Chamber and committees

I understand that the UK Government’s e-scooter trials, which commenced in July 2020, are still ongoing in England. The first phase of analysis of the trials is now complete, and I understand that this will be published in autumn 2022.

Transport Scotland has still not received any data or analysis from the trials in England from the UK Government. My officials will continue to push for sight of this data.

Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland.

Under current arrangements, the Scottish Government sets the overall strategic framework for social work delivery. The majority of social workers are employed by local authorities and the deployment of social work services is decided locally.

Social work professionals need to have the time to build relationships and trust, undertake person-centred assessments, plan for the future and arrange or provide appropriate support. The Scottish Government has invested £25m, as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector. £22m of this funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure, as agreed by COSLA Leaders, and will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce. Over the last five years the Scottish Government has provided over £25m to support the training of social workers, including for post-graduate bursaries and support for practice-based learning to increase the number of entrants into the profession.

The recently introduced National Care Service (Scotland) Bill reflects the Scottish Government's ambition for a National Care Service that ensures people of all ages can access the support they need to live a full life by improving consistency and quality of provision. We will transform people's experience of social care support and related services, strengthen prevention and community-based support and reform access.

The Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency which will invest in the social work profession by providing national leadership, and overseeing and supporting social work in a range of areas, including workforce planning. These objectives will enable social workers to work more effectively with people to transform their lives and implement rights-based practice.

We provide year round support for children from low income families, including over the summer holiday period, through the Scottish Child Payment (worth £20 per week for every eligible child under the age of 6), Bridging Payments (worth up to £520 in 2022 with over 148,000 school age children benefitting and a further £130 paid for each eligible child ahead of the summer holidays) and School Clothing Grants (worth £120 for eligible primary school children and £150 for secondary). We recognise that holiday periods can present additional challenges for families, so we have provided local authorities with £21.75 million to fund free school meals alternatives for all eligible families. This is provided directly to families in the form of vouchers or cash payments. This year we have also invested a further £10 million into a targeted summer holiday programme, designed to reach those school age children and their families who can benefit most from access to free holiday childcare, activities and nutritious food.

The Scottish Government is clear that hate crime and prejudice, including Islamophobia, will not be tolerated.

Our new Hate Crime Strategy will set out our priorities for tackling hate crime in Scotland and will support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

Hate crime legislation sends a message to victims, perpetrators and wider society that hate crime is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. Once in force the Act will build on and strengthen existing protections, including through the creation of new stirring up of hatred offences that will apply to all listed characteristics, including religion.

The Ministerial led Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group has been established to take this work forward and brings together a range of public and third sector partners. The Terms of Reference have been agreed and published on the Scottish Government’s website: The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We continue to engage with Muslim communities across Scotland as we develop the strategy which will consider how we best tackle Islamophobia in Scotland, including whether a definition of Islamophobia would be helpful.

Tackling hate crime remains a priority and we encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate crime to report it to Police Scotland or through a third party reporting centre.

The Scottish Government is clear that any woman with concerns about Essure must be taken seriously and any complications arising from it must result in appropriate care being given.

With this in mind, the Chief Medical Officer wrote to GPs and secondary care clinicians on 30 June 2022 to raise awareness of the Essure device and its potential complications, and to stress the importance of a consistent approach and clear treatment pathway for any women experiencing complications as a result of this device. The letter has been published here .

Women who suspect the device may be related to symptoms they are experiencing, such as persistent pain, should in the first instance be encouraged to talk to their clinicians about what steps may be appropriate. It is expected that any woman presenting to general practice with symptoms or who wishes removal, should be referred to gynaecology specialists for investigation of symptoms, following local pathways.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07140 on 21 March 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

The COVID-19 Ventilation Short-Life Working Group (SLWG) reported to the Scottish Government at the end of March 2022. Following due consideration, we published our response to the SLWG recommendations on 29 June 2022, as part of a wider update to all MSPs on our progress to deliver COVID-19 adaptation commitments in the COVID-19 Strategic Framework update. A copy of that letter can be found on the Scottish Government website here .

The SLWG made ten recommendations aimed at improving: awareness of the contribution ventilation has in reducing the risk of transmission; regulations; guidance; technical skills; and air quality in buildings. Work is in hand to take forward these recommendations. We are prioritising actions that can be taken quickly to improve ventilation ahead of this winter to improve our resilience against COVID-19 and other infections.

The following table details SDS’ budget for Employability Fund for each year of the programme since its inception in 2013-14:

There are currently no plans to undertake a public awareness campaign regarding migraine.

I held a positive meeting with the Migraine Trust in November 2021 to discuss current priorities regarding migraine care in Scotland and potential areas for future collaboration.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) has a speciality group for neurology which includes representation from key professional groups for each NHS Board. I understand that the group is undertaking work on clinical pathways for migraine in Scotland and is linking with both the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Migraine Trust regarding this. As part of this work the CfSD are also collaborating with Health Boards to develop GP facts sheets on managing migraine.

I am delighted that we have recently awarded £78,535 to the Migraine Trust, in partnership with NHS Grampian and Pharmacy Medicines Directorate, towards an innovative project working with community, primary and secondary care pharmacists to help people with migraine manage their symptoms and treatments more effectively.

We will support the Migraine Trust and partners to develop plans of how they intend to widely share the project’s outcomes across health and social care.

Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities and are entirely separate from the Scottish Government. Ultimately, it is for locally elected representatives to make local decisions on how best to deliver services to their local communities. It is also the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on Community Facilities, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

The Scottish Government has increased local government funding by over £1 billion in 2022-23, a real terms increase of 6.3 per cent, despite a 5.2 per cent real terms reduction in the overall Scottish Budget.

In 2022-23, City of Edinburgh Council will receive £915.4 million to fund local services, which equates to an extra £86.7 million to support vital day-to-day services or an additional 10.5 per cent compared to 2021-22.