As set out in the announcement, £62 million for 2021-22 has been allocated for building capacity in care at home community-based services. This is recurring funding intended help to fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity of individual needs, also helping to ease pressures on unpaid carers.

The additional funding of £62 million to expand care at home capacity has been approved for distribution to local authorities by the Settlement and Distribution Group meeting on 18th October and will be passed in full to IJBs . The distribution methodology for the funding is GAE for All Adult Social Work for 2021-22 and thereafter.

The distributions for 2021-22 will be made as redeterminations of the General Revenue Grant in March 2022. A letter with the full breakdown of allocation by Local Authority will be issued shortly.

Most influenza infections typically occur in the winter months with a peak between December and March. Public Health Scotland produce a weekly report monitoring the surveillance of influenza infection which currently sits at baseline activity (week 42). The latest weekly report can be found here: Weekly national seasonal respiratory report - Week 42 2021 - Weekly national seasonal respiratory report - Publications - Public Health Scotland .

The health and social care system is currently experiencing significant pressures. We recognise that some people’s care services have been affected by this, and the impact this may have on them and their unpaid carers.

That is why an investment of more than £300 million for health and social care was announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on 5 October 2021, including £62 million to address care at home pressures.

This funding will help to enhance capacity in care at home provision. It will help to increase social worker assessment capacity, fulfil unmet need, and deal with the current surge in demand and complexity of individual needs.

Due to the importance of the autumn/winter vaccines, some health boards are utilising Community Nursing Teams.

This will particularly be for those patients who are on their current caseloads and are housebound. Community Nurses are also supporting vaccinations in care homes, not only to those on caseload but to help support delivery to this priority group. Community Nurses are also undertaking additional shifts in vaccination clinic settings.

We issued standing instructions to health boards as part of the delivery of phase 1 of the Covid-19 vaccinations programme (broadly December 2020 – August 2021), requiring health boards to build a capacity to deploy up to 1,400 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) vaccinators in any given week, subject to scheduling of appointments and supply. We maintain this standing instruction for the current winter seasonal Flu and Covid-19 booster programme which requires up to 1,400 WTE vaccinators to be in place for deployment. Deployment in any given week is determined in coordination with the scheduling of appointments and clinics. The substantive difference between phase 1 and the winter programme is that we co-administer flu and Covid-19 boosters, which allows Boards to administer vaccinations at significantly higher rates. We continue to monitor workforce deployment capacity on a weekly basis through the collation of management information.

The detrimental effects on physical and mental health and wellbeing are well known and documented. Reducing that harm, and ensuring that people receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time, is the key ethos behind the improvement programme. Data on the number of, and reason for delay, is collected monthly by Public Health Scotland and will be used, along with other data to measure progress and improvement.

The ideals and principles of the Interface Care and Discharge without Delay programs extends across all care groups, including Mental Health.

In addition to this work, in March 2021 we issued a £20 million Community Living Change Fund to be used during 2021–2024. This funding will be used to redesign services for people with complex needs including intellectual disabilities and autism, and for people who have enduring mental health problems, avoiding the need for out of area placements and reducing delayed discharges from hospital.

There are a number of Scottish Government programmes that offer a diverse range of training opportunities for people to train, reskill or upskill and access new sectors:

• Employability Fund - offers employability and skills training for unemployed individuals across Scotland. The Employability Fund cease in March 2022 with future associated funding transferring to No One Left Behind.
• Modern and Graduate Apprenticeships – learn on the job to gain the experience people need and work towards a recognised qualification.
• Individual Training Accounts – to help unemployed people or those on low income to develop the skills they need for work or to progress their career. Individual Training Accounts provide learners with a contribution of up to £200 towards a training course.
• National Transition Training Fund - supports people aged 25 and over, who have been made redundant, who are in at risk jobs/or sectors or whose sectors have been most impacted by Covid 19 or EU Exit, to access funded training to help them transition into new employment in growth sectors or where there are regional job opportunities.
• A wide range of short courses at Further and Higher Education level, including online provision, are available through colleges and universities across Scotland. Fully funded courses can be sourced using the Skills Development Scotland’s My World of Work Website course search here: https://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/learn-and-train

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04012 on 11 November 2021. 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