Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-15036

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the proposed pay settlements for (a) the NHS, (b) local government and (c) commissioned social care on workforce (i) recruitment and (ii) retention for third sector social care providers, and how it will measure any such impact.

The Scottish Government works closely with key stakeholders to assess all factors that impact recruitment and retention for third sector providers in the adult social care sector.

The Scottish Government recognises the effect that wider pay settlements may have and that is why a further £100 million is being provided to Local Government to ensure a £10.90 per hour minimum wage for adult social care workers in commissioned services from April 2023. This includes workers in third sector providers and takes Scottish Government recurring funding for adult social care pay in commissioned services to £0.6 billion per year. It is worth noting that the £10.90 per hour rate is the minimum rate of pay for these workers and many providers choose to pay more than these minimums. The Scottish Government will continue to engage with third sector social care providers to understand how this funding is contributing toward supporting recruitment and retention.

Question reference: S6W-15035

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis has been undertaken of the efficacy of national recruitment campaigns in the social care sector in relation to (a) public, (b) private and (c) third sector providers, over the past five years.

The Scottish Government’s ‘There’s More to Care than Caring’ campaign launched 27 January 2020 and has run four times, with the latest activity starting on 23 January 2023 and due to conclude on 20 March 2023. We have evaluation data from the previous 3 campaigns, which details the achievements of the campaign in regards to engagement with the audience however this information is not broken down into subsectors across social care.

Question reference: S6W-15193

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to establish a full population estimate of the number of adults living in Scotland with a learning disability, in light of the Fraser of Allander Institute report, Invisible no more, which stated that current data is not fit for purpose.

Evidence about the number of people with learning disabilities in Scotland is collected through the Learning Disability Statistics Scotland publication. The most recent publication, published in 2019, found there were 23,584 adults with learning disabilities known to local authorities across Scotland.

Officials are in discussions with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Commission for Learning Disabilities about how Learning Disability Statistics Scotland will be improved to provide the most precise picture of people with learning disabilities across Scotland.

Scottish Government understands the important of reliable evidence about people with learning disabilities and has committed to improving the evidence base through its autism and learning/intellectual disability transformation plan 'Towards Transformation'.

Question reference: S6W-15038

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis has been undertaken of recruitment and retention in the social care sector over the past five years.

Question reference: S6W-15191

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out regarding any impact of the reported increase in people with mental health conditions, including those who may already be in work, on the disability employment gap.

The Scottish Government has published analysis relating to the overall Disability Employment Gap in Scotland in Fairer Scotland for disabled people - employment action plan: progress report - year 2 . The most recent data on the Disability Employment Gap for Scotland were published in Scotland's Labour Market: People, Places and Regions – Protected Characteristics . In 2021, the disability employment gap was 31.2 percentages points, down from 37.4 percentage points in 2016.

In 2021, the Scottish Government published key statistics relating to the economic status of disabled people in the labour market in Scotland . This publication contains information from the Annual Population Survey (APS) January to December 2019 on employment rates for disabled people by main condition including those whose main condition was a mental health condition (Table 16).

A similar analysis will be updated and published by the Scottish Government in 2023 showing employment rate gaps by health problem or disability for January to December 2022.

Scottish Government’s recently published Fair Work Action Plan takes forward the next phase of actions to drive forward Fair Work. The plan includes actions aimed at reducing the Disability Employment Gap.

The Fair Work Action Plan will be supported by an evidence plan to be published in late 2023, along with an accompanying measurement framework. It will monitor the fair work context and progress we are making over time to ensure our actions respond to change and measure the impact of our current actions, including drawing lessons from actions we will deliver as part of this plan.

Question reference: S6W-15192

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the employment rate was for people with learning disabilities in each of the last four financial years.

Estimates for the employment rate for people 16-64 years who reported a severe or specific learning difficulty (lasting 12 months or more) are shown in the following table for each of the last 4 financial years.

	Employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 with severe or specific learning difficulties
April 2018 to March 2019	25.6%
April 2019 to March 2020	[b]
April 2020 to March 2021	17.4%
April 2021 to March 2022	28.2%

Source: Annual Population Survey, April to March data, ONS

Notes:

1. [b] Data are not provided for April 2019 to March 2020. This is due to a change to the response options for the question on health problems outlined below which occurred from January to March 2020 onward.

