Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold this data. Individual social landlords may hold this information for their own housing stock.

There are currently no plans for a national blind persons entitlement to enable free travel on rail services however for those that are blind or visually impaired there are alternative discounts available. Details of these can be accessed via:- https://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/using-your-railcard/other-discounts/ 

Family-centred care is at the heart of our maternity and neonatal strategy, the Best Start: A Five Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland . We expect all maternity units to take a flexible approach to the presence of partners, to provide a relaxed and supportive environment for care that promotes natural, person-centred childbirth, and to ensure that suitable accommodation and facilities are provided to enable families to stay together.

Since we commenced Case Transfer, there have been a) zero cases lost and b) zero cases compromised.

We work in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions and Social Security Scotland to design and deliver a safe and secure case transfer process for the benefits transferring to Social Security Scotland as part of Scottish Devolution. With the client at the heart of the design, each process is tailored around;

1. How the benefits are administered by the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that cases are transferred at the optimal time and in line with ministerial agreements; for instance, clients with ongoing awards do not need to apply, will not be reassessed, fall out of payment or go through a face to face assessment with the Department for Work and Pensions after the Scottish benefit launches. The ongoing award will be transferred automatically; the transfer of data and supporting evidence to enable Social Security Scotland to set up the new benefit award.

2. To safeguard Social Security Scotland’s ability to deliver and manage the case transfers. The case transfer processes are automated and the case transfer period is between 13 and 17 weeks to allow time to resolve any exceptions or manual invention required. Social Security Scotland and the Department for Work and Pensions work together during the transfer process to ensure the correct awards are transferred at the correct time and we work together to monitor the transfer of awards to ensure none are lost or compromised.

The first cases to be selected for transfer to Social Security Scotland were Disability Living Allowance for children awards in October 2021; to date the number of awards expected and received is correct and the first cohort of cases will commence the new award on 19 January. The aim is to complete these transfers for all clients by spring 2023. We will begin transferring awards of Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance for working age people in the summer of 2022.

Bus service providers and passenger representatives regularly inform us about the additional pressures placed on the bus industry by the COVID-19 pandemic which are compounded by the ongoing consequences of EU EXIT.

We also receive data on driver shortages in Scotland from ongoing Department for Transport bus operator surveys and Transport Scotland is conducting its own monitoring exercise to gather information specifically on COVID-related absences.

From 6 September 2021, the Scottish Government funded support schemes Warmer Homes Scotland, Area Based Schemes or Home Energy Scotland Loans have no longer been accepting new applications for oil and LPG boilers. All committed offers for these schemes signed prior to 6 September 2021 will be honoured and receive their installations/loans. Households eligible for assistance under Warmer Homes Scotland will be offered low-carbon alternatives, where these are technically appropriate for the property. These include High Heat Retention Heating Systems, Air Source Heat Pumps, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Micro-hydro and Micro-wind systems. Since April 2021 our Area Based Schemes have included additional funding to provide low carbon and micro-generation measures as part of a whole house approach.

The Scottish Government is committed to phasing out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers, in off gas areas from 2025 and in on gas areas from 2030, subject to technological developments and decisions by the UK Government in reserved areas. We will introduce primary legislation, subject to consultation and to limits on devolved competence, that will provide the regulatory framework for the zero emissions heating systems which will replace fossil fuel boilers, with all buildings needing to meet this standard no later than 2045. That proposed legislation will be accompanied by required impact assessments and allow for proper parliamentary scrutiny of these impacts.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy was accompanied by a series of impact assessments. As we take forward the actions within the Heat in Buildings Strategy, we will ensure the issues highlighted through impact assessments are considered in the design of delivery programmes and development of further policy and regulation.

In line with Scottish Government guidance, any legislation or further policy development required to fulfil the actions within the Strategy will be subject to a range of further impact assessments. We will consult on our proposals to regulate for zero emissions heat later in 2022.

There are no official statistics of green job creation in Scotland. However, the Scottish Government has undertaken work to estimate the number of people employed in green jobs in Scotland. A report will be published on the Scottish Government website within the next month presenting the first set of these experimental estimates.

Evidence-based psychological interventions, based on psychological concepts and theory, are designed to help people understand and make changes to their thinking, behaviour and relationships. These are delivered across a wide range of services in both physical and mental health settings, from brief interventions in primary care to specialist psychological therapies aimed at service users with highly complex and/or enduring mental illness and disorder. Choices over which evidence-based intervention to deliver for specific patient groups are made locally by Health Boards.

Health Boards are also delivering on behavioural change psychology methods to support changes in lifestyle behaviours as part of their implementation of the Framework for the Prevention, Early Detection and Early Intervention for type 2 diabetes , and via delivery of Public Health Scotland’s Standards for delivery of tier 2 and tier 3 weight management services for adults and children and young people .

Silver Cloud, SilverCloud | NHS Lanarkshire (scot.nhs.uk) , is now also available in all Health Boards through referral and for some treatments self-referral options. Silver Cloud provides private and secure access anywhere, anytime to evidence-based, online programs that will help to teach you techniques that helps you reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, low mood or depression associated with Chronic Pain or Diabetes Type 1 & 2. It is also suitable for co-morbid long term health conditions. The treatments are evidence based delivering computerised CBT (cCBT) treatment in people’s homes through smartphone, tablet and home computers and progress of the patient treatment is monitored by local cCBT Teams based in Adult Psychology.

Additionally, in order to ensure consistency in the quality of service delivery across Scotland, the Scottish Government has worked with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to produce the Psychological Therapies Matrix - a stepped guide to planning and delivering evidence-based psychological therapies within NHS Boards in Scotland. The Matrix provides a summary of the information on the current evidence base for various therapeutic approaches, guidance on well-functioning psychological therapies services, and advice on important governance issues.

Patients can already store gametes (egg and sperm) through NHS fertility services with informed consent (regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and by law under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended)) under the following circumstances:

• Storage of personal gametes for use in NHS Assisted Conception Treatment by couples that fulfil the access criteria.
• Storage of gametes for patients who require fertility preservation treatment.
• Storage of gametes donated altruistically by sperm or egg donors for use in NHS Assisted Conception Treatment.