Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-21293 on 18 February 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

An options appraisal is being taken forward over the coming months, to examine potential policy and delivery options for the income supplement and the feasibility of these.

I have committed to publishing the options appraisal alongside my first progress report to Parliament on the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.

As part of the income supplement options appraisal we are engaging with relevant UK Government departments, including HMRC and DWP, to determine the feasibility of delivering the income supplement through a reserved benefit. Initial discussions have taken place with DWP and HMRC to outline the commitment contained in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, identify relevant issues for further consideration, and determine how we can best engage with each other as this work continues.

We are engaging closely with stakeholders, including representatives of the Give Me Five campaign, as the options appraisal work is taken forward.

The options appraisal will be published at the same time as my first progress report to Parliament on the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.

Information on the number of staff hours per week being used to develop policy on the income supplement and take forward the options appraisal is not available. This differs in teams across the organisation who contribute to the policy and is dependent on individual working patterns.

The proposed budget for Social Security Advice, Policy & Programme within the Social Security and Older People Portfolio is £77.8 million in 2019-20. This budget will include funding for supporting the development of the income supplement.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-20910 on 23 January 2019. The Programme Board Dashboards are part of routine reporting, and as such any RAG statuses are provided for internal discussion and not made public, on the grounds that doing so would inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. The Programme Director’s Update is used to enable critical discussion that in turn supports the delivery of social security for Scotland.

In line with the requirements of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017, the Scottish Government will publish the first progress report on the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan by the end of June 2019.

£40 million has been included directly in the 2019-20 Local Government budget settlement to support the continued implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 and extending free personal care to under 65s, as set out in the Programme for Government. This is in addition to the £66m included in the 2018-19 Local Government budget settlement to be used for social care pressures including Carers Act implementation. The Scottish Government estimates that the additional cost of implementing the Carers Act for Local Authorities in 2019-20 will be £10.5 million – this is based on cost estimates set out in the Financial Memorandum to the Carers Bill. Given the aforementioned funding is part of the overall budget settlement for Local Authorities there are no separately identifiable budget allocations for Carers Act implementation at Local Authority level.

We have funded a range of public and third sector bodies to deliver support and resources to build capacity for implementing the Carers Act during this period, including thirteen pilots across local authorities and health boards in 2017-18 to test implementation of different provisions in the Act. We have monitored this work through a combination of written reporting, management meetings, reporting to the Carers Act Implementation Steering Group and reviewing the resources delivered.

We also funded a programme of small grants in 2018-19 for local third sector carer support organisations, to improve their capacity to deliver carer support under the Act. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations which delivered the grant programme will provide an evaluation report based on information from grant recipients.

The Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. The vast majority of the revenue funding, including the funding to support the continued implementation of the Carers Act, is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate their total financial resources available to them. Individual local authorities’ allocation of funding should be on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations (including under the Carers Act) and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities. Local authorities notify the Scottish Government of their expenditure on the various services they provide and this information is published in the annual Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics publication.

The new ‘Carers Census’ is monitoring take-up of adult carer support plans, young carer statements and carer support under the Carers Act since it took effect last April. The first collection from April – September 2018 is currently running with the second collection, from October 2018 – March 2019 due to be submitted in May. The Carers Act Monitoring and Evaluation Group has identified a number of outcomes for monitoring progress and is considering which data sources and academic research will be necessary alongside the Carers Census in order to monitor progress towards these outcomes, as published in the evaluability assessment of the Act: https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00524798.pdf

The level of provision for the Carers Act for 2019-20 was confirmed by the Scottish Government as part of a package of overall support to local government of £11.1 billion in the Scottish Budget: 2019-20 published on 12 December 2018 and in the corresponding Local Government Finance Circular 8/2018 published on 17 December 2018. This overall package of support includes £40 million to extend free personal care to under 65s as set out in the Programme for Government and for the continued implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, estimated at £10.5 million. Local authorities notify the Scottish Government of their expenditure on the various services they provide and this information is published in the annual Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics publication.

Working with COSLA, the Carers Scotland Act Finance Group is continuing to consider the financial implications of implementing the Carers Act, including developing and improving data collection in respect of Carers related activity and establishing a clear understanding of the key financial risks associated with implementing the Act.

Verification mechanisms for the Young Carer Grant are under development. Decisions on verification, as with all aspects of the Grant, will take into account input from carers and other stakeholders through the Young Carer Grant consultation which ended on 10 December.