Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is grateful to Special Constables who are an integral part of Police Scotland’s workforce mix.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on Police Scotland’s Special Constable programme. Statistics on Special Constable numbers and recruitment are a matter for the Chief Constable.

Whilst Police Scotland are actively recruiting they have in recent years focused their investment on fully trained Special Constables who are willing to deploy regularly and able to fully support officers in our communities.

I am grateful to WWF Scotland for this contribution to the important discussion on how we cut emissions from our homes and buildings while – critically - ensuring a just transition for all households. The WWF is an important stakeholder, and a strong supporter of the outcomes that the Scottish Government is determined to achieve. The report aligns with our focus on the importance of energy efficiency and on heat pumps and heat networks. Our targets are ambitious, given the seriousness of the climate emergency and the size of the challenge to reduce emissions from our buildings. We will continue to do everything in our power to meet these targets, and to make Scotland’s homes more comfortable and affordable to heat.

Scotland’s homes and buildings currently account for around a fifth of all our greenhouse gas emissions, and we are committed to taking bold, ambitious steps to ensure we reduce these emissions to meet our climate obligations. Our Heat in Buildings Strategy sets a hugely ambitious vision to cut carbon and improve energy efficiency across Scotland’s homes over the coming years and the report notes that the policies and targets set out in the Strategy will meet our overall objective for 2045.

We recognise that this is a decisive decade for action which is why, since the Strategy was published, we have been working to support and speed up the delivery of zero direct emission heating systems: ensuring the sector is ready to accelerate and that households have the appropriate information, financial support and incentives to switch to climate-friendly heating systems. I look forward to consulting on proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill in the coming months, and seeking views on our plans for regulation to accelerate green heating installation and higher energy efficiency standards in Scotland’s homes and buildings.

A follow up report detailing progress on implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody was published in December 2022. This is available at: Independent Review of the Response to Deaths in Prison Custody: progress report - follow up .

Gillian Imery was appointed as an external chair to provide strategic leadership and oversight of the implementation in April last year and reported on progress.

The progress report outlined that three recommendations have been implemented and introduced into the system and another recommendation has been partially implemented and introduced into the system. Broken down by theme these are:

• Theme 1: Family contact with the prison and involvement in care

(a) and (b) 1 (recommendation 1.4)

• Theme 2: Policies and processes after a death

(a) and (b) 1, partially implemented (recommendation 2.2)

• Theme 3: Family contact and support following a death

(a) and (b) 1 (recommendation 3.1)

• Theme 4: Support for staff and other people held in prison after a death

(a) and (b) 0

• Theme 5: SPS and NHS documentation concerning a death

(a) and (b) 1 (recommendation 5.4)

The progress report recognises that some of the issues are complex and will take some time to resolve and implement. The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the other agencies responsible for delivery including the Scottish Prison Service and NHS to continue to develop compassionate and robust processes that meet the needs of those in custody and their families.

A further report on progress will be prepared by Gillian Imery which is expected to be published later this year.

As the member will know, rail accessibility is reserved to the UK Government. However, my officials are in regular dialogue with the Department for Transport on matters of rail accessibility.

Nominations seeking Access for All funding for Control Period 7 (2024-2029) were submitted to the Department for Transport in time for the 16 September 2022 deadline. The Department for Transport is anticipated to announce successful nominations in Spring 2023.

Social Security Scotland does not routinely produce information on couples claiming social security benefits.

Information on the characteristics of applicants, including gender, is published as part of Official Statistics publications on Social Security Scotland client diversity and equalities analysis.

These statistics were most recently published in September 2021 and are available at: https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/reporting/publications/social-security-scotland-client-diversity-and-equalities-analysis-to-may-2021.

There is currently work being undertaken to produce an update to this publication, which will be published by the end of summer 2023. This will cover the period from June 2021 to October 2022.

This Government firmly believes that every child growing up in Scotland, regardless of their background, should have an equal chance of attending university and participating in higher education.

We worked with Universities Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council to ensure that all of Scotland’s higher education institutions committed to guaranteeing an offer of an undergraduate place at university to care-experienced applicants who meet minimum entry requirements. This was effective from autumn 2019 for learners entering university in autumn 2020.

We also introduced the Care Experienced Bursary in higher education in 2017 and further education in 2018, replacing loans with non-income assessed, non-refundable bursaries.

Many young people leaving school may first attend college before progressing to university at a later stage. In the college sector, 3.6% of enrolments to full-time HE and 9.6% of enrolments to full-time FE courses in 2020-21 were from care-experienced students.

University remained an attractive destination for many college qualifiers in 2020-21, with 41.6% going on to university. Of those who qualified in 2019-20, 93.0% of care-experienced leavers from full-time HE college courses and 94.0% from full-time FE courses with known destinations were in work or further study 3-6 months after qualifying.

The Scottish Government remains committed to “Keeping The Promise”. The Promise was published in February 2020 and highlighted the need for robust “scaffolding” or support network to support care leavers or those with care experience.

Continuing Care and Aftercare are both components of ground breaking measures introduced in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to improve outcomes for young people leaving care by supporting and developing positive transitions.

We are also committed to ensuring a range of positive destinations, including transition into employment and other training opportunities.

By the end of Q3 2022-23, there have been 401 new Modern Apprentice (MA) starts from individuals who self-identify as care-experienced, and 151 of these are in the 16-19 year old age bracket. Skills Development Scotland Management Information data shows that there are currently 630 care-experienced MAs in training, with 17 of these individuals in West Dunbartonshire.

Our national skills agency, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), have operational responsibility for our MA programme and provide funding contributions towards the cost of training and assessing apprentices, on behalf of the Scottish Government. SDS continue to engage with training providers to support the promotion of apprenticeship opportunities to care experienced individuals.

Additionally, funded through our Developing the Young Workforce programme, MCR Pathways and Career Ready target young people from care-experienced and less advantaged socio-economic-cultural backgrounds and communities. Both are currently operating in West Dunbartonshire and help young people to progress to a positive post-school destination.

In 2022/23, the Scottish Government provided £2.35million to NHS24 for Breathing Space; this forms part of our overall funding package to NHS24 (of almost £10million), to provide a range of advice and support to people experiencing mental health problems.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital service Breathing Space provides and intends to continue funding the service. Our funding enables NHS24 to provide a high quality listening service for people experiencing low mood. It also allows the continued development of the service using user insight and evaluation. For example, the service recently expanded to include a webchat facility which provides support in a way that meets users’ needs whilst also offering a new way to help manage demand for this valuable service.

The aim of the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021 is to ensure that everyone in Scotland who menstruates can have reasonably convenient access to period products, free of charge, as and when they are required. The definition of period products in the Act does not include incontinence products and there are no plans at present to change this. The Act does not limit the number of products that can be accessed so those experiencing such symptoms are entitled to access as many period products as they need.

To help support people experiencing menopausal or perimenopausal symptoms our Women’s Health Platform, on NHS Inform, includes a resource on menopause and work is underway to refine and create resources on pelvic health. This will include urinary incontinence, looking at prevention, treatment options and reducing stigma.

Scale Up BP, delivered by the Technology Enabled Care team, has been a successful programme supporting remote monitoring for diagnosis and ongoing management of high blood pressure. Evaluation has shown a positive impact on reductions in blood pressure. The programme continues with the majority of health boards now utilising the tool.

Investment has been made in the national remote monitoring solution, which is available to all Health Boards and Health & Social Care Partnerships. This includes Scale Up BP and a remote monitoring tool for Heart Failure.

Under the Heart Disease Task Force oversight, a Short Life Working Group has been supporting the development of a layer of cardiac specific competencies intended to complement the wider Transforming Nursing Roles competencies for Clinical Nurse Specialists.

The Scottish Government is currently working with NHS Education for Scotland to identify a workplan for the next phase of the Transforming Roles Programme. This involves agreeing priority actions and implementing outstanding recommendations from the ‘Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions’ Roles: Review of Clinical Nurse Specialist and Nurse Practitioner Roles within Scotland’ publication.

At a time of significant system pressure, this priority setting is to be undertaken as part of wider considerations in collaboration with the Scottish Executive Nurse Directors Group in Spring 2023.

In addition, the Allied Health Professional Education and Workforce Policy Review that considered the actions necessary to deliver a national education and workforce plan for AHPs has now been completed. The recommendations will be published early 2023 and an implementation plan will be developed thereafter.