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The most recent Scottish Fiscal Commission forecasts, published on 26 August 2021, estimate that an additional 209,000 people, who are not in receipt of Personal Independence Payment, will apply for Adult Disability Payment between 2022-23 - 2026-27.

We have started the transfer of approximately 52,000 DLA Child awards from DWP to Social Security Scotland. We will begin the transfer of approximately 300,000 awards of Personal Independence Payment in summer 2022.

Our aim is to safely and securely complete case transfer for all people in Scotland in receipt of disability and carer benefits by the end of 2025. We will do so sooner if possible, as long as we do not risk the process being anything other than safe and secure for this significantly large number of people, and will do so jointly with the UK Government as case transfer is a joint programme of work.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s January 2021 forecast for expenditure on the Scottish Child Payment, utilised to set the Scottish Budget 2021-22, was £68 million. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s August 2021 forecast revised this estimate to £55 million for 2021-22, based on updated estimates of eligible children. The difference between the forecast at the time of setting the Scottish Budget 2021-22 and the August 2021 forecast is £13 million.

Based on Social Security Scotland’s expenditure to the end of October 2021 we currently expect Scottish Child Payment expenditure to be in line with the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s August 2021 forecast of £55 million for 2021-22.

We are committed to addressing the underlying causes of health inequalities; ending poverty, increasing fair access to employment, education and training, and improving our physical and social environments.

Community Link Workers continue to be at the forefront of our efforts to tackle poverty-related health inequalities. We are building on the funding we provide to community-led organisations and supporting the success of Community Link Workers by creating a network of 1,000 additional staff. We are embedding welfare rights and money advice services across 150 primary care settings throughout Scotland.

We provide £9 million to fund smoking-cessation services, which especially benefits people from deprived communities, and we are making Active Schools programmes free for young people. Our Alcohol Framework contains 20 actions to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harms and reduce the inequality gap. We fund the Healthy Living Programme in over 2,300 convenience stores, mainly in more deprived areas, which increases fruit and vegetable sales.

Progress in these areas, alongside our public health priorities, will help tackle the unfair and unjust health inequalities that exist across Scotland.

Support from the £10 million Fuel Insecurity Fund will be delivered by third sector partner organisations and will be available to households across Scotland who are at risk of self-disconnecting, or self-rationing their energy use this winter, regardless of tariff type or fuel type.

Through all of the projects supported by the Fuel Insecurity Fund, we will seek to ensure that those receiving help are not just provided with financial support but that they are also connected with wider advice and support on energy efficiency, income maximisation and how to reduce energy bills.

The £10 million Fuel Insecurity Fund will be made available to households struggling with their energy costs this winter through a range of third sector delivery partners, chiefly the Fuel Bank Foundation, Registered Social Landlords and Advice Direct Scotland, which will be delivering the Home Heating Support Fund. Application processes will be put in place by each delivery organisation and are expected to involve a mix of direct applications and referrals by trusted advice partners.

Local authorities will be informed of their allocations once COSLA Leaders have considered and agreed the methodology for distribution on 26 November. It is proposed that funding is allocated through a redetermination to General Revenue Grant with payments in the final two weeks of the current financial year which is standard practice for additional in-year funding for local authorities. All General Revenue Grant funding requires the approval of the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government has proposed a methodology to the Settlement and Distribution Group which was considered on 17 November. A recommendation has been made to COSLA Leaders for adoption when they next meet on 26 November.

The Scottish Government has issued national guidance to inform local authority deployment of this funding, which has been sent to the relevant local authority officers and is available online: Financial insecurity: guidance to local authorities over winter 2021-2022 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The guidance provides a strong steer in favour of cash-first responses, and the integration of money advice and holistic support services to prevent future hardship. Local authorities will have flexibility to decide how to provide assistance for those most likely to experience hardship – including people who may have been impacted by the recent UK Government cut to Universal Credit and those who may not be eligible for mainstream support.