Chamber and committees

The Government’s spending plans are set out in the budget. We are already investing £361 million in Scottish benefits above the level of funding to be received from the UK Government through Block Grant Adjustments.

Increases to Scottish Child Payment, Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment and Best Start Grant are made by Scottish Statutory Instrument under powers in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. Increases to Best Start Foods are made under section 13 of the Social Security Act 1988. The procedures for scrutinising proposed legislation are set out in the Standing Orders of the Parliament. Bridging Payments are made by local authorities on behalf of Scottish Ministers, the value of payments is set out in guidance to local authorities, published in April 2021.

In due course we will deliver the Scottish replacement for Winter Fuel Payment. It remains a reserved benefit until then.

My officials have worked closely with VoiceAbility, and continue to support them to develop comprehensive training packages for their advocates. This training will be delivered through VoiceAbility’s newly established training centre and Scottish headquarters in Glasgow.

Training provides all necessary information on Scottish benefits; the application and appeals process; and the Scottish Social Security Principles set out in the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 and underpinned by Social Security Scotland’s Charter. In return, VoiceAbility Learning and Development leads have supported Social Security Scotland counterparts to develop training resources for client advisors – setting out the principles of advocacy, as well as the client journey following referral to the service.

Officials will continue to monitor the service as it develops to ensure that all training packages are relevant and up to date.

Any new benefit intended to top-up reserved benefits would have to be developed with research and testing among potential users, and close collaboration with DWP and other stakeholders. For delivery of new benefits, we need to develop and test all application and case management systems to ensure households are able to apply, in addition to obtaining data from DWP and HMRC in order to process and administer the benefit. Any work of such nature is extremely complex and takes a considerable period of time to develop, build and deliver. It would require other priorities to be set aside.

New benefits also require legislation to be made by the Scottish Parliament. The procedures for scrutinising proposed legislation are set out in the Standing Orders of the Parliament. There may also be a requirement for amending regulations to be laid by the UK Government, to ensure that any new income provided by the top-up of reserved benefits does not affect entitlement to other reserved benefits.

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has responsibility for setting charge caps and otherwise sets out expectations or forecasts including for income as a guide to Scottish Water and stakeholders. Across the 2021-27 regulatory period the maximum increase to charges will be capped at CPI+2% on average for each year of the regulatory control period. Scottish Water must propose charges in its Annual Scheme of Charges that are consistent with this average annual cap and the cumulative application of this cap. It has discretion as to the precise profile of charges that it seeks to levy on customers within the regulatory control period. In line with its statutory duties, WICS considers any Charges Scheme that could be consistent with the overall cap on the amount of charges that can be levied on customers during the 2021-27 regulatory control period. The average household charge for 2022-23 remains lower than the average charge in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government will shortly begin the first stage of the Adult Disability Payment Review. Priority will be given to identifying proposals for alternative ways of understanding the mobility needs of individuals, and planning stakeholder engagement to feed into decisions regarding the scope and remit of the second stage of the review.

A commitment has been made to commence stage two of the review in 2023, once Adult Disability Payment has been delivered for one year. The timeline for completion will be set in collaboration with the independent group members undertaking the review.

A further update will be provided to parliament in due course.

Following consultation in late 2021 to inform the development of the necessary secondary legislation and guidance, we will today publish the consultation results and analysis which will be available via the following web link : https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/implementing-part-three-of-the-transport-scotland-act-2019-bus-services-analysis-of-consultation-responses/

A high level summary of the main aspects and consultation responses is provided as follows:

Section 34 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 Act (“the Act”) provides local transport authorities (LTAs) with the power to run their own services in any way they see fit within the wider context of their obligations. This power sits alongside their existing ability to subsidise services. On this, respondents indicated no desire for additional duties to be imposed on LTAs in how they run services. Instead, respondents made suggestions on supporting information to help implement this provision, including in relation to legislative requirements, competition impacts, the sharing and generation of data and information for planning public transport networks, examples of best practice and case studies, and funding for LTAs to implement the provisions.

Sections 35 to 37 of the Act provide for Bus Service Improvement Partnerships which are a new type of statutory partnership between LTAs and bus operators. As part of a partnership, a range of service standards can be set, including on the frequency or timing of services, the vehicles used, maximum fares charged for particular journeys, and the pricing of multi-operator travel cards. Respondents commented on a range of aspects relating to the operation of the model, including processes related to the preparation, variation and revocation of partnership plans and schemes, the partnership voting mechanism, accessibility provisions and the scrutiny of the partnership, among others.

Section 38 of the Act provides for local services franchising which allows LTAs to award exclusive rights for the operation of a service or services to the most competitive bidder for a set period under certain conditions. During this period, no other operator can run those services. On franchising, respondents commented on guidance required for LTAs on the making of a franchise assessment, guidance for auditors assessing the LTA’s business case for a franchising framework, relevant information required, and the composition of the independent panel considering the making of the framework.

In relation to the implementation timeline, we plan to commence section 34 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 (Provision of bus services etc. by local transport authorities) before the summer recess and lay the legislation necessary for commencement of section 39 (provision of service information when varying or cancelling a registration) before the end of this year. We aim to introduce the necessary secondary legislation for sections 35 to 38 (Bus Service Improvement Partnerships and local services franchises) before the end of 2023.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested. Data on mineral extraction in Great Britain for the period 2009 – 2014 is available online at Minerals surveys - GOV.UK ( www.gov.uk ) and from 1999 to 2008 can be found on the Office for National Statistics website. Further data on UK and export sales of peat sourced from Scotland since 2011 is gathered for the UK Growing Media Monitor ( https://hta.org.uk/associations-committees-groups/growing-media-association/gma-research ) and provides insight into the volumes of peat extracted for horticulture in Scotland, the main end use of extracted peat.

