Chamber and committees

Local authorities and third sector organisations have shown leadership in coordinating responses to food insecurity throughout the pandemic with support from The Scottish Government’s Food Fund. The additional £27.6 million announced for the summer holidays sits within a package of over £110 million invested to tackle food insecurity during this time.

Our Food Fund Guidance has given local authorities flexibility to meet the needs of their communities. We are regularly engaging with local partners to understand how support is being delivered and share best practice. Our approach has been commended by the Poverty and Inequality Commission and our local partners have noted how much value has been added through direct collaboration – we want to bank this good policy and practice.

To do that, on 9 June, the Scottish Government announced the creation of a Social Renewal Advisory Board, underpinned by a series of policy circles including one on access to food. The Board aims to build on the shifts in policy and practice that we have seen as a result of working across portfolios and in partnership with frontline service deliverers in local government, the third sector and communities. It will focus on reducing poverty and disadvantage, embedding a human-rights based approach and advancing equality.

The Scottish Government already takes a human rights approach to tackling food insecurity by promoting the living wage and through the design and delivery of our new Scottish social security system. We have continued to promote a cash first response to food insecurity where appropriate, and have more than doubled the value of the Scottish Welfare Fund to support this. We are putting money in the pockets those who need it, enabling access to nutritious food, and supporting people to maintain a healthy and balanced diet.

Beyond this, the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership will also be exploring a new statutory human rights framework for Scotland and is currently considering the approach it will take to specific rights. In doing so, it will cover civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including measures to protect against poverty.

The Scottish Government is deeply concerned by reports from England and Wales suggesting that minority ethnic communities are disproportionally affected by COVID-19.

To ensure we better understand the risks and impacts of Covid-19 on ethnic minority communities, work is already underway to improve the data and wider evidence including the recent analyses from National Records of Scotland and Public Health Scotland .

Additionally we have set up an Expert Reference Group (ERG), chaired by Ima Jackson (Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University) and Vittal Katikireddi (Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and honorary Consultant at Public Health Scotland).

We want to ensure that we have an accurate understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on minority ethnic communities in Scotland, and that our policy responses reflect this. In this respect, there is also a need to work on improving existing systems and processes, and analysing what we know. At the same time, we know that COVID-19 has exposed and highlighted the deep-rooted health and socio-economic inequalities that minority ethnic communities face, and the systematic failures to address these issues. The Government recognises that we have an opportunity to make fundamental and lasting changes to address these inequalities. We have asked the ERG to provide their advice and recommendations on these issues to the Government quickly.

The Scottish Government has committed to making consequentials available to support the response to Covid-19 across public services, including local government.

The Scottish Government is currently in discussions with COSLA regarding the additional consequentials and additional funding flexibilities announced by the UK Government.

The Scottish Government have also requested urgent further details from the UK Government on the new scheme to reimburse lost income and how the fiscal flexibilities around council tax and business rates can be applied to councils in Scotland.

In partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Government is continuing to consider every option to ensure that local authorities have the financial support and financial flexibility to produce balanced budgets in 2020-21.

The Scottish Government have requested urgent clarification from the Chancellor of the Exchequer around the UK Government schemes to reimburse council for lost income and to allow council tax and business rates tax deficits to be repaid over three years instead of one. The UK Government also announced an apportionment of irrecoverable council tax and business rate losses between central and local government for 2020 to 2021 will be considered as part of this year's Spending Review and we have requested further details on how this will affect Scotland's local authorities.

The Scottish Government, working in partnership with COSLA, will continue to press the UK Government for additional financial support and fiscal flexibilities for both the Scottish Government and local authorities and would welcome any support this parliament can provide in this respect.

The Scottish Government has provided local authorities with a further £27.6 million to help support vulnerable households. This funding is made up of £12.6 million to continue the provision of food to families eligible for free school meals during the course of the school summer holidays, and £15 million to help families at risk of accessing food as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic until 30 September. This includes people who are require to self-isolate under test and protect.

We recognise that direct cash payments will work well for many families and we wrote to local authorities at the start of July suggesting they could consider using cash payments as one of a range of options to support those households, including for families who are eligible for alternative provision to free school meals during the school summer holidays.

However, whilst we accept that direct cash payments will work well for many families, it is also important that we continue to afford local authorities the flexibility they need to respond to the individual needs within their local communities and to ensure that no one is left disadvantaged by a one size fits all approach.

The National Clinical and Practice Guidance for Adult Care Homes in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic was first published on 13 March and recently updated on the 15 th May.

This guidance states that only essential visits should be permitted. Essential visits include visits by loved ones to care home residents receiving end of life care. The guidance sets out how visits to these residents should be supported by care homes and recommends that a risk assessment should be undertaken by the care home. However it is expected that care homes will balance any possible risks associated with the visit with the need to show compassion. The guidance also provides advice on how care homes may mitigate the risks of any such essential visits.

On the 25th June the Scottish Government announced a new four stage pathway for the easing of restrictions on visiting in care homes. The Coronavirus (COVID-19): adult care home visiting guidance, which was published on 25 June, notes that from the 3 rd of July, care homes that have been free of COVID-19 infections for at least 28 will be in a position, subject to the agreement of the local Health Protection and Care Home Clinical and Care Professional Oversight teams, to allow outdoor visits by a designated visitor to care home residents. This is in addition to essential visits including those for end of life.

Any further progression along the pathway will be dependent on when the scientific evidence indicates that is it safe to do so.

The Scottish Government removed the five mile restriction on Friday 3 July 2020. The five mile restriction was imposed to ensure that everyone stayed within their local area. This allowed us to contain transmission and suppress the virus.

In addition to our original £70m Food Fund, on 16th June The Scottish Government announced £27.6 million in funding to local authorities to support those at-risk over the summer months.

Importantly, £12.6m of this funding will enable the continuation of free school meals to the start of the new term in August.

A further £15 million of this funding is being made available to ensure we continue supporting households who experience difficulty in accessing or affording food and other essentials during the coronavirus pandemic, including those isolating under Test and Protect.

In addition to our original £70m Food Fund announced in March, we have now committed to supporting local authorities with a further £27.6 million over the summer months, and are providing a further £15m for an extension of the shielding programme.

The Supporting Communities and Wellbeing Funds have further bolstered this support, investing £5.2m and £2.6m respectively in food related projects.

These investments are in addition to our more than doubling of the Scottish Welfare Fund, which is placing money directly into the pockets of those who need it, and continue to provide support for a range of needs including for those experiencing financial or physical barriers to food.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital role domestic tourism will play in the recovery of the sector. To support this, an indicative reopening date of 15 July was announced in Parliament on 10 June. VisitScotland, as the national tourism agency, will be promoting local and day trip tourism and working with communities and destination organisations to provide reassurance on the safety of reopening of tourism. Their new marketing strategy will focus on reminding Scots that there is a lot to discover close to home, and will take a phased approach to ensure that businesses and communities benefit from tourism reopening, but are not overwhelmed by a sudden influx of visitors.