Chamber and committees

In 2022-23 and 2023-24 over £70m of Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) was invested by the Scottish Government to deliver a transformational change in holistic family support so that families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. The funding was distributed as follows:

• £32m provided annually for Children’s Services Planning Partnerships (CSPPs) to build local service capacity for transformation and the scaling up of holistic family support in local areas. This funding is being provided on a recurring, multi-year basis to 2025-26.
• £0.8m for National Support for Local Delivery – including a package of activity aimed at supporting local transformation. This part of the funding also supports the wider evaluation and research work for WFWF.
• £5.3m was provided to Scottish Government led national policy delivery for 12 specific projects that are transforming how families are supported.

We have prioritised £50m funding in 2024-25 to maintain the programme of activity above. Further details will be provided in a Whole Family Wellbeing investment approach to be published in due course.

The 2019 recruitment and retention Action plan for Disabled People has been superseded by the Diversity and Inclusion Employer Strategy for Scottish Government published April 2024. Having a workforce more representative of the people of Scotland it serves, remains one of our Employer Equality Outcomes. The Scottish Government has made excellent progress towards meeting the target of 25% of external recruits declaring a disability. Latest figures show 35% of successful applicants declared a disability, exceeding the 25% target.

The Scottish Ambulance Service currently has around 900 Community First Responders. The number of Community First Responders trained by the Scottish Ambulance Service by SAS Operational Areas between April 2021 - March 2024:

The 2019 recruitment and retention Action plan for Disabled People has been superseded by the Diversity and Inclusion Employer Strategy for Scottish Government published April 2024. Having a workforce more representative of the people of Scotland it serves, remains one of our Employer Equality Outcomes. We have higher levels of disabled staff than ever before but still have further progress to make. The overall proportion of disabled people working in the Scottish Government has more than doubled over the last ten years, rising from 6.4% in 2013 to 14.1% in 2023.

The Scottish Government does not hold details relating to the funding for the development of “wheelchair exemplar properties”.

In relation to the allocation of funding for homes for wheelchair users, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27750 on 4 June 2024.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Allotments and their provision are the responsibility of local authorities, as set out in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 Part 9.

Whilst the Scottish Government is not required to collect information on waiting lists, we are aware of long lists in some areas of the country. We are committed to maintaining an open dialogue and working with our local authority partners to support them to meet their various statutory duties relating to allotments. Scottish Ministers have also issued guidance about the carrying out of functions conferred on local authorities by Part 9.

The Scottish Government recognises the wide-ranging benefits which participating in community growing activities can bring, not only for our physical and mental wellbeing but also for a sense of cohesion in our local communities.

In recognition of this, between 2012 and this financial year, we have awarded around £2.3 million to directly support, and increase the land that is available for, community growing initiatives through various grant funding. This includes £100,000 awarded to the Green Action Trust to deliver the Growing Food Together Fund for another year, with applications due to open soon.

In line with guidance covering Scottish Government announcements during the UK General Election 2024 pre-election period, we will provide an update to the Scottish Parliament on the proposed Human Rights Bill in due course.

The publication of the Infrastructure Investment Plan Annual Report and Pipeline Reset has had to be postponed due to the timing of the UK General Election. Scottish Ministers will now consider a revised publication date, and will inform Parliament in due course.

In declaring a national housing emergency, the Scottish Government recognises that there are major challenges within the housing sector in Scotland. To address these challenges, joined up action across Scottish Government, UK Government, local government, registered social landlords (RSLs) and our full range of housing sector partners will be critical.

There is widespread support for Scotland’s long term plan for housing set out in the Housing to 2040 strategy, and for our collective plan to end homelessness set out in Ending Homelessness Together. So rather than diverting effort to the creation of a new action plan, it is our intention to work at pace in collaboration with partners to critically review and prioritise actions within these current plans. In doing so, we will focus on their impact and deliverability, linked to the First Minister’s priorities of eradicating child poverty, driving economic growth and investing in vital public services.

The Scottish Government’s decision-making throughout all COVID-19 vaccination programmes has been guided by the expert clinical advice of both the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Scotland has three representatives that attend the JCVI, including its COVID-19 committee and subcommittee; one co-opted member, an invited observer from Scottish Government and another invited observer from Public Health Scotland.

The MHRA’s pharmacovigilance process, alongside wider global data, identified reports of extremely rare adverse events of concurrent thrombosis and thrombocytopenia following vaccination with the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

As reports of extremely rare adverse event of concurrent thrombosis (blood clots) and thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) following vaccination with the first dose of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine emerged in spring 2021, both the MHRA and the JCVI met to assess the data and the relative balance of benefits and risks.

The minutes from the JCVI COVID-19 Committee on 16 March 2021 and 18 March 2021 show that there was discussion of the topic and that the MHRA was working with international and European colleagues to share data and assess the risk.

The JCVI met again on the 6 April and on 7 April and published advice for the four UK health departments recommending that for adults aged under 30 years of age, without underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease, there should be a preference for an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine, if available.

The following day on 8 April, Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) issued a letter to the Scottish system stating the changes in the use of AstraZeneca vaccine and advising that Health Boards should now offer those under 30 years of age, without underlying health conditions, an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine. We also amended our patient information leaflets to reflect this new advice.