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The Scottish Government is committed to Keeping The Promise we have made to all care experienced children, young people and adults across Scotland. In March of 2022, we published the Scottish Government’s Promise Implementation Plan that sets a broad range of actions and commitments across portfolio that we will take by 2030.

The Implementation Plan works in harmony with the Best Start, Bright Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022 to 2026 and is aligned with our strategic approach to education, health, justice, transport and communities. The cross portfolio approach to change is supported by a Cabinet Sub-Committee on The Promise that, Chaired by The First Minister, met for the first time in October.

Key actions underway include:

• A continued commitment to work in partnership with key stakeholders to ensure that the ambitions of the recommendations of both the Care Leavers Homelessness Prevention Pathway, and the Continuing Care reports are addressed. The pathway to prevent homelessness for care leavers sets out a number of recommendations designed to protect care leavers, including ensuring consistent implementation of both Continuing Care and Aftercare policy.
• Commitment to investing £500m in Whole Family Wellbeing Funding to improve holistic family support so families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. This support is helping to reduce the need for crisis intervention and contribute to improving people’s lives across a wide range of different areas, including but not limited to, child and adolescent mental health, child poverty, alcohol and drugs misuse and educational attainment.
• Phoenix Future’s Harper House service was opened by the former First Minister in Saltcoats on 21 November 2022. It is a unique national family service which can support up to 20 families at one time, improving access for residential rehabilitation for drug or alcohol use for people with families.
  

The Scottish Government is committed to keeping The Promise we have made to all care experienced children, young people and adults across Scotland. In March of 2022, we published the Scottish Government’s Promise Implementation Plan that sets a broad range of actions and commitments across portfolio that we will take by 2030.

The Implementation Plan works in harmony with the Best Start, Bright Futures: tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022 to 2026 and is aligned with our strategic approach to education, health, justice, transport and communities. The cross portfolio approach to change is supported by a Cabinet Sub Committee for The Promise that, Chaired by The First Minister, met for the first time in October.

Key areas of progress to date that the Scottish Government is leading include:

• The new Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship carers will benefit over 9,000 families, helping them to provide the standard of living and wellbeing the children and young people in their care deserve.
• In November, a consultation on a £2000 Care Leaver Payment was opened. This commitment will support our young people as they transition into adulthood.
• The Children’s Care and Justice (Scotland) Bill is presently going through Parliament and if agreed will bring an end to the placement of 16 and 17 year olds in young offenders institutions, and increase the age of referral to the Childrens Hearing System to 18.
• Earlier this year Sheriff Mackie completed his review of the Childrens Hearing System. The Scottish Government will publish its response by the end of this calendar year.
• The commitment to £500m investment in Whole Family Wellbeing Funding will improve holistic family support so families get the right support, in the right way and at the right time. Our investment approach will be published in due course.
• From academic year 2023-24, care experienced students receive £9000 in bursary support. This is an increase of £900 from the previous academic year. In academic year 2022/23, support provided via the Care Experienced Bursary increased to £13.8m, with the number of care experienced students supported increasing to 1,840.
• Over £12m has been invested through the Promise Partnership Fund to support local projects across Scotland, the latest round of successful projects were announced in October. The Scottish Government remains committed to investing £4m per annum in Promise Partnership Funding to 2024-25.

Argyll and Bute Council requested activation of the Bellwin Scheme on 9 October and the Scottish Government responded on the same day to confirm that Ministers had activated the Bellwin Scheme in relation to the flooding on 7 and 8 October 2023.

The Bellwin Scheme allows Ministers to make additional revenue support available to local authorities to assist with immediate and unforeseen costs in dealing with the aftermath of emergency incidents. The key criterion of the Scheme is to safeguard life and property, and prevent suffering or severe inconvenience.

The Scheme addresses revenue and uninsurable expenditure incurred within a two month period from the date of the incident (or such later date as agreed between the Scottish Government and local authority).

Payments are only made once the local authority has exceeded its annual Bellwin Threshold which represents 0.2 per cent of their net revenue budget for the year in question. This is the amount local authorities are deemed to set aside to cover unforeseen emergencies across the financial year.

The 2023-24 Bellwin Threshold for Argyll and Bute is £528,662.

The Scottish Government values and appreciates all the work that Who Cares? Scotland does to support and advocate for all Care Experienced people and we are committed to working with Who Cares? Scotland and other key partners to ensure that we Keep The Promise to care experienced adults and ensure that their voices are heard.

The Scottish Government is bringing forward legislation that will provide further protection to the rights of care experienced, children, young people and adults. This includes:

• A commitment to Scotland being the first UK nation to incorporate the UNCRC into domestic law, ensuring we are a country that respects, protects and fulfils children's rights.
• The Children's Care and Justice (Scotland) Bill, which is presently going through Parliament, and if agreed will bring an end to the placement of 16 and 17 years olds in young offenders institutions, and increase the age of referral to the Children's Hearing System to 18.
• A commitment to a Promise Bill by the end of this Parliamentary session, to make any further legislative changes required to Keep The Promise for children, young people and adults.
  

The financial pressures across public services, not just health care, are by far, the most challenging since devolution as a result of rising inflation, and the ongoing impact of Covid and Brexit.

It is therefore necessary to make very challenging decisions, including reprofiling budgets, across Government in order to meet our statutory requirement to deliver a balanced budget.

Our published delivery plan, linked here Care in the Digital Age: Delivery Plan 2023-24 – gov.scot (www.gov.scot), reflects our planned deliverables against the current budget which includes the agreed savings of £11.6m.

With regard to the reasons behind the rationale for budget reprofiling, the exceptionally challenging financial conditions as outlined in the letter from DFM and Cabinet Secretary for Finance to the Convenor, regarding “Update on 2023 – 2024 In Year Budget Changes” on the 21 November 2023 advise these.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23097 on 4 December 2023. 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 .

The Scottish Government is fully cooperating with both the UK and Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry and is in regular communication with Inquiry teams as required as both a core participant and a provider of material.

The Scottish Government is unable offer a running commentary on the conduct of the UK public inquiry which should be allowed to carry out its investigations and liaison with parties like the Scottish Government as it sees fit.

The Scottish Government first established the Covid Inquiries Information Governance Division in July 2021 to support the Scottish Government in promptly responding to requests for information from the both the UK and Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry.

The division then became the Covid Inquires Response Directorate in February 2022 and is part of Director General Corporate. I have portfolio responsibility for the Covid Inquiries response.

The Scottish Government are not seeking to increase the number of plans for individual health conditions and are therefore not developing a national strategy to tackle chronic kidney disease. Rather, we are focussed on how we can best support Health Boards to deliver high quality, value-based, person-centred care for all people, irrespective of condition.