Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of pharmacies that have closed over the past 12 months nor reasons for closures. The provision of community pharmacy pharmaceutical care services are the responsibility of territorial Health Boards as set out in the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, including pharmacy closures. Each Health Board holds separate data on those community pharmacies that have been unable to deliver pharmaceutical care services due to closures.

Any challenges faced by community pharmacies in ensuring the safe and effective dispensing of treatments should be discussed with the local Health Board.

The Scottish Government funds advice services through a combination of longstanding funding relationships that ensure continuity of services, such as those delivered by Citizens Advice Scotland and the network of Citizens Advice Bureaux, or through a bidding process for funds aligned to specific policy objectives. All bid-in funds have their own assessment criteria based on the needs of the policy areas with responsibility for the funding programme, however all grant funding offered from the Scottish Government must adhere to the rules set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Skills Development Scotland wrote to contracted training providers and employers in October 2021, setting out their intention to extend Modern Apprenticeships (MA) contracts. This extension was for a period of 12 months from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. SDS can extend these contracts for a further 12 months from 2023 to 2024. Any extensions are subject to budget allocation for that financial year.

SDS have made clear that any organisation seeking to bid for MA contracts out with the commissioning period can do this as a sub-contractor, working with an existing contracted provider.

SDS may also extend other contracts such as for IT services or facilities, in line with normal practice for these type of contracts.

The Scottish Government will consult on a draft Islands Energy Strategy in 2022, setting out its approach to supporting island residents and communities to develop renewable energy solutions that can promote resilience, enhance sustainability, and meet their energy needs now and in the future. As part of this work, we will review the evidence base and options for an "islands uplift" across our delivery programmes as part of our commitment to provide additional support for rural and island homes for heat and energy efficiency.

Support is available to all householders across Scotland, including in rural and island areas, through Home Energy Scotland (HES), funded by the Scottish Government. HES offers free, bespoke advice on measures appropriate to homes, and on the funding available for all domestic energy efficiency and renewables measures, including zero emissions heating. Loans are available of up to a maximum of £15,000 for energy efficiency measures (attracting up to 45% cashback grant (£6,000) and a maximum £17,500 for renewables measures (attracting up to 75% cashback grant (£7,500)).

Rural and island community groups and organisations can access advice and funding support to explore their renewable energy options through the Scottish Government's Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) delivered by Local Energy Scotland (LES).

The Scottish Government's investment of at least £1.8 billion will strengthen demand and support an increase in jobs and skilled workers right across Scotland. We will work with industry to co-produce a ‘Heat in Buildings Supply Chain Delivery Plan’ by Summer 2022 which will include a focus on developing local supply chains, attracting inward investment and securing local jobs, training and skills, particularly in our islands and remote communities.

In 2021-22, over £14 million has been provided to welfare and debt advice services aligned to Social Justice priorities and to projects in the Justice Programme, including law centres. The value of funding in future financial years will form part of the setting of the overall budget for 2022-23.

The Scottish Government runs a number of funding programmes across all areas of its responsibility, some of which are open to applications from advice agencies and law centres. All funding streams have their own assessment criteria based on the needs of the policy areas with responsibility for the funding programme. Such a varied approach allows for targeted funding that responds to identified policy need. For example, the Investing in Communities Fund, which is anticipated to re-open for applications in April 2022, is a community-focused fund which supports community organisations based in the places they serve to deliver a holistic range of projects and services that help to tackle all forms of poverty and inequalities. Funding for these projects through these programmes is in addition to the figure of £14 million above.

In addition, advice services receive funding from multiple other sources, including Local Authorities, which remain the biggest funders of advice in Scotland. The Common Advice Performance Management Reporting Framework published on 28 January 2021 found that total Local Authority funding for money and welfare rights advice services was just over £28 million in 2019-20, of which £13 million was spent on externally delivered provision including free advice and law centres.

The Scottish Government put in place and agreed a three year financial package in 2019-20 which sees an annual a fixed percentage uplift of 2.5% to the global sum each year of the current remuneration package. This ensures funding for continuous expansion in the quality and number of services that can be offered by community pharmacy contractors to local communities.

The Scottish Government have also invested £10 million over the course of the 3 year financial settlement in NHS Pharmacy First Scotland, seeing it increase the range of common clinical conditions which are able to be treated by the community pharmacist without the need to see a GP. We have also put in place a National Foundation Programme and Independent Prescriber Career Pathway. This pathway aims to maximise pharmacists’ expertise in medicines and, with the introduction of the new NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service, the opportunity for pharmacists to enhance patient care will further increase. Increasing the number of Independent Prescribers and establishing the core use of the IP qualification in the community setting will enhance the pharmacy networks’ role in the clinical pathway of patients.

The Scottish Government Health and Social Care Integrated Workforce Plan commits to increasing Pharmacy pre-registration training places by 120 over the next 4 years and we are currently increasing training places available for pharmacy technician training. Scottish Government will continue to work with partners to ensure not only the stability of the network but also that the balance of high quality pharmaceutical care is maintained across the whole pharmacy workforce in all sectors.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of energy generated from solar PV in contributing to the decarbonisation of Scotland’s energy supply and contributing to the just transition to a net zero emissions society by 2045.

In support of this, the Scottish Government will, in consultation with the sector, establish a vision for the future of solar in the forthcoming Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. This vision will set out the scale of ambition for solar generation in Scotland.

We have also recently published guidance for public sector bodies: ‘Public Sector Leadership on the Global Climate Emergency’. The guidance sets out milestones for accelerated efforts towards the use of 100% renewable electricity on the public sector estate alongside continuing to reduce electricity usage, and, highlights the important role solar power projects can play in decarbonising the public sector estate.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04586 on 6 December 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

On 22 November Child Disability Payment was launched across Scotland. This has followed an initial pilot, whereby families of children and young people with a disability living in Dundee City, Perth & Kinross and Western Isles council areas, could apply for the benefit.

We have received positive anecdotal feedback throughout the pilot. Both parents and support workers have said that the application process has been easier and less daunting, and that the support offered by Social Security Scotland has been helpful and caring.

The first high level statistics covering the first 5 weeks of the pilot were published on 18 October 2021 and are available at gov.scot . The next set of Child Disability Payment statistics are due to be published in January 2022. This will cover the period from 26 July to 21 November 2021, and will provide us with the data that will allow us to carry out a more detailed evaluation.

We have also been inviting clients, staff and stakeholders to take part in research to share feedback and help us learn from their experience of the service during the pilot phase. This will be published in Spring 2022. Research will continue beyond national launch as we continue to look for ways to improve and enhance the service for the people of Scotland.

As set out in Evaluating the Devolution of Disability Benefits , we will begin a thematic evaluation of the policy changes that are being implemented with the roll-out of the disability benefits, including use of supporting information, client consultations and supporting information.

During 2021-22 the main focus will be to define the size, scope and research questions, and assessing the potential methods and data sources available. In addition, we have commissioned the evaluation of Child Winter Heating Assistance to report in Summer 2022.

The Hydrogen Economy Cluster will raise awareness of the opportunities in the hydrogen economy, support a Team Scotland approach and provide practical steps to help companies realise opportunities in hydrogen and associated low-carbon markets. The cluster will be pan-Scotland and will play a key role in helping the energy and oil and gas supply chain move into hydrogen production, distribution and/or key areas of hydrogen demand such as transport and low-carbon heat.

Hydrogen policy officials are currently working with the Enterprise Agencies on the development of the Hydrogen Economy Cluster and further details will be available in 2022.