2. Please note estimates for April 2018 to March 2019 are not directly comparable with estimates for April 2020 to March 2021 onwards. This is due to a change to the question on health problems asked in the APS which occurred from January to March 2020 onward, where ‘Autism (including autism spectrum condition, Asperger syndrome)’ was added as a new category to the response options for this question. This could impact on estimates for the ‘severe and specific learning difficulties’ option.

3. People with a severe or specific learning difficulty are defined as having a health condition/illness lasting 12 months or more and included “severe or specific learning difficulty” as a response when asked what health problems they had. Specific learning difficulties includes conditions such as dyslexia or dyscalculia; severe learning difficulties covers mental impairments.

4. Data is subject to sampling variation and is not seasonally adjusted.

5. Estimates are for those aged 16 to 64.

6. Rates are rounded to one decimal place and are based on unrounded estimates.

7. Employment rates use the total 16 to 64 year old population as the denominator.

Question reference: S6W-15195

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what assessments it has conducted regarding the impact on people with learning disabilities of each action point contained in its publication, A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan, which was published 2018.

The Scottish Government has considered the impact of the actions of the Employment Action Plan on all disabled people, including people with learning disabilities, and noted these in the 2020 and 2021 annual Progress Reports which are published on the Scottish Government website.

On 22 February 2023 the Scottish Government published a statistical summary of the devolved employment services, which includes employability figures for learning disabilities within Fair Start Scotland. There is currently no data published for employment for learning disabilities within No One Left Behind.

We have undertaken a review of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and of Supported Employment to identify areas of improvement and make recommendations on future delivery of these two forms of specialist employability support in Scotland. Findings of the Supported Employment review and Scottish Government’s response were published in September 2022. The Individual Placement and Support review report was published January 2023, alongside the Scottish Government’s response statement.

Recognising that there is still work to do to improve outcomes for disabled people, in December 2022 the Scottish Government published the refreshed Fair Work Action Plan: becoming a leading Fair Work nation by 2025 , setting out actions to promote fair and inclusive workplaces across Scotland. The plan takes forward the current work on the disability employment gap, to support more disabled people, including those with Learning Disabilities, into employment and to sustain fair work.

The Action Plan will be supported by an evidence plan to be published late 2023, along with an accompanying measurement framework. It will monitor the fair work context and progress we are making over time to ensure our actions respond to change and measure the impact of our current actions, including drawing lessons from actions we will deliver as part of this plan.

Question reference: S6O-01932

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the nationwide programme of inspection to assess the condition of, and the impact of climate change on, some of Scotland's most significant heritage sites, being undertaken by Historic Environment Scotland, is expected to be completed.

Question reference: S6W-14086

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 27 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information from the work of the Interim Governance Group to Develop National Anti-Racist Infrastructure will be made publicly available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14802 on‎ 27 January 2023 which outlines that the IGG is committed to being open and transparent about its work. Documents and minutes of meetings are published on the IGG webpage: Interim Governance Group to Develop National Anti-Racist Infrastructure

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

Question reference: S6W-14083

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2023
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 27 January 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how decisions were reached on the membership of the Interim Governance Group to Develop National Anti-Racist Infrastructure, including whether any limitations were imposed.

The Interim Governance Group (IGG) is a short-life working group with a specific remit to provide advice and feedback to Scottish Ministers on establishing long-term anti-racism infrastructure. Its membership includes those with experiences of intersecting marginalisation(s) and the realities of systemic racism, and expertise in tackling it. Individuals were also appointed on the basis of having extensive knowledge and/or experience of policy-making processes in Scotland, and design and implementation of policy/systems. More information on the remit and membership of the group is available here: Interim Governance Group to Develop National Anti-Racist Infrastructure

Members of the IGG were appointed on merit in accordance with the Ministerial Code, taking into account the views of the co-chairs and ensuring membership comprised of people with expertise and lived experience of racism. Membership reflects a gender balance, and includes those with experiences of intersecting marginalisation(s) and the realities of systemic racism and expertise in tackling it. Membership also includes:

- community members and community-led organisations

- young people

- scrutiny and governance expertise

- expertise in gathering and using inequality data

- expertise/leadership from the public, private and third sector

Two national membership organisations were invited to nominate community-led organisations to be involved in the IGG in order to provide grassroots perspectives.

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