Chamber and committees

COVID-19 vaccines are recommended in pregnancy. Vaccination is the best way to protect against the known risks of COVID-19 in pregnancy for both women and babies.

Public Health Scotland have created animations for minority ethnic audiences which include information on vaccinations and pregnancy. These videos, information and other assets are shared routinely with partners representing minority ethnic communities in Scotland for cascading.

Our COVID-19 vaccine explainer video also covers pregnancy and is available in a range of different community languages.

COVID-19 vaccine pop-up clinics have been held in maternity clinics in a number of health boards. This allows people to get vaccinated in a safe and trusted space, after having any concerns or questions answered by an expert health practitioner.

The Scottish Government Marketing Team are continuing to promote vaccine uptake in pregnancy and if planning a pregnancy through a targeted marketing campaign. To find out more visit www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccinepregnancy

COVID-19 vaccines are recommended in pregnancy. Vaccination is the best way to protect against the known risks of COVID-19 in pregnancy for both women and babies.

NHS inform have a dedicated page for pregnancy and the COVID-19 vaccine. Details on how pregnant people book their COVID-19 vaccines/booster can be found here www.nhsinform.scot/covid19vaccinepregnancy

The Scottish Government Marketing Team are continuing to promote vaccine uptake in pregnancy and if planning a pregnancy through a targeted marketing campaign. The COVID-19 vaccine explainer video also covers pregnancy and is available in a range of different community languages. More information can also be found in the above link.

The Housing for Varying Needs design guide offers good practice in the design of homes in order to help them achieve a degree of flexibility, suit people of varying needs, be convenient to use, and be fit for purpose. Where possible, all new affordable homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme are built to Housing for Varying Needs standards.

As set out within the Housing to 2040 route map, we are reviewing the Housing for Varying Needs design guide. We want the guide to help better meet the needs of an ageing population, help people to live in their home for longer, consider a wider range of needs, and learn lessons from the pandemic by recognising the importance of outdoor space, and space for home working or study.

We plan to consult on proposed changes to the guide over the coming months and will wish to engage with disability groups and those with experience of living in homes delivered to Housing for Varying Needs standards, as well as those involved in the delivery of new homes.

Once complete, the review of Housing for Varying Needs will inform the introduction of building standards in 2025-26 to underpin a new Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which all new homes will need to achieve, regardless of tenure.

The Scottish Government are committed to continuing to improve the promotion, quality, and implementation of Self-directed Support.

Due to changes in SG accounting systems and SG Retention Policies it has not been possible to obtain details of all funding awarded since 1997. Since the Self-Directed Support Scotland Act 2013 came into force in 2014, Scottish Government has provided a total of £46.6m to strategic delivery partners which include Social Work Scotland, Inspiring Scotland, In Control, Self-Directed Support Scotland, The Alliance and Transformation a Funding to all Local Authorities. These Strategic Delivery Partners support the delivery of SDS and direct payments through, in excess of 1000, membership organisations.

It has not been possible to estimate funding spent solely on promotion of direct payments and Self-Directed Support since 1997. This is due to funding recipients not recording actual spend for direct promotional activities, however all funding recipients promote the use of direct payments and self-directed support in all activities funded. Therefore, as all the Self-directed Support Strategic Delivery partners support all people that require social care, the full amount of funding supports disabled people's organisations either directly or indirectly through our strategic delivery partners membership organisations throughout Scotland.

Promotion of direct payments and Self-directed Support has been different for each organisation and has taken many forms such as expenditure on communication, engagement with social work users and working with Local Authorities to raise awareness of available processes therefore making it difficult to define and determine exactly how much budget has been used towards it

Scottish Government has invested £2,959,658.23 in the Support in the Right Direction (SiRD) programme in financial year 2022-23. The SIRD programme is managed by Inspiring Scotland and has a presence in all 32 local authority areas, with each SiRD organisation providing services targeted to the needs of disabled people.

As all Self-directed Support Strategic Delivery partners support all people that require social care, Inspiring Scotland are committed to ensuring that all funding made available to SiRDS organisations either directly or indirectly support the needs of disabled people through accessing services provided by SiRD organisations

The Scottish Government are committed to continuing to improve the promotion, quality, and implementation of Self-directed Support.

Due to changes in SG accounting systems and SG Retention Policies it has not been possible to obtain details of all funding awarded since 1997. Since the Self-Directed Support Scotland Act 2013 came into force in 2014, Scottish Government has provided a total of £46.6m to Strategic Delivery Partners which include Social Work Scotland, Inspiring Scotland, In Control, Self-Directed Support Scotland, The Alliance and Transformational Funding to all Local Authorities.

It has not been possible to estimate funding spent solely on promotion of direct payments and Self-Directed Support since 1997. This is due to funding recipients not recording actual spend for direct promotional activities, however all funding recipients promote the use of direct payments and self-directed support in all activities funded

Responses to the public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny on Draft National Planning Framework (NPF4) are being carefully considered and we intend to lay a final NPF4 in the Parliament in the Autumn.

The Draft proposed support for the delivery of high quality homes, particularly those that improve affordability and choice, including accessible, adaptable and wheelchair accessible homes.

Local authorities are already required to set targets for the delivery of wheelchair accessible housing across all tenures as part of their local housing strategy. The target should be informed by evidence of what is required locally.

We are working alongside local authorities and partners to help displaced people from Ukraine integrate into communities and support them to settle here. Local authority caseworkers are in place to enable access to services including healthcare, education, employment and benefits advice.

Our New Scots strategy provides a clear framework for integration and it assists partners to make the best use of resources and expertise by promoting partnership approaches, joined-up working and early intervention.

We have also provided £1.4 million to the Scottish Refugee Council for the expansion of its Refugee Integration Service, funding to JustRight Scotland to enable them to provide free and confidential legal advice to Ukrainians seeking safety in Scotland and providing a funding uplift for Edinburgh Third Sector Interface organisations; EVOC and Volunteer Edinburgh, to ensure the continued provision of volunteers to give a warm Scots welcome to tired and often traumatised people as soon as they arrive in Scotland.

The vast majority of funding from the Scottish Government is provided by means of a block grant to local authorities. It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them.

The 2022-23 Local Government Finance Settlement of almost £12.7 billion provides local government with a cash increase of over £1 billion or 9.2 per cent which is the equivalent of a real terms increase of 6.3 per cent.

It is for each individual local authority to decide how best to allocate this money, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities, including towards home adaptations for disabled people.

Since the integration of health and social care, Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) are responsible for the planning and delivery of adaptations using budget created by delegation. They are also responsible for reviewing and developing services to improve outcomes for people who require adaptations.

We also provide an additional £11m (2022-23) to registered social landlords to provide adaptations for their tenants.

However, we know that there are issues with the way in which adaptations are being accessed and delivered locally. As set out in our Housing to 2040 strategy, we are taking forward a review of the current housing adaptations system to consider how the process can be streamlined and made easier for people who need adaptations. As part of this we intend to engage with COSLA to ensure we continue to spread good practice on waiting times, across the local authorities.