Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government routinely publishes official labour market statistics for disabled people and analysis of how their labour market barriers and outcomes are changing over time.

We know the disability employment gap - the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people - narrowed over the latest year to July 2020 – June 2021 by 1.5 percentage points in Scotland, to 32.0 percentage points. This was a larger narrowing of the disability employment gap than in the UK, where it narrowed by 0.6 percentage points. Scotland’s disability employment gap was also smaller than the disability employment gap in both Wales and Northern Ireland in the latest year.

We remain on course to reach our ambition to at least halve the disability employment gap in Scotland by 2038, however, we know there is much more work to do. For example, we continue to work closely with our partners in Disabled People’s Organisations to hear directly from disabled people themselves what changes they are experiencing in the labour market. This includes their representation on our Short Life Working Group for the refresh of our employment action plan, ensuring disabled people’s lived experiences are shaping this work.

Latest data and analysis are published at:

Labour market monthly briefing: November 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Fairer Scotland for disabled people - employment action plan: progress report - year 2 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Scottish Government has no view regarding how GP services are provided outwith Scotland.

Patients treated by general practices in Scotland should be treated by GPs who are on their local Health Board's performers list whether the appointment is remote or face to face.

Since 1 January 2020 19,378 individuals have successfully applied to the Individual Training Account programme and have claimed and used their funding entitlement to access training opportunities.

Scottish Government officials met with representatives from the National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland on 14 October to discuss the shortage of available student accommodation this academic year. The matter was also discussed at the meetings of the Covid Recovery Group and the Purpose Built Student Accommodation Steering Group on 20 October, and at the Student Accommodation Group meeting on 4 November. The issue of housing capacity was highlighted in these meetings, and proposals for dedicated meetings with universities and accommodation providers from areas experiencing particular problems in this academic period were explored, and will be taken forward.

The Scottish Government has no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation whether the accommodation is managed by universities or private sector organisations. However, we remain committed to working further with universities and student associations to develop solutions to the present shortfall in renting opportunities for students.

Our Programme for Government commitment to review Purpose Built Student Accommodation and our 100 days commitment to establish the next stage of this, is already underway and will be taken forward in parallel with work to ensure rent affordability and improving standards across the private rented sector.

The purpose of the alcohol licensing system is to support the regulation of the sale of alcohol with the objectives of preventing crime and disorder; securing public safety; preventing public nuisance; protecting and improving public health; and protecting children and young people from harm. It is for independent licensing boards to administer the licensing regime at a local level with reference to these five licensing objectives.

Under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, each independent licensing board is required to publish licensing policy statements. Such statements allow for interested parties to understand better how each licensing board will operate in line with these five overarching licensing objectives. The introduction within the 2005 Act of a public health objective ensures licensing boards can take into account the importance of protecting and improving public health when considering and determining licensing matters brought before the Board. How the public health objective is to be achieved within each licensing board area as one of the five licensing objectives is a matter for each independent licensing board, but licensing policy statements should reflect the approach to be taken.

The Scottish Government has also taken forward a range of legislative measures such as, amongst others, placing restrictions on drink promotions, requiring the operation of an age verification policy and giving the police powers to disrupt drinking dens to help reduce alcohol harm.

In terms of the affordability of alcohol, minimum unit pricing (MUP) was introduced on 1 May 2018 at 50 pence per unit of alcohol and is subject to a comprehensive, independent evaluation, led by Public Health Scotland (PHS). Various reports on the impact of MUP are published on the PHS website, with a final report due in November 2023.

The eligibility criteria for the new round of Climate Justice Fund will be set before programming starts from April 2022. It is likely that the focus of the Fund for programmes run by the Scottish Government will be on Scotland’s three partner countries of Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia.

The Scottish Government has not been involved in any discussions regarding the development of an Edinburgh specific rate of pay.

Employment law remains reserved to the UK Government therefore, the Scottish Government cannot currently legislate on this matter. We continue to promote payment of at least the real Living Wage and welcome the increase to £9.90 per hour for workers over 18 announced on 15 November.

I was pleased to note that City of Edinburgh Council has achieved Living Wage City recognition and is promoting payment of the real Living Wage in the region.

All local authorities are now offering 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) to all eligible children. Figures published in October 2021 by the Improvement Service show that at the end of August 2021, nearly 91,000 children in Scotland were accessing funded early learning and childcare. Of these 91,000 children, 97% are accessing expanded provision, and 87% - nearly 80,000 children – are choosing to take up the full 1140 hours on offer.

Each local authority is responsible for developing a local ELC offer that meets local people’s needs and circumstances, working in partnership with providers, and they have a statutory duty under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 to consult with parents every 2 years on how they provide these services.

This will help local authorities to ensure that there is an appropriate mix of providers and patterns of delivery within each authority area, and that is delivered in a way which is responsive to parental demand.

In each local authority area parents should be able to choose from a range of types of setting, offering different patterns of provision, and which meet the National Standard, but we do not expect every setting to offer every possible pattern of provision that a parent may request.

Local authorities have worked incredibly hard with their partners to introduce the expanded ELC offer while dealing with the challenging circumstances and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Local ELC offers will continue to evolve in response to patterns of demand and local circumstances.

As the member is aware, mainland Health Boards have postponed some of their non-urgent elective activity to ensure they can continue to protect urgent activity, including vital cancer treatments, and to cope with staffing and other pressures they are currently experiencing. As such, decisions are taken on an individual Health Board basis dependent on the particular circumstances and pressures they are facing each week. It is not possible to indicate how long such postponements will last.

However, the Scottish Government are monitoring Health Boards’ elective activity through daily and weekly Health Board returns and are providing support where it is required.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund asks social landlords to provide evidence of tenant engagement as part of the funding application process and encourages consultation with tenants before any work begins.

The fund, which will support the social housing sector over the next 5 years, reopened this August and welcomes applications from social landlords who want to upgrade their existing housing stock. The fund remains open throughout the year. Applications can be submitted at any time and are assessed on a quarterly basis.