Chamber and committees

We are still modelling potential structures based on updated scheme membership data and plan to engage with the Scheme Advisory Board on these shortly. The previous proposals we consulted on put forward broadly similar rates for lower earners to those in the contribution structure implemented in England and Wales.

When developing the structure, protecting lower earners from large increases in contribution rates is a key driver but has to be balanced against the legal imperative to begin to reduce the very highest rates and flatten the contribution structure. The biggest challenge in comparing against the rates in England and Wales is that there is a bigger yield shortfall to recover in the Scottish scheme, principally due to workforce demographics.

To enhance the support available for low income families with school age children, the Scottish Government will double the final Bridging Payment due to be paid in December 2022. This will increase the payment from £130 to £260 for every eligible child.

This increase is anticipated to reach in the region of 145,000 children, backed by additional investment of almost £19 million. As a result, Bridging Payments are expected to put around £169 million in the pockets of low income families across 2021 and 2022.

This is in addition to the expansion and further increase in the value of the Scottish Child Payment, which will become available for eligible children under the age of 16 as of 14 November and will be worth £25 per child, per week.

The Scottish Government will continue to assess all opportunities to redirect additional resources to those most in need through the Emergency Budget Review.

The Scottish Government vision is for Scotland to be a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025, where fair work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society. This includes tackling the drivers of workplace inequality for women and ensuring they are supported to enter and progress in all of Scotland’s workplaces.

Through our Fair Work First policy we are leveraging employers’ commitment to fair work by applying Fair Work criteria to public sector grants, other funding and contracts where it’s relevant and proportionate to do so. Through this we are asking employers to adopt fair work practices such as enabling workers to have an effective voice, tackling gender pay gaps and offering flexible working from day one of employment which can especially benefit women experiencing menstrual or menopausal issues while at work.

Scottish Government has committed, through the Women’s Health Plan, to develop a menopause and menstrual health workplace policy, as an example of best practice, starting with NHS Scotland, and promote this across the public, private and third sector.

Our Women Returners funding has helped over 1,500 women since 2018 with their transition back into the workplace offering training, skills and peer support at a time and pace that best suits their needs. 11 projects are receiving funding in 2022-23 to support women including the Return with Resilience project that supports women aged 50 or over who’re experiencing menopause symptoms return to the workplace. Women are able to access employability skills, peer support and access to a variety of skills sessions such as ‘managing menopause’ and mental health coaching to build confidence and resilience.

Minutes and notes of meetings are not routinely published and are available upon request from Transport Scotland.

The Scottish Government is deeply concerned by, and fundamentally opposed to, the UK Government’s plans to potentially dismantle laws protecting nature as outlined in their Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. As drafted, the Bill will undermine the Scottish Government’s ability to protect Scotland’s natural environment because unless existing legal protections set out in retained EU law are preserved, they will be removed from the statute book at the end of 2023. In addition it is unacceptable for the UK Government to give itself powers to act in areas of devolved competence. Devolution must be respected.

The Scottish Government will do everything within the powers available to us to prevent such dismantling of laws protecting nature and to protect devolution. We remain fully committed to protecting nature in Scotland and maintaining or enhancing environmental standards. The Scottish Government shall achieve alignment with improvements to EU environmental standards, wherever this is possible and within our interests, including where appropriate through specific powers within the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021.

We intend to publish our Strategy for Seafood today. The strategy underlines the importance of the seafood sector and sets out how we are supporting industry to contribute to achieving our Blue Economy aspirations.

Scotland’s world renowned seafood sector is a vital part of our economy that particularly supports our coastal and island communities. Our marine environment contributes significantly to our commitment to being a Good Food Nation and to the ambition of the Local Food Strategy, with locally sourced seafood forming part of a healthy sustainable diet. The fishing, aquaculture and processing communities also have an important role to play in helping us achieve Scotland’s net zero targets and in implementing a range of measures articulated in the Bute House Agreement to improve existing ecosystems, encourage sustainability and protect our marine natural capital assets.

The strategy draws together and provides cohesion to the many existing initiatives which deliver for the seafood sector, and makes some recommendations which we will continue to explore as we transition towards net zero and delivery of the Blue Economy outcomes.