The Scottish Government are committed to banning the sale of peat related gardening products, as part of our wider commitment to phase out the use of peat in horticulture, and we are currently preparing to consult on this issue. Our draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) sets out that development proposals for new commercial peat extraction, including extensions to existing sites, should not be supported unless the extracted peat is supporting an industry of national importance to Scotland.

We will also give consideration, through our peatland restoration programme, to whether and what further data may be required to support future monitoring of progress against targets.

Today we have published Scotland’s first National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781804350058

We have worked, in partnership with our co-producers COSLA and extensively engaged with Stakeholders from across Health and Social Care to develop the Strategy.

The Strategy outlines our shared vision for the workforce, a sustainable, skilled workforce with attractive career choices where all are respected and valued for the work they do.

This vision supports our tri-partite ambition of Recovery, Growth and Transformation of our Workforce. In the strategy we look at the whole workforce journey and how we can plan for, attract, train, employ and nurture our Health and Social Care Workforce. This is the first time we have articulated a workforce strategy for our Health and Social Care workforce in this way.

We acknowledge the challenges the pandemic has brought not only for our services but also for our workforce and that is why that is why through this strategy we seek to embed a new long-term approach. The strategy expressly commits to increasing our understanding of demographic change in demand for services and details actions we will take to further understand how we can use this information to achieve a more sustainable, skilled workforce and how we can make careers, at all levels, in health and social care more attractive.

The Strategy recognises that although we have seen continued growth in our workforce for the last 10 consecutive years, we know that growth in the workforce alone will not deliver the services the people of Scotland need now and will need into the future. Our tripartite aim supports our NHS Recovery Plan and recovery of our Social Care services and workforce.

The Strategy sets out the actions we will take in partnership with the workforce to achieve our vision.

One such action is to publish our indicative projections for the Health and Social Care Workforce growth later this year. This will allow us to expressly incorporate evidence from 3 year Workforce Plans (which will also be published in due course by Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships) and the forthcoming revised Medium-Term Financial Framework. We will review these projections annually and as more evidence becomes available.

We will review the strategy and progress on the actions therein, annually and in line with any further considerations and evidence which emerges.

Shona Robison: There is no central source for this information, however some of this information is held by local authorities and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

In November 2019, the Scottish Funding Council published a call for information to Scotland’s Colleges and Universities to seek assurances on fire safety in their respective estates. All Universities and colleges advised they had collated up to date information on the cladding types used on their buildings. All but one of 28 institutions reported satisfaction that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that where cladding is present, it is safe. The Scottish Government relayed this information to SFRS.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) are the enforcing authority for most non-domestic premises that are covered by Scottish fire safety legislation i.e. Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. SFRS have a risk-based audit programme which targets activities and resources at premises which offer the greatest risk to the safety of relevant persons in the event of fire. SFRS enforcement activity is about promoting and enabling sustained compliance with the law. It also ensures that actions are taken to deal promptly with serious risk and that duty-holders who fail in their obligations are held to account. Confidential information on fire safety and to some extent, building construction, is therefore collected and evaluated as part of a SFRS enforcement audit.

Building warrant applications are checked by local authority verifiers for compliance with the building standards (including fire safety as set out in Section 2 of the Technical Handbooks). During construction, a Reasonable Inquiry process allows for assessment of the works in accordance with the approved (compliant) building warrant drawings. Only after a new building’s completion certificate is accepted by the verifier can the building be occupied. Local Authorities keep building standards registers, including building warrant records.

The Scottish Government has established a justice recovery fund of £53.2m in the next financial year to be allocated to recovery, renewal and transformation activity across the justice system as we emerge from the pandemic.

This includes funding of £26.5m to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service to maintain enhanced court capacity and remote jury centres. In addition, we have allocated a further £4.2m to the SCTS resource budget, a 3.5% increase.

We have already previously committed an additional £50m in 2021-22 to support our ‘Recover, Renew, Transform’ programme for the Criminal Justice System – which has included setting up 16 additional solemn and summary courts from September.

The additional funds have and continue to be used in a variety of ways to increase capacity across the justice system, including: recruitment of additional staff; greater use of digital tools and improved support for victims and witnesses.

At present the programme includes; the operation of remote jury centres for the conduct of High Court and Sheriff and jury trials; fully virtual summary trials; virtual custody courts; changes to summary criminal process and; community justice and preventing offending.

In terms of civil business, the Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC) is the body that is tasked with modernising the civil justice system in Scotland. It is ultimately for the council to decide how civil court proceedings should proceed. SCJC has consulted on proposed new court rules concerning the mode of attendance in civil proceedings. These fall within the SCJC’s powers and functions under the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Act 2013.

The Scottish Government is actively working with all justice partners including the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and SCJC to review how civil business can best be conducted. We have appointed a contractor to undertake a remote hearing evaluation project to provide analysis of the changes to civil justice processes and procedures flowing from the pandemic response, with a particular focus on the adoption of ‘virtual hearings’. SCTS has fed into that process and is partly funding it. The primary aim of the research is to provide evidence to determine the value of the measures adopted by the Courts and Tribunals during the pandemic and if these measures need to be adapted or improved in any way. The research should be completed towards the end of 2022.

Within the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill, the Scottish Government has brought forward proposals to enable longer extension of provisions which suspend the requirement to physically attend a court or tribunal. The provisions seek to retain the ability for any participant in either criminal or civil proceedings to take part in any proceedings by way of live visual (television) or audio (telephone) link from any location.

In addition, I would refer the member to the answer to question S6W-06603 on 28 February 2022. 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