when placed in temporary accommodation, and is aware of the problems that can arise if accommodation is located too far from the household’s employment, education and health services.

The Unsuitable Accommodation Order states that accommodation is unsuitable if it is not in the locality of facilities and services for the purposes of health and education which are being used, or might reasonably be expected to be used, by members of the household. The exception to this is if those facilities are reasonably accessible from the accommodation, taking into account the distance of travel by public transport or transport provided by a local authority.

It can be challenging for local authorities to place homeless households close to existing family and social networks due to the location of available properties and the high demand in particular areas. The risk assessment conducted as part of the housing support service and allocation process informs the offers of accommodation made.

Local authorities make efforts to accommodate homeless households so they can access the same services or types of services they have previously used. While it is preferable for households to continue to access the same facilities as they have in the past, this is not always possible. The Scottish Government’s code of guidance on homelessness makes clear that it is acceptable for local authorities to offer households access to similar facilities.

The service standards in the temporary accommodation standards framework states that local authorities should assess the needs of all members of the household. Assessments should be followed up with referrals and support to enable the household to engage with the relevant housing, health, education, social care service and independent advice services.

The temporary accommodation standards framework also states that local authorities should offer support to enable households to access information and appropriate services, including counselling, substance use, mental health, domestic abuse, medical, dental, optical and money/welfare advice services.

The Scottish Government is clear that temporary accommodation should be of a high standard and households living there should receive good quality support services that meet their needs. That is why the Scottish Government published the temporary accommodation standards framework in 2023. The framework sets out the physical, location, service and management standards to ensure that temporary accommodation is of good quality and is safe, warm and affordable.

Most households with children are placed in suitable temporary accommodation in the social rented sector. However, the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO) was extended in 2020 to ensure that no homeless household has to stay in unsuitable accommodation, such as hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation, for more than seven days.

The numbers of households and time spent in temporary accommodation is too high, particularly for households with children, and the Scottish Government is taking decisive action to increase housing supply. We have provided funding of £80 million over this year and next, 80 per cent of which has been targeted to five local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures. This funding is to increase the supply of social homes of the right type and size – including larger properties suitable for families – where the need is greatest. To date, this has supported local authorities to bring 1,000 homes back into use through acquisitions and to reduce the number of empty social homes.

Although there is a clear legal framework within which allocation policies must operate, local authorities have considerable discretion within these constraints to develop their allocation policy and practice to meet the needs of the communities in which they operate.

The code of guidance on homelessness aims to guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or who are experiencing homelessness. It sets out that local authority staff should ensure that accommodation and services are offered on the basis of a thorough assessment of the applicant's support or health needs and that these needs are addressed in a holistic fashion. We remain committed to a fuller review of the code of guidance on homelessness, in consultation with stakeholders – including those who represent the interests of children – once the new homelessness prevention measures have been introduced.

The Scottish Social Housing Charter sets out the outcomes and standards that all social landlords should be delivering for their tenants and other customers. This includes an outcome (outcome 12) that describes what councils should achieve by meeting their statutory duties to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Scottish Ministers will review the current charter in 2026-27 in consultation with stakeholders and this will provide an opportunity to ensure the charter continues to focus on matters that are important to tenants and others that use social landlord services.

The National Bairns’ Hoose Governance Group had five meetings between February 2023 and June 2024.

The process to appoint the new chair of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise agency, began on 4 March, when I received Alistair Dodds' letter, confirming his retirement.

Once the selection panel's appointment plan has been approved, the vacancy will be published online at Public appointments - Scottish Government Jobs. There will also be an extensive outreach programme to ensure we attract a strong field of applicants.

The appointment process will follow the Ethical Standards Commissioner’s Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland. Once the process is complete, the appointment decision will also be published, in line with this Code.

We have provided local authorities with over £65 million since 2020 to fund community mental health and wellbeing services for children, young people and their families. This investment will continue with the baselining of £15 million per annum funding into the local government finance settlement from 2025-26.

The community-based supports and services are focused on prevention and early intervention, promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, and tackling emotional distress. Supports and services are available in every local authority area, and more than 300 have been put in place across the country, including supports for trauma, anxiety and depression. Local authorities have reported that nearly 83,000 people used the supports and services between July 2023 and March 2024, including more than 10,000 family members and carers.

In addition, we continue to provide £16 million a year to local authorities to ensure that all school pupils aged 10 and above have access to school counselling services, and local authorities have confirmed that services are in place across Scotland. We have also supported school staff to understand and recognise the range of mental health and wellbeing concerns that young people may experience through a professional resource, which complements 2021 guidance to support whole-school approaches to mental health and wellbeing.

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) service specification highlights that all children and families should receive support and services that are appropriate to their needs. For many children and young people, such support is likely to be community based, and should be easily and quickly accessible. We continue to work with NHS boards to monitor the service specification’s implementation, to improve services and support for children and young people and their families.

We continue to invest in mental health services for children and young people and we have directly allocated £123 million to NHS boards and integration joint boards for a new enhanced mental health outcomes framework in 2024-25. The framework provides a single, flexible funding stream to support continued improvements and better outcomes across a range of mental health and psychological services in line with the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, including CAMHS. The priorities for the funding this year are to continue delivering improvements in CAMHS, psychological therapies, eating disorders and neurodevelopmental services, as well as ongoing innovation and service reform for mental health services.