Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is fully committed to keeping The Promise by 2030. Given the cross Governmental scope of the activity related to The Promise, the First Minister regularly discusses the commitment and has undertaken various engagements with the care community, meeting with children and young people with care experience, and the workforce who support them. To mark the recent 5th anniversary of the Promise the First Minister wrote to the care experienced community re-enforcing his commitment to The Promise and met with students with care experience at Glasgow University to discuss their experiences. The First Minister also chairs the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the Promise which was established to guide and support the cross-portfolio focus needed to deliver The Promise.

The Scottish Government has not allocated funding to stroke awareness campaigns in the last five years.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of housing support services. These services can enable older residents to live as independently as possible in their own communities.

Housing support is commissioned at a local level by Local Authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships who are best placed to assess and respond to local needs. South Lanarkshire Council, along with South Lanarkshire University Health and Social Care Partnership, are responsible for identifying need and ensuring that their residents receive any necessary housing support services.

Affordable housing has a clear priority in this year’s Programme for Government. We are investing nearly £600 million in affordable housing in 2024-2025, which includes the additional £40 million capital for acquisitions and voids announced earlier this year. The 2025-2026 draft budget of £768 million is an increase of over £200 million when compared to the current financial year’s original published budget and reinforces our commitment to delivering affordable housing.

In the year to September 2024, Official Statistics: Housing statistics quarterly update: new housebuilding and affordable housing supply - gov.scot show an 8% decline in new build starts through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) and an 8% decline in all starts through the AHSP. We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70% of these for social rent and 10% in rural and island areas, including new build, rehabilitation and acquisitions. We continue to work with partners to increase the delivery of more affordable homes, the majority of which will be for social rent, including supporting acquisitions of existing properties. This includes meeting the existing commitment to the targeted use of £80 million for acquisitions and voids over this and next year.

We have also committed £100 million over the longer term to grow institutional investment to at least £500 million and support the construction of around 2,800 mid-market rent homes.

Since 2007, we have supported the delivery of more than 135,000 affordable homes, over 95,000 of which were for social rent, including 26,000 council homes. Of these, between 23 March 2022 and end of September 2024, we have delivered 24,382 affordable homes towards the 110,000 target, of which over 18,000 have been homes for social rent. We continue to work closely with partners to deliver the right homes in the right places.

The Scottish Government has not had any recent discussions with South Lanarkshire Council regarding funding for housing support services. As I understand, South Lanarkshire Council have engaged directly with both RSLs to help them prepare for this proposed transition, and their engagement with both RSLs will continue beyond any savings proposals being approved by South Lanarkshire Council. It is for South Lanarkshire Council, along with South Lanarkshire University Health and Social Care Partnership, to determine how much funding is allocated towards housing support services to meet the needs of their residents.

As at 30 September 2024, the date of the most recently published Scottish Government workforce statistics, the total number of job titles registered in our HR management information system including a) diversity (including neurodiversity) was 8 b) equality (including equalities) was 35 and c) inclusion was 9. Some job titles include a combination of these terms, the total number of individual positions is therefore 46.

The total staffing cost for these positions for the period April to September 2024 (our most current figures) was £1,985,502.

Currently there are a total of 58 non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). This compares to a total of 130 NDPBs in 1999.

Scottish Government have allocated £13.6 million to General Practice to assist with recruitment and retention by directly funding GP practices to pay partners and staff; distributed by Scottish Workload Formula and Income & Expenses Guarantee entitlement this year, next year by Scottish Workload Formula, Income & Expenses Guarantee entitlement and increased item of service fees for some optional services.

Scottish Government have not conducted an analysis of the impact of GP Numbers on GP access: access is affected by a number of factors and we continue to work with the profession to ensure they offer suitable access arrangements for their patients.

The latest GP headcount publication from September 2024 shows an increase in the number of fully qualified GPs.

The Scottish Government is committed to maintaining public finances on a sustainable trajectory. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services is a key strand of the Public Service Reform programme, which reports to Parliament on a regular basis.

Accountable Officers for all public bodies or portfolio within the Scottish Government have a personal responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the finances under their stewardship and for the economic, efficient and effective use of all related resources. This includes being personally answerable to Parliament for the exercise of their functions. This is set out in the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

The Scottish Government has no plans to incur the costs associated with the establishment of a new executive agency to duplicate the work already being undertaken by Accountable Officers and Ministers.