Chamber and committees

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) are the independent regulator of the social service workforce in Scotland. SSSC protects the public by registering the workforce, setting standards for their practice, conduct, training and education and by supporting their professional development. Groups of workers subject to registration with the SSSC are set by Scottish Ministers within the Regulation of Care Act (Scotland) 2001.

The role of ‘healthcare assistant’ does not have a standard definition and the term is used for different roles within the health and social care workforce. Due to the varying definition of this role, it is currently unclear which roles would and would not be appropriate for SSSC registration. While some healthcare assistants job roles may meet the requirement for SSSC registration, many will not. As such, there are no current plans to consider registration with the SSSC for healthcare assistants employed by the NHS.

Scottish Government has no current plans to update the prevalence-service utilisation ratio for people who are dependent on alcohol in Scotland.

The Scottish Recommended Allowance (SRA) is a standard national allowance for all eligible foster and kinship carers in Scotland to support them in caring for the children and young people they look after. Its implementation is an agreement between the Scottish Government and COSLA to ensure equity of payment by local authorities across Scotland.

The placements of children by local authorities with external agencies, such as independent fostering providers, is a contracted agreement between the local authority and agency and, therefore, discussions on the implementation of the SRA would be held in this context. However, responsibility for payment of the allowance to foster carers ultimately sits with the independent fostering providers, not the local authority.

The Scottish Government has committed to commencing a review, later this year, of the implementation of the SRA to assess what is working well and areas for improvement. As part of this review, the Scottish Government will consider how the SRA is being experienced by all foster carers, including those with independent fostering providers.

For the development of a national specification for alcohol and drug services, initial engagement has begun with representative groups covering service commissioners, service providers and people who use, have used or could use the services.

We plan full public consultation on a draft specification with an aim to be publishing the final version in 2025.

The national service specification will play a role in addressing the public health emergency of alcohol harm by providing clarity on the choices and services which must be available in every local area in Scotland. The specification will help ensure services can meet the needs of people impacted by alcohol and drugs to help reduce harms and improve lives.

Public Health Scotland is currently in the process of investigating the reasons behind the apparent 40% reduction in the number of people accessing specialist alcohol treatment services.

Independent dentists and dental bodies corporate make claims for items of treatment provided under NHS General Dental Services. As part of the claims process, patient charges, where appropriate, are also recorded. Practitioner Services of National Services Scotland reimburses claims on behalf of NHS Boards, and data on activity is summarised and published under quarterly official statistics by Public Health Scotland.

Full budget allocations for 2024-25 are still to be confirmed.

In 2023-24, Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships (ADPs) received funding exceeding £112 million. We anticipate that this funding will be maintained in 2024-25.

Annual ADP funding is published and available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/alcohol-and-drug-partnerships-funding-allocations/

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) is a Scottish parliamentary supported organisation, and the Scottish Parliament is ultimately responsible for their resourcing and for holding their performance to account.

The SPSO publishes information in their annual report regarding compliance with their recommendations ( https://www.spso.org.uk/annual-report/2022-23.html - see section entitled Performance Analysis, under heading Learning from complaints).

The SPSO's Redress Policy is available online ( https://www.spso.org.uk/sites/spso/files/communications_material/RedressPolicy.pdf ). This policy relates only to redress in relation to direct loss or harm. The SPSO can also make recommendations to listed authorities in relation to service improvement or complaints handling.

The SPSO also has a Support and Intervention policy which sets out its statutory powers and how the SPSO will use them. The policy and policy guide for Scottish public bodies on support and intervention action are both available on the SPSO's website ( https://www.spso.org.uk/support-and-intervention-policy ). The Support and Intervention policy outlines a clear escalation route where issues are not resolved, with the section 16 powers of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002 sitting at Level 6 (on a scale of Level 1 to Level 6). The policy also sets out the measures in place and actions the SPSO can take to resolve any compliances issues.

The Scottish Government is committed to enhancing smart integrated ticketing and has set out its intention to develop a new national integrated ticketing system for public transport in Scotland, across all modes of transport, to enable a system that can used for all elements of a journey.

To support delivery of this, the recently established National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board (NSTAB) which comprises operators, transport authorities, user groups and technical experts, is set to advise Ministers on the future of smart ticketing in Scotland, including on technological standards to enable smart integration between modes. The NSTAB is currently developing their work programme for the next 3 years.

FAIRTIQ has engaged with NSTAB and will present on their smart integrated ticketing solution at an upcoming board meeting. FAIRTIQ is one example of a ticketing platform provider, and it is expected that NSTAB will consider the full range of options available for Scotland and their respective implications on cost and infrastructure. Any resulting public procurement of a new ticketing system will be required to follow public sector procurement processes to ensure best value for money.

The Scottish Government, NSTAB and stakeholders will continue to work closely together on developing these options, in order to best determine the method of delivering a new national integrated ticketing system.