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The various review strands are continuing to make progress. The review work will be proportionate and will be led by what is being found in the initial phases.

Review of Open Cases

Users of the system were asked to review their caseload of open cases, to look at prevalence of the risk scoring/level issue or the alcohol/drugs scoring issue. The Scottish Government have now completed that user led review of the nearly 12,000 cases that social work recognise as their open caseload on the system. Based on the responses by social work practitioners, they did not identify any immediate public protection risks related to these two scoring issues. The open cases review did substantiate that there are cases where the risk scoring levels have not matched. All the cases with the risk scoring error are also being reviewed by the Risk Management Authority (the RMA) as part of their determination of whether there was any material impact on the management of the case as a result of the scoring error.

The open cases review was also an opportunity for social work to identify any wider prevalence of the errors or any new system issues in respect of system functionality. There were not any new errors related to scoring identified through this route.

The open cases review identified some practice issues, around cases not being timeously closed on the system. Therefore, we are undertaking a further phase of this exercise to ensure that closed cases or cases in the process of being closed are indeed closed off on the system, and returns are completed for us on those. That work is likely to conclude in mid-August. Once that phase of work has been completed we will be able to provide a final picture of cases where either the risk scoring or the drugs/alcohol scoring issue (or both) were present. Those details will be cross checked against the RMA lists of affected cases, to consider if these need to be added into the RMA review of any material impact on the management of the case. Our expectation at the moment is that the open case review findings will largely tally with the RMA lists, but we cannot confirm that until the open case review process fully concludes for those cases needing closed off on the system.

The open cases review also provided an opportunity for social work to check and if necessary amend any entries that were not correct on the system. This work on amending individual cases was a key part of the work needed before the system can be brought back into operation. In the meantime, users of the system continue to make use of the paper based version of the process where LS/CMI is needed.

RMA led review work

The group continues to meet and will report on all phases. This will include recommendations and an action plan, to be communicated to Ministers and the Justice Committee. It is anticipated an update on the first phases of the review will be provided in August 2022 with all work now scheduled for completion by the end of October 2022. These timescales will be reviewed at each stage.

Phase 1

As previously reported to the Justice Committee by letter on 12 May 2022, phase one of the review is complete, which significantly reduced the number of cases that required further review.

Phase 2

Phase two commenced on 4 May 2022 and has involved Social Work, Scottish Prison Service, Parole Board for Scotland and MAPPA coordinators considering the material impact of how cases were handled. The timescale for this review was extended to allow for robust validation to be undertaken by agencies. There has been substantial collaboration by partners in order to provide returns and the RMA will be reviewing these in order that the LS/CMI review group can consider the outcome of the first two phases by August 2022. At this point the review group has agreed to review its terms of reference and provide interim findings.

Phase 3

The RMA, Care Inspectorate and HMIPS continue to develop the methodology and focus of the external validation which will provide assurance on each stage of the review. Subject to the outcome of phase two, this work is scheduled to commence in August 2022 and the review is expected to conclude in October 2022.

LS/CMI IT system

The Scottish Government appointed a third party provider to work alongside the managed service provider for the LS/CMI system. This was for the purpose of conducting an end-to-end review of the LS/CMI system prior to any re-introduction for use. The Discovery phase of that work is now largely complete, with areas of dysfunction within the system identified that we believe have led to the known scoring issues. This process has resulted in the production of a detailed functional specification of the system, along with updated user guides. It is likely that going forward, resuming use of the system will require some technical fixes, as well as some training and practice improvements. What will follow is a stage of triaging and remediation, to prioritise what will be done and applying the fixes.

The Scottish Government have also been in the process of tendering for a managed service provider for this system. This process pre-dated the discovery of the IT errors, and it was delayed as a result of the errors being found. Following announcement of the outcome of that process, it is likely that any triaging and remediation of the system will be conducted under the new contractual period, which, on current planning would likely begin in August.

While the review work has taken longer than originally envisaged, it is being conducted thoroughly, and with positive engagement from justice partners as these review demands are being managed on top of existing workloads.

Proposals for future agricultural support will be co-developed with rural partners through the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB) and with wider civil society through a consultation in summer 2022 to inform the introduction of a Scottish Agriculture Bill in 2023.

The current permitted development rights for agricultural and forestry private ways (sometimes referred to as hill tracks) are subject to a prior notification and approval process, through which the planning authority can require changes to the design, manner of construction and route of a proposed private way to minimise potentially harmful impacts, including on peatland. It is for the relevant planning authority to consider each prior notification application on its individual merits.

It is open to the planning authority to refuse prior approval if they consider such impacts cannot be satisfactorily mitigated. Furthermore, if the proposed development would require an environmental impact assessment, the permitted development rights do not apply.

The Scottish Government is currently carrying out a review of permitted development rights in Scotland. We have committed to consider the permitted development rights for private ways as part of the review programme and we will consult on proposals for change in due course.

