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This information is provided in Scottish Water’s Annual Report and Accounts which is published on Scottish Water’s website and laid before Parliament each year. The accounting provision Scottish Water has made for household bad debt in each of previous 10 financial years is set out in the following table.

The Scottish Government has no plans to bring forward a Public Debt Bill.

We are currently working in partnership with Simon Community Scotland to pilot and evaluate an innovative Managed Alcohol Programme for people who experience homelessness.

Funding allocated to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) is for both alcohol and drug treatment services. In 2021-22 ADPs and Health Boards received over £106m for alcohol and drug services.

This funding is used to ensure that services meet the needs of people who experience alcohol as well as drugs harms, including preventative approaches.

Data on the number of people under the age of 65 receiving Free Personal Care and expenditure on personal care by local authorities is collected through the Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return . The data is quality assured and sent back to local authorities for additional validation prior to publication.

Information on the number of people aged 65+ receiving Free Personal Care has been collected since 2002; however, in 2019-20 the Quarterly Monitoring Return was extended to cover people aged 18 – 64 following the implementation of Frank’s Law. Information on the expenditure on personal care delivered at home was also requested and the frequency of collection was changed from annually to quarterly.

We will review this collection now that the expanded data has been collected for multiple years. This will involve working with local authorities to determine what is possible to collect; how to improve the consistency and quality of information; whether the resource burden of completing the collection is proportionate; whether alternative sources are available and would be more appropriate; and to assess ongoing data requirements.

The data for 2021-22 is currently out for collection and is due to be returned at the end of June. Therefore, the review work will take place later in 2022, following quality assurance of the 2021-22 data.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission publish estimates and forecasts of eligibility and payments for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant but only for Scotland. There are no estimates or forecasts of eligibility and take-up (the proportion of eligible children that receive payments) by area within Scotland. The following figures cannot be used to inform eligibility or take-up for East Kilbride specifically.

However, internal Scottish Government analysis suggests around 6000 children in East Kilbride are forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment in each of the next 6 years and around 1000 for Best Start Grant. Also, that in 2022-23 around 4000 children are forecast to receive Scottish Child Payment, rising to 5000 from 2023-24 onwards. For Best Start Grant, around 1000 children are expected to receive payment in each of the next 6 years.

All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand to reflect these are approximate estimates and use national level eligibility and take-up rates. See Tables 1 and 2:

Table 1: Estimated number of children in East Kilbride constituency forecast to be eligible for Scottish Child Payment and Best Start Grant.

The Scottish Government expects all women to receive high quality, safe care including in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia.

The Scottish Perinatal Network has been tasked with examining the adoption of PlGF testing in light of the draft NICE guidance published for consultation in March this year and we expect the finalised guidance to be published on 27 July 2022.

As part of its initial work, the Network is engaging with the clinical and scientific community to understand how the additional two tests included in the draft guidance work in practice. This work is underway and I have asked my officials to continue working with the Network to explore how we can best implement PlGF testing in Scotland.

The provision of community pharmacy pharmaceutical services are made according to arrangements set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009. Under this, decisions are a matter for NHS Health Boards, through their Pharmacy Practices Committee (PPC). The process is independent of Scottish Ministers and Government.

The Scottish Government provides resource for local authorities to tackle homelessness through the annual local government finance settlement. In 2022-23, local authorities received £55.322 million [1] of homelessness grant aided expenditure. In addition, the Scottish Government has made available £100 million between 2018-19 and 2025-26 from the Ending Homelessness Together fund to transform homelessness services. Of this, £42 million supports the development and implementation of local authority rapid rehousing transition plans.

In May 2020, the Unsuitable Accommodation Order was extended to all households to ensure people are provided with suitable accommodation to support them out of homelessness. We are aware that full compliance with the Order remains challenging for some local authorities. Scottish Government officials have met with the local authorities that are facing the greatest barriers in complying with the Order to offer support. Engagement with local authorities has shown positive progress is being made in reducing the use of unsuitable accommodation and there are plans for learning to be shared more widely.

Ultimately, it is for local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation that is suitable for the needs of a household.

[1] Scottish Local Government Finance 'Green Book' 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Home Energy Scotland (HES) is the Scottish Government’s impartial, bespoke advice service for households. It acts as the gateway to various Scottish Government funding programmes to make homes warmer, greener and more energy efficient, such as the HES loan/cashback scheme. In order to ensure that work is done to the required quality and that appropriate consumer protections are in place, it is a recommendation within the HES loan/cashback scheme that applicants use a Green Deal certified installer. For solid wall, underfloor, flat roof or room-in-roof insulation, it is compulsory that an applicant’s installer is Green Deal certified.

The pace of the transition to zero emission heating requires a substantial growth in supply chains, not only within the Greater Glasgow area but across Scotland as a whole. A broad range of different skills are needed to support the transition, however we are aware that the installer skills for zero emissions heating and energy efficiency measures represent the largest gap.

Unlocking investment in the supply chain must start with clear demand for its products and services and our investment of at least £1.8 billion, as outlined in the Heat in Buildings Strategy, will strengthen demand and support an increase in jobs and skilled workers.

We have partnered with Skills Development Scotland to undertake a ‘Heat in Buildings Workforce Assessment Project’ which will help us better understand the timing of workforce growth and how best to support people transitioning into key sectors.

We are carefully considering a wide spectrum of support for supply chains to grow, transition and innovate to meet the heat in buildings challenge and have committed to publishing our Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan later this year which will detail actions and public support to aid workforce growth through a combination of reskilling, upskilling and youth employment.

The Scottish Government does not stipulate the maximum or minimum number of patients that can access a community pharmacy. Health Boards are responsible for the provision of pharmaceutical care services within their areas, taking into consideration neighbourhood, the adequacy of existing pharmaceutical services in the area and the necessity and desirability of approving an application to secure adequate pharmaceutical services in the area.

Community pharmacy owners are responsible for ensuring that pharmacies are safe and effective for pharmacy teams and patients. This includes setting safe staffing levels in line with the guidance provided by the regulator, The General Pharmaceutical Council.