Chamber and committees

The Women’s Health Plan: A plan for 2021 – 2024 aims to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for women and girls. This iteration of the Plan focusses on a specific set of priorities where there is particular evidence of inequalities (heart health) and where women have told us improvements are needed (menopause and menstrual health including endometriosis).

The priorities for any future Women’s Health Plan are not yet determined. Future aims and priorities will be developed in collaboration with women and girls, including our lived experience stakeholder group, clinical experts and relevant stakeholders alongside the most up-to-date evidence base.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with the Scottish Perinatal Network and will write to NHS Boards again in June to assess how implementation of PlGF testing is progressing.

The Scottish Government welcomes the work of organisations like Coeliac UK who are already undertaking communications work to increase awareness and knowledge of coeliac disease. We supported their messaging on Coeliac awareness week by sharing their twitter campaign raising awareness of lesser-known symptoms of the disease.

NHSinform.scot provides clear and accessible information on Coeliac Disease including, symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment.

Information on the number of lone parents receiving Scottish Government funded employability support in each year since 1999 is not held centrally.

Official statistics for Fair Start Scotland (launched April 2018), and experimental statistics for No One Left Behind, our strategic approach to employability delivery (launched April 2019), are published quarterly by the Scottish Government and include data on lone parents. The publication relates only to Scottish Government funded activity data and not the entirety of employability related activity in each local authority area.

The most recent publication was on 22 February 2023 (Scotland's Devolved Employment Services: statistical summary February 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)). Statistics available for lone parents supported are shown below.

Table 1: Number of lone parents joining Fair Start Scotland from year 1 (April 2018 to March 2019) to year 5 so far (April 2022 to December 2022)

The Scottish Government has no current plans to extend free travel to people on employability schemes.

However, we recognise the important role that public transport plays in our lives. Accordingly, we are progressing the Fair Fares Review to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares that supports the future long term viability of a public transport system that is accessible, available and affordable for people throughout Scotland.

The Fair Fares Review is considering both the cost and availability of services and the range of discounts and concessionary schemes which are available on all modes including bus, rail and ferry to ensure our public transport system is more accessible, available, and affordable, with the costs of transport more fairly shared across government, business, and society.

The Fair Fares Review will report by the end of 2023 and will recommend a package of measures which can be considered for implementation from 2024-25 and onwards. These will provide opportunities to address the wider issues for the cost and availability of public transport services across all modes of public transport.

Social Security Scotland does not keep statistics on the total number of BASRiS [Benefits Assessment under Special Rules in Scotland] forms issued or the number received but does publish statistics regularly on the caseload of clients who were eligible for disability benefits via Special Rules for Terminal Illness: Social Security Scