Chamber and committees

We need to fundamentally transform the way social care is delivered in Scotland, and we have listened to thousands of people, including the social care workforce, who have told us this.

People who receive support through social care, their families and communities, and the workforce must be involved in planning and delivery at local level. But the system needs to work and people have told us, clearly, that it does not provide the high standard of care that people should rightfully expect. We are committed to establishing a National Care Service that delivers clear, consistent national care standards by the end of this Parliamentary term.

The Scottish Government will continue to engage with GMB and other Trade Unions as we co-design the National Care Service.

Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Route Map sets out a programme of continued action to reduce wastewater pollution and sewage litter over the coming decade backed by investment of half a billion pounds. As part of the programme, Scottish Water is progressing improvements to 109high priority unsatisfactory CSOs, identified in conjunction with SEPA, that have water quality or sewer related debris impacts

Many of these unsatisfactory discharges are due to sewer related debris – materials such as wet wipes that have been inappropriately flushed away by consumers into the sewer system. Scottish Water’s Nature Calls campaign aims to highlight how consumers can help to protect our environment by disposing of their wet wipes, plastics etc in the waste bin.

The Dementia Strategy for Scotland (published by Scottish Government and COSLA in 2023) sets out an ambitious 10-year vision for dementia policy in Scotland, developed in collaboration with people with lived experience and wider partners. This includes third sector, local authority and healthcare organisations. The first 2-year delivery plan was subsequently published in February of this year, setting out the key deliverables being prioritised in this initial period. This was agreed with the National Dementia Lived Experience Panel, and local/national delivery partners including HSCP representatives and dementia charities. It includes:

• Launching the new Rethink Dementia anti-stigma campaign on Wednesday 4th September. The campaign is intended to increase awareness that maintaining relationships with someone with a diagnosis is an important part of helping them keep well for longer.
• A £600,000 fund to support and sustain community-led work across Scotland, allocated via a Resilient Communities Programme board made up of local, national and community representatives.
• Continuing our additional investment of £3.5m a year, to enhance access to dementia post-diagnostic support, in addition to the routine spending on dementia support services by local partnerships.
• Working with partners in Public Health Scotland to develop a clearer understanding of the number of people with dementia in Scotland, with a strengthened focus on inclusion and equalities.

This work sits alongside ongoing activity, locally and nationally, to improve the dementia experience. This includes embedding a Getting It Right for Everyone approach to care and support wrapped around the person, continued investment of over £88m in local carers support, and collaborations with Alzheimer Scotland and others to empower people living with dementia to participate in the design, and development, of the National Care Service.

We look forward to continuing to engage with partners within the Member’s region and beyond, to improve the dementia experience.

Creating Hope Together, our 10 year joint suicide prevention strategy with COSLA, adopts a whole of government and society approach to reducing suicide in Scotland. This allows us to focus on tackling the social determinants of suicide such as poverty, which also presents increased risk for alcohol addiction; and we are taking forward work to join up mental health and addiction support. For example, Healthcare Improvement Scotland has recently produced an exemplar joint working protocol for mental health and substance use services, which draws on best practice from across the country and internationally. We are also prioritising suicide prevention training for the workforce supporting people with addictions.

In developing the Creating Hope Together strategy, and the associated 3 year action plan, we reviewed all available evidence on suicide, including risk factors such as alcohol addiction. This was complemented by extensive engagement with communities and partners across Scotland. The delivery of our strategy continues to be evidence informed and guided by our suicide prevention Academic Advisory Group whose most recent research on the risk and protective factors associated with suicide includes analysis of alcohol related factors. Insights from such research, along with those from our suicide prevention lived experience panels, are informing the design and delivery of interventions which meet the needs of different groups and communities, including those with addiction issues.

The full suite of Academic Advisory Group reports on suicide prevention research can be accessed through the Suicide Behaviour Research Lab site.

Scottish Water continues to deliver a high quality service throughout Scotland as demonstrated in its Annual Report for 2023-24, available here. Compliance with its statutory obligations is independently regulated by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland (DWQR), the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Scottish Water is required to meet strict drinking water standards and its performance is reported on annually by the DWQR; available here. It must also ensure the water it discharges into the environment meets strict standards; SEPA’s water environment classification is available here and Scottish Water publishes the information it provides to SEPA here. WICS’ most recent report on its performance in the 2021-27 regulatory period is available here. Ministers meet with Scottish Water and its regulators routinely to discuss a variety of matters.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested on passenger compensation by route.

I wrote to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 13 September 2024 to give the Scottish Government’s response to the latest progress update on the delivery of MV Glen Sannox.

Since then, liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel has been successfully loaded on to MV Glen Sannox and sea trails to test those systems commenced on 20 September. Work on the vessel will continue in the coming weeks, with a further set of sea trials planned for the end of September.

Affordable housing has a clear priority in this year’s Programme for Government. We are investing nearly £600 million in affordable housing in 2024-2025, which includes the additional £40 million capital announced earlier this year, and will deliver social and affordable homes across Scotland, including new build, rehabilitation and acquisitions. We have also committed £100 million over the longer term to grow institutional investment to at least £500 million and support the construction of around 2,800 mid-market rent homes.

We also recognise the key role that planning plays in supporting the delivery of housing and are working collaboratively to introduce new approaches to performance reporting and improvement action by planning authorities – as well as taking action to improve skills and increase recruitment and retention of planners.

We have supported the delivery of more than 133,000 affordable homes since 2007, over 94,000 of which were for social rent, including 26,000 council homes. Of these, between 23 March 2022 and end of June 2024, we have delivered 22,743 affordable homes towards the 110,000 target, of which over 17,000 have been homes for social rent. We continue to work closely with partners to deliver the right homes in the right places.

The Scottish Government regularly publishes figures on homes delivered, which can be found online at:

Housing statistics quarterly update: new housebuilding and affordable housing supply - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

As I made clear in the Chamber on 18 September during Portfolio Questions in reply to Katy Clark MSP, Police Scotland does not recognise those figures. Indeed Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond said:

"It is misleading and inaccurate to suggest that non-emergency 101 calls are being left unanswered, missed, or are disconnected by our call handlers.”

This position was reinforced by DCC Bex Smith at the Scottish Police Authority Policing Performance Committee meeting of 18 September.

Many discontinued 101 calls will be cases where callers have been instructed to hang up and dial 999, they have decided to redial and select another option from a pre-recorded menu, or they have realised they should be calling another agency.

I am very grateful for the hard work of Police Scotland’s call handlers to ensure all calls to the service are answered as quickly and as safely as possible.

Through the 2024-25 budget, NHS Boards and the Scottish Government continue to support spend in excess of £1.3 billion on mental health.

The recent reduction in the Scottish Government’s direct programme funding has been identified through programmes being adapted, or which have come to an end. In some cases work has been re-profiled where this has been possible.

Whilst any reduction is regrettable, it is only right that we make a contribution to the overall savings required to enable a balanced budget for Scottish Government in 2024-25; ensuring a stable base for future years.

We remain committed to taking forward our work across mental health, working closely with key partners. Our collective focus has to be on making as much difference as possible with our funding.