We look forward to taking this important work forward with the sector.

The publication of the strategy is consistent with our Programme for Government commitment to publish a strategy for seafood in 2022 and the document will be available to view on the Scottish Government website from today.

We recognise that installer skills for zero emissions heating systems and energy efficiency measures will need to scale up significantly to support the scale of ambition in our heat in buildings strategy.

Since publishing our draft Heat in Buildings Strategy for consultation in February 2021, we have increased our investment in skills and training opportunities within this sector. Over £1.49 million has been invested through our National Transition Training Fund (NTTF), which has supported over 3,350 participants to access courses for heat pump, energy efficiency and retrofit construction skills. NTTF is now complete and the findings from this and other skills programmes will inform the development of a lifetime skills offer. This is one of the key skilled workforce commitments set out in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation

We have also provided £160,000 capital investment for colleges in the north of Scotland for heat pump and thermal insulation training equipment, with further investment in the South of Scotland colleges provided by the SP Energy Networks Green Economy Fund.

Further initiatives include the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF), the Heat Pump Skills Grant and MCS Certification Fund.

FWDF provides funding to help employers address priority skills gaps and training needs in their organisations. It provides up to £15,000 of training support to UK Apprenticeship Levy payers, and up to £5,000 is accessible to non-levy paying SMEs. Training can be delivered in partnership with a local college, the Open University in Scotland or through an independent training provider.

The Heat Pump Skills Grant is delivered in partnership between the Energy Saving Trust and Energy Skills Partnership and has supported 10 colleges across Scotland in providing additional heat pump training to their plumbing and heating apprentices.

The MCS Certification Fund is offered to assist Scottish SMEs installing heat pumps in achieving MCS certification for the first time. This funding is for installers who are not currently MCS certified for heat pumps and who want to become MCS certified for any heat pump technology (air, water, or ground source).

A wide range of training opportunities for individuals, including heating related courses, are also available through the Individual Training Account scheme. The Scheme offers unemployed individuals or those on a low income, aged 16 and over, up to £200 per year to help them develop skills to enter into or progress in jobs within key sectors.

We recognise the need to continue our support for skills and training in this sector. We will shortly publish a new Supply Chains Delivery Plan, setting out a broad system of support for businesses working in the energy efficiency and zero emissions heating retrofit sector.

All NHS Scotland Boards are providing assessment and support for people with long COVID, delivered across the full range of services provided by our NHS.

In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for the health portfolio. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

In addition, we have established a £10 million ‘Long COVID Support Fund’ and are investing an initial £3 million from the fund over this financial year to enable NHS Boards to continue to develop and deliver the best models of care for their local populations.

For 2022-23, the funding allocations to thirteen of the fourteen territorial Health Boards (NHS Orkney did not request funding), I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09934 on 23 August 2022. 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 .

£10 million of funding was announced for long COVID in 2021 for a 3 year period, with the first year’s expenditure being £3 million. We will monitor the progress of the initiatives being funded by this investment and use this to inform expenditure in the remaining 2 years to best meet the needs of people living with long COVID.

In 2022-23, funding of £18 billion is provided for the health portfolio. This substantial investment is already benefitting a range of services that are supporting the needs of people living with long COVID.

Around the world, science has begun the work of trying to find an explanation, and treatments, for long COVID. We are investing £2.5 million in 9 Scottish-led research studies through our Chief Scientist Office. These studies aim to improve the understanding of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on physical and mental health and wellbeing in Scotland, and inform clinical interventions to support recovery and rehabilitation.

Financial support for travel is available for patients and authorised escorts, according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. Health boards are responsible for reimbursing patient travel expenses, in line with Scottish Government guidance, and payments will continue as normal until the review of the guidance is completed.

Where travel is necessary, Boards are expected to support patients to identify and access support available, taking account individual circumstances and ensuring patient care is at the centre of all decisions.

The impact of the unprecedented global pandemic has been felt all across the health service, and while we regret that the planned review had to be paused it will be taken forward as soon as possible, and requires prioritisation alongside our ongoing response to Covid and recovery of services.