As of 1 July 2022, a total of 1,031 installations have been delivered using interim vouchers at a value of £399,468. A further 204 interim vouchers have been issued at a potential value of £73,847. In addition, 1,237 installations have been delivered using main vouchers at a value of £3,104,256, with a further 762 main vouchers issued at a potential value of £2,631,657.

It is worth noting that vouchers issued do not always lead to installations being completed and, therefore, may not lead to actual spend – this can be for a number of reasons, such as the beneficiary deciding they no longer wish to proceed.

Scottish Ministers are currently considering the City of Edinburgh Council’s proposed designation of the Edinburgh Short-Term Let Control Area, in accordance with the relevant legislation and Planning Circular 1/2021. There is no statutory timescale for considering such proposals but a decision on the proposal will be made and published as soon as possible.

Responses to the public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny on Draft National Planning Framework (NPF4) are being carefully considered and we intend to lay a final NPF4 in the Parliament in the Autumn.

The Draft proposed support for the delivery of high quality homes, particularly those that improve affordability and choice, including accessible, adaptable and wheelchair accessible homes.

Local authorities are already required to set targets for the delivery of wheelchair accessible housing across all tenures as part of their local housing strategy. The target should be informed by evidence of what is required locally.

The Scottish Government published the Learning/Intellectual Disabilities and Autism: Towards Transformation Plan in March 2021. The plan looks at the actions needed to shape supports, services and attitudes to ensure that the human rights of autistic people and people with learning disabilities are respected and protected and that they are empowered to live their lives, the same as everyone else.

In the plan we have committed to work with Inspiring Scotland 'Support in the Right Direction' and other partners to ensure that more people with learning disabilities access their rights under the Social Work (Self Directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 to direct their own support. With the aim of providing as much freedom and choice in directing that support as they want in order to achieve their own outcomes.

We are also working with strategic partners such as Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) who have been commissioned to gather and provide insights into different approaches to the redesign of learning disability day services and recognition of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has created for service users, their families and service providers, including where there are changes to delivery models away from building-based services.

Fair Start Scotland Service Providers offer specialist support for people with learning disabilities and those who are neuro-diverse, as well as the opportunity to access Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Supported Employment where this would be of benefit to the individual.

IPS (Individual Placement and Support) and Supported Employment are integral parts of the Scottish employability support landscape. Independent reviews of each model within Fair Start Scotland were commissioned by the Scottish Government and are due to be published by autumn 2022. These reviews will allow us to build on success factors, whilst identifying areas for improvement to ensure the continuation of this vital element of support for individuals as they move towards and into work.

The Scottish Government are committed to continuing to improve the promotion, quality, and implementation of Self-directed Support.

Due to changes in SG accounting systems and SG Retention Policies it has not been possible to obtain details of all funding awarded since 1997. Since the Self-Directed Support Scotland Act 2013 came into force in 2014, Scottish Government has provided a total of £46.6m to Strategic Delivery Partners which include Social Work Scotland, Inspiring Scotland, In Control, Self-Directed Support Scotland, The Alliance and Transformational Funding to all Local Authorities.

It has not been possible to estimate funding spent solely on promotion of direct payments and Self-Directed Support since 1997. This is due to funding recipients not recording actual spend for direct promotional activities, however all funding recipients promote the use of direct payments and self-directed support in all activities funded

We recognise that language is a critical element of integration and that this may be challenging for displaced people and hosts alike. We appreciate those that have opened their homes to guests from Ukraine.

We have published guidance to support hosts who have generously opened their homes to displaced people and we would suggest hosts make use of free online translation services. The Scottish Refugee Council also provides helpful guidance around interpretation here: Where to find help and information if you are from Ukraine - Google Docs

It may be helpful to note that when displaced people are accessing public services, such as GPs and social services, licensed interpreters are available.

Over the course of this parliament, we have committed to investing £1.8 billion into zero emissions heating and energy efficiency across Scotland. This includes the Scottish Government’s Home Energy Scotland Loan and Cashback scheme which currently provides households with up to £17,500 of combined loan and cashback funding for the installation of zero emissions heating systems.

The current Home Energy Scotland loan scheme has been operational and supporting households for some time, with the cashback element introduced in 2020. Through the Heat in Buildings Strategy we have also committed to replacing the cashback element of the scheme with a standalone grant during the course of 2022-23.

In developing the new grant scheme and setting grant levels, we are examining a range of evidence. This consideration will include the recent reports published by Nesta. This report and follow up report ‘how to increase the demand for heat pumps’ published in June 2022 by Nesta raises many informative findings, amongst them that a combination of incentives was found to be the most effective in increasing heat pump uptake, in particular a grant combined with lower running costs of the system.

The Scottish Government aims to make the installation of zero emissions heating systems both desirable and achievable for households across Scotland, and the future development of the Home Energy Scotland Loan and Grant scheme will play a large part in this.