Seòmar agus comataidhean

Local authorities receive a notional element for housing activities in their general and capital grant funding, but it is for each authority to determine how its funding is used and we do not collect data on allocation.

In this government’s first 100 days, we established six pilot schemes to provide free bikes for school age children who cannot afford one. A further four pilots were then established by the end of 2021. These pilots will run for up to 12 months, testing different approaches and delivery models to help inform a national rollout.

The total number of bikes issued to date is 2067. We expect to have issued 3000 bikes by the end of the pilot period. The bikes include adapted and non-standard bikes to cater for a range of needs.

We do not record data on bike numbers at local authority level. However, considering bikes issued and associated training and promotion sessions, free bikes activities have taken place in 20 of 32 local authority areas. The 9 pilots are running across a range of locations including in urban, rural and island communities.

The childcare workforce has grown overall as a result of the ELC expansion, with the latest data showing an increase of 26% between 2016 and 2020. The Scottish Social Services Council’s Stability Index (i.e. the proportion of staff who have been retained from the previous year) shows a Stability Index of 78.9% for the day care of children workforce, broadly similar to the overall Index of 80.8% for social services.

Throughout the ELC expansion the Scottish Government has taken a range of actions with partners to support recruitment and retention across all parts of the childcare sector. Those include: working with skills bodies and training providers to increase enrolments on training courses by 25.6% between 2017 and 2020; delivery of a national recruitment campaign, attracting high quality individuals to all parts of the sector; and enabling payment of the Real Living Wage to staff delivering funded hours.

The Scottish Government is providing over £30 million this financial year to accelerate the shift to zero emission transport. This includes support for zero emission community transport and car clubs in addition to funding interest free loans for electric vehicles. This approach is designed to support more people and households on lower incomes to make the switch to electric.

In January we also announced a new fund that would enable £60 million investment in the public charging network over the next four years, anticipating over half of this investment will come from the private sector. The fund aims to ensure the right level of investment in public charge points across all of Scotland, including in settings, where lower demand for electric vehicle charging means that there is less opportunity for commercial investment.

Scotland’s widespread vaccination coverage and access to new Covid treatments have meant we are now in different phase of the pandemic. On 1 May, testing changed from a population-wide intervention to a targeted response, focused on reducing severe harm of the virus.

Testing remains available to specific groups in order to protect people in higher risk settings and to support clinical care. You can still access testing if:

• you work in NHS health or social care settings
• you have a health condition which means you’re eligible for new coronavirus treatments
• you're going into hospital for surgery or a procedure
• you're visiting a hospital or care home
• you're an unpaid carer
• you're applying for the self-isolation support grant

Those not eligible for testing, should follow the guidance to stay at home in order to aid recovery, and to reduce the risk of passing your illness onto others if they experience symptoms and have a fever or feel unwell. Up to date Stay at Home guidance can be found online at www.nhsinform.scot/covid19 .

The National Care Service Bill proposes to enable the National Care Service (NCS) to support Fair Work in the sector, by including Fair Work within the guiding principles of the NCS (section 1 of the Bill) and establishing it as an exemplar of Fair Work. The NCS ethical commissioning strategies will also need to reflect these principles, and will therefore be a key tool for ensuring Fair Work is embedded in the way services are planned and provided. Services commissioned by the NCS, of whatever ownership type, will have to ensure they meet Fair Work and ethical commissioning standards and requirements.

NHS Lothian is currently refreshing the Outline Business Case for the Edinburgh Eye Pavilion replacement project and will subsequently submit a Full Business Case to the Scottish Government. The FBC will undergo the usual scrutiny and approval processes for infrastructure and investment projects within NHSScotland and a response will be provided once this process has concluded.

As committed to within our Heat in Buildings Strategy, work is currently underway to develop a new Heat in Buildings Public Engagement Strategy, to be published in early 2023.

This will build on the broader approach to public engagement on climate change that we published last year, and will aim to:

• Increase understanding of the changes we need to see in how we heat our homes and buildings, and why;
• Raise the profile of energy efficiency and net zero carbon heating options so that people are aware of the benefits and begin to see them as a positive choice; and
• Raise awareness of advice and support services to maximise uptake of the help available.

The strategy will to set out a range of activities for public engagement that will be implemented over the transition to zero emissions heating, including: national marketing campaigns; education initiatives; a social research programme; and public participation in policy and delivery programme design, to ensure the needs of different (domestic and non-domestic) groups are considered. This reflects our commitment to supporting a just and fair transition.

To inform development of the strategy, this autumn we will undertake a Call for Evidence. Alongside publication of the strategy, next year we will launch a national conversation and campaign on heat decarbonisation, working with a range of practitioners, consumer organisations and others across Scotland to increase awareness of the heat transition with different audiences over the coming months. Early focus will be on building readiness for change amongst a wide cross-section of society ahead of the introduction of proposed regulations. We will also launch a national marketing campaign this autumn to promote awareness of our free and impartial advice and support services – Home Energy Scotland and Warmer Homes Scotland.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

Statistics in relation to Psychoactive Substances (PS) detections are only available from 2018 onwards.

The following table provides the total number of detections for (PS) per year across all establishments from 2018 – present day.

*Includes detections for PS only and does not include other types of substances detected by the Rapiscan Itemiser machines.

**Prior to 2020, only 3 establishments had Rapiscan Itemiser machines in place. From 2020, this equipment was introduced to all establishments which accounts for the significant increase from previous years.

The Tackling Child Poverty Programme Board is part of the Scottish Government’s internal governance. It advises the Scottish Government’s Director-General Communities for tackling child poverty on the Scottish Government’s overall performance in relation to the implementation of Best Start, Bright Futures : Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26.

The Board has both Scottish Government senior officials with expertise from areas which will contribute most to tackling child poverty and leaders, delivery partners and champions of change from beyond the Scottish Government. This includes representatives from organisations with extensive experience working with women with lived experience of poverty, such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; One Parent Families Scotland; Child Poverty Action Group; The Poverty Alliance; and Aberlour Children’s Charity.

The Scottish Government recognises the inextricable links between women’s poverty and child poverty. As part of overall monitoring and governance for the delivery plan, the Scottish Government will seek to maintain and further strengthen the collection and use of qualitative data in order to continue making progress towards the statutory Child Poverty Targets and to further understand and address the specific barriers faced by women experiencing poverty.