Chamber and committees

In recognition of importance of reducing flood risk the Scottish Government has, since 2007, provided £42 million each year to local authorities through the general capital grant to invest in flood protection measures. In September 2020, the Programme for Government also committed an additional £150 million over five years from 2021-22 to support flood risk management actions. Reducing flood risk is a priority for this Government and we will continue to support authorities to deliver actions that protect our communities.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 (“the Act”) encourages a co-ordinated, plan-led approach to flood risk management, which runs in six year cycles. As part of the first cycle under the Act, 14 Flood Risk Management Strategies were published in 2015 by SEPA and 14 Local Flood Risk Management Plans (LFRMP) were published in 2016 by local authorities. Actions prioritised to reduce flood risk in Newcastleton are included within the 2016-22 Solway LFRMP; this included a flood study for Newcastleton, which has now been completed by Scottish Borders Council. It is for the Council and other responsible authorities such as Scottish Water to take forward and deliver the actions set out in the Strategies and LFRMPs.

SEPA and local authorities are currently in the process of reviewing and updating the Strategies and LFRMPs for the 2022-28 cycle. Once finalised, the Strategies will be submitted to Scottish Ministers for approval.

We also work closely with key partners to promote community resilience and flood preparedness. We have increased our funding to £195,000 for the Scottish Flood Forum, which provides vital support to communities such as Newcastleton. The Scottish Flood Forum offers advice and information to individuals to help them protect their homes from flooding or to recover from flooding.

Following the announcement from the First Minister of the £500 'thank you' payment for health and social care staff in November 2020, a short-life stakeholder focus group was assembled. This group, including stakeholders from social care provider representative bodies, CoSLA, trade unions, local authorities, Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser and Scottish Government legal officials, met regularly in December 2020 to agree on the eligibility criteria for social care staff to receive the payment. Social care workforce policy officials engaged with stakeholders, remotely due to restrictions, on the complexity of the guidance and sought to ensure that no processes involved would present unreasonable difficulty for stakeholders involved in the process.

For staff in NHS Scotland, it was important to set out clear qualification criteria for the payment, which were agreed in partnership with NHS employer and Trade Union colleagues, and which could be applied fairly and consistently across NHS Scotland Health Boards. The payment applies to staff directly employed by NHS payment and remuneration arrangements, and has also been extended to certain facilities management staff working in Public Finance Initiative and Public Private Partnership Hospitals who work exclusively for NHS Scotland. The Scottish Government does not hold information on all of the contractors working in the Health sector, however, those employed by a private employer and not covered by the specific provisions of PCS(COV)2021/3 are not eligible for the payment.

Scottish Ministers are incredibly grateful for the hard work and dedication of staff working for non-registered support organisations, and for the undoubtedly vital support they provide to people. However, following extensive consultation, it was determined by the stakeholder groups that only those services which were required to register with the Care Inspectorate as delivering adult social care can be considered as frontline social care. Non-registered services were considered to be support services, not delivering frontline social care and therefore not within scope to receive the payment.

We have not made any such assessment. However, achieving the ambition, set out in our Update to the Climate Change Plan 2018-2032: Securing a Green Recovery on a Path to Net Zero , published in December 2020, to reduce electricity sector emissions to zero before the end of this decade would mean that the energy used for bitcoin mining has no effect on emissions within Scotland.

Scottish Government has a long-standing record of providing the most generous non-domestic rates regime in the UK and were the first Government in the UK to offer any extension to relief for the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors for 2021-22.

Decisions on non-domestic rates including the poundage and reliefs are traditionally set out in the Scottish budget alongside other government priorities. The Programme for Government recognises the importance of a fair, just and sustainable recovery with local business and communities at the heart, and future spend will be determined as part of the Scottish budget process.

COVID-19 case numbers remain high and the winter period ahead will pose significant challenges of increased transmission and related pressure on the National Health Service. Action is therefore needed across all sectors to ensure compliance with baseline COVID-19 mitigations, and it is vital to consider further targeted and proportionate measures that can reduce risk further. Vaccine certification is one such measure. We are working with the hospitality industry to ensure that only those premises regarded as within scope of the policy for domestic vaccine certification are included and definitions will be confirmed in due course.

The five National Performing Companies are the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ballet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Opera.

They each receive direct funding from the Scottish Government and are committed to increasing diversity, including in the recruitment of members to their board.

In February 2020, A Culture Strategy for Scotland was published. One of the aims it sets out under the theme of strengthening culture focusses on working in partnership to increase diversity in the sector, sharing new approaches and codes of practice that ensure skills development and board membership have diversity at their core.

All the NPCs continue to demonstrate their commitment to increasing diversity on their boards.

The board of the National Theatre for Scotland has over recent years made appointments which increase representation of people with disabilities and those of ethnic diversity. The company has published its plan to become an anti-racist organisation , with transparent and ambitious targets set for the next three years, including staff and board representation, programming and audience development.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra assembled a Diversity Committee to undertake a diversity audit following advice from London Music Masters (a charity bringing music to minority communities). They are currently engaging Roger Wilson of Black Lives in Music to lead a piece of work to identify current policy and practice in relation to race equality and diversity objectives within the organisation.

Scottish Ballet is engaged in a partnership with Intercultural Youth Scotland, to address the need for greater diversity throughout the organisation, including on the Board. They are following the guidelines set out by Ballet Black on driving anti-racism within the dance sector. They have also recently engaged with Inc Arts and are beginning to utilise their “Toolkit” programme which is expected to impact on the diversity of Board representation.

The Board of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra has recently established a working group to review progress and consider specific actions and initiatives it could embed across the organisation relating to improving Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). The Working Group is led by the Chief Executive with members drawn from the Board, Senior Management Team and the Orchestra. The Board is currently undertaking an open, advertised recruitment process for up to 2 Lay Directors. Interviews are scheduled to take place in November. A Youth Advisory Council (16-24 year olds) has also recently been established with an initial membership of 19. This aims include to advise the Board on issues and strategies relevant to a younger and increasingly diverse range of audiences and stakeholders.

Scottish Opera have recently maintained the gender balance of their Board. They currently have 7 female and 5 male Directors. They have recently recruited a new board member of Scottish/Chinese heritage. Additionally, they have recently appointed Peridot Partners to assist in their search for trustees of more diverse backgrounds, aiming to add a further new trustee to the Board by mid December 2021.

The £10,000 grant awarded to Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS) to scope the development of the Arts, Culture, Health and Wellbeing Scotland (ACHWS) supported the network to develop an infrastructure, systems and develop a brand identity that would help the network to build their network membership base and their partnerships across the UK.

The grant also supported online events, held in partnership with VHS, such as; Caring, Creativity and Connectedness, The Role of Culture in the Health and Wellbeing of Older People and The Role of Culture in the Health and Wellbeing of Young People. The events promoted knowledge exchange, raised awareness of the network and extended the reach and influence of the network.

Officials from the Scottish Government continue to attend ACHWS meetings to offer support to help build further partnerships across policy and cultural organisations.

The Scottish Government believes that, where appropriate, family cases should be resolved outwith court.

The Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (the 2020 Act), which gained Royal Assent on 1 October 2020, contains the following provisions:

• Section 23, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to set up a scheme to make assistance available so that individuals can meet the costs of alternative dispute resolution procedures; and
• Section 24, which places a duty on Scottish Ministers to arrange a pilot scheme for mandatory alternative dispute resolution meetings.

The provisions are at Children (Scotland) Act 2020 (legislation.gov.uk) .

Work has progressed in these areas, but the provisions will take time to implement. A report on the Scottish Ministers' progress between 1 October 2020 and 1 April 2021 is available: First_Report_Children_(Scotland)_Act_2020_.pdf (parliament.scot) .

We are aware of the UK Government Family Mediation Voucher Scheme and will consider if any lessons can be learnt from this scheme when implementing the 2020 Act provisions.

The Scottish Government gives funding to Relationships Scotland , who provide a number of services including family mediation.

As set out in our draft Heat in Buildings Strategy - partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, the estimated average capital cost of converting a home from a fossil fuel boiler to an equivalent zero emission system such as an air source heat pump is just over £12,000. These estimates are sourced from research commissioned by the Climate Change Committee to inform its Sixth Carbon Budget. The cost for an individual dwelling can differ from this average depending on building type, existing levels of energy efficiency and type of heating system being replaced.

The Scottish Government has committed to introducing regulations for zero emissions heat from 2025, subject to confirmation of devolved competence, technological developments, and action by the UK Government in reserved areas. We will consult in further detail in 2022, but it is envisaged that any such regulations will apply to building owners.

The Scottish Government provides a range of financial support to households to help meet the costs of changing from fossil fuel systems to low and zero emissions alternatives. If they meet certain eligibility criteria, households may be able to access fully-funded support through Warmer Homes Scotland, or local authority-led Area-Based Schemes. For other households interest-free Home Energy Scotland Loans with up to 75% cashback grants are available. However, due to the higher unit cost of electricity compared to fossil fuels such as natural gas, urgent decisions are needed by the UK Government to ensure zero emissions running costs are comparable to fossil fuel heating. These include urgent action on energy prices which must be rebalanced.

Families where the mother is under the age of 25 and lone parents families are two of the six priority family types identified in the Scottish Government’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan as those where children are at greater risk of living in poverty.

Our Delivery Plan sets out wide ranging action to support these families, this includes making £23 million available for our Parental Employability Support Fund since 2019 – with £1 million of investment specifically targeted to enhance support for young parents – helping young parents to progress into and within employment. This is further strengthened through our £70 million investment in the Young Person’s Guarantee, offering every 16-24 year old in Scotland the opportunity of a job, apprenticeship, further or higher education, training programme or volunteering.

We are also providing direct support through our Scottish Child Payment and bridging payments, which will put over £130 million in the pockets of families this year. In addition we are continuing to support organisations such as One Parent Families Scotland and Home Start, which offer support and advice to lone parents, and providing an estimated £45.3 million available this year for awards through our Scottish Welfare Fund and £82 million through Discretionary Housing Payments, which includes £71 million to mitigate the bedroom tax in full.

Through these and other measures we are tackling child poverty head on, with investment to support children in low income households reaching nearly £1 billion in 2020-21.

We call on the UK Government to work with us to tackle child poverty, including by maintaining the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and by restoring the adult rate of benefits for young mothers under 25 – helping to protect the financial wellbeing of these priority families.