Chamber and committees

There is ongoing engagement with the Nordic countries on a wide variety of policy issues which deliver against the commitments in Scotland’s International Strategy and the Scottish Government’s Priorities for Scotland. For example: officials are working to develop opportunities for policy learning and exchange with Sweden on forestry and peatland restoration, while collaboration with Denmark is proving pivotal to informing the Scottish Government’s approach to digitisation and health reform. Scottish Government officials benefit from working closely with colleagues from Scottish Development International, who are based in the Nordic Office. Integrated working between the two teams has led to the first Space Scotland Summit which can be linked to £2 million of exports.

The Scottish Government are liaising with NHS National Services Scotland, as the contract holder, and are a member of their GPIT Incident Management Team which has specifically been established to lead on this matter. Through this, NSS are in regular contact with the Administrator. Assurances are continually sought from the Administrators on their plans to ensure continued performance and delivery of the Managed Services to NHS Scotland for the foreseeable whilst the administrators actively seek a buyer for In Practice Systems Ltd.

In the meantime, there remains no impact on GP service delivery and existing operational governance around Service levels is very much still in place. GP practices are advised to utilise the service and raise any queries through their usual health board escalation routes.

The figures requested are as follows:

1. In the 2021-22 financial year, there were 12,912 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £3,306,695.

2. In the 2022-23 financial year, there were 13,900 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £3,660,948.

3. In the 2023-24 financial year, there were 20,197 unclaimed deposits, totalling a value of £5,419,255.

In reference to the increase of number and value of unclaimed tenancy deposits in recent years, Scottish Government received notification from one of the schemes in August 2023 explaining that they had reviewed the criteria used to report on unclaimed deposits. This resulted in a fluctuation in their figures with a corresponding increase in the total unclaimed deposit value pool amongst the three schemes.

Each of the three schemes may calculate unclaimed deposits differently, as an unclaimed deposit is not currently defined in law. Provisions within the Housing (Scotland) Bill will create a legal definition of when a tenancy deposit can be considered unclaimed, ensuring there is consistency in all three schemes figures if the Bill is approved.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the occupied domestic housing stock in each survey year, including energy efficiency ratings and household composition..

In 2022 using data from the SHCS it is estimated that approximately 690,000 individuals were living in rented accommodation with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D or lower (under the SAP2012 v9.93 methodology).

This ought to be considered as an approximate estimate as the SHCS survey methodology is not aligned with more robust population estimates from sources such as the Population Census, instead the SHCS methodology focuses on alignment by household numbers and by different types of dwellings.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) provides a snapshot of the occupied domestic housing stock in each survey year, including energy efficiency ratings and household composition.

In 2022, using data from the SHCS it is estimated that approximately 120,000 children under 16 were living in rented accommodation with an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D or lower (under the SAP2012 v9.93 methodology).

This ought to be considered as an approximate estimate as the SHCS survey methodology is not aligned with more robust population estimates by age, from sources such as the Population Census, instead the SHCS methodology focuses on alignment by household numbers and different types of dwellings.

Scottish Government are provided with unclaimed deposit figures on a monthly basis by the tenancy deposit schemes, and as such cannot provide information from a specific date. The December 2024 figure is not yet available but at the end of November 2024 there were 23,123 unclaimed deposits, totalling to a value of £6,310,182.

The Distress Brief Intervention Programme provides tailored one to one support across a period of up to around 14 days. Some people will only require one phone call whereas others may need more support across the 14 days including background work for resources and signposting. Overall, of those who engage with the programme, more than 80% of people go on to receive further support beyond one phone call across the 14 day period.

Table 1 shows the specific numbers of people who received support across the 14 day period. This is broken down by health and social care partnership areas and small numbers have been suppressed. The data available was between June 2020 and May 2024.

Table 1 – Number of individuals who received DBI support by H&SCP

Practitioner training data is currently available up to 31st October 2023 for Level 1 training and to 31st August 2023 for Level 2 training. The next tranche of training data will be available after summer 2025.

Table 1 provides data on the number of frontline staff trained in Level 1 of Distress Brief Intervention where initial compassionate support is provided and referral takes place.

Table 2 provides data on the number and distribution of third sector staff trained in Level 2 of DBI where support is provided for a period of up to around 14 days.

In addition to the training by health and social care partnership area provided in the tables below, an additional 562 frontline staff have been trained in Level 1 through the DBI National Pathways (NHS 24 and call handling centres operated by Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland). This additional data covers training to NHS 24 (up to March 2024), Scottish Ambulance Service (up to December 2022) and Police Scotland (up to March 2024). For Level 2, there have been 32 practitioners trained for the National Pathways.

The DBI programme was rolled out in stages which means that areas which opted in earlier may have higher numbers of practitioners trained than those who opted in later, though health and social care partnership population and demographics will also play a role.

Table 1 - DBI Level 1 Staff Training estimates

The ability to re-refer is part of the current structure of the Distress Brief Intervention programme. Data is not held within individual years for multiple referrals but data about multiple referrals overall has been provided below. Data beyond January 2023 will be available after spring 2025.

The programme was initially piloted in Lanarkshire, Aberdeen city, Inverness City and Scottish Borders. Data for these areas is available between 1st November 2018 to 31st January 2023 and is outlined in Table 1. Data for the subsequent rollout across the remaining health and social care partnerships is available between 1st July 2019 to 31st January 2023 and is outlined in Table 2.

For the National Pathways (NHS 24, Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland), data is available between May 2020 to the end of January 2023. In this time, 12,649 individuals were referred. Of these, 1,044 people (8.3%) had 2 referrals and 473 people (3.7%) had 3 or more referrals.

Table 1 – Referral numbers for pilot areas (November 2018 to January 2023)

Our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 makes clear that Mental Health Support forms part of an individual’s basic care. Individuals requiring support should have access to this at the point of clinical need.

To help understand the demand and capacity for cancer related psychological care and support, a national scoping exercise was conducted as part of a Macmillan Psychology and Support Project with findings published in November 2024. The findings are being considered by Scottish Government.

We also published the Psychological Therapies and Support Framework for People Affected by Cancer to support Health Boards in considering the services which should be available to those affected by cancer, including psychological support.

The Framework includes quality statements and self-assessment tools for organisations providing support to benchmark themselves on an annual basis and develop local action plans as appropriate. The benchmarking exercise was carried out across Scotland for the first time in 2024 with Regional Cancer Networks coordinating the activity and Scottish Government looks forward to receiving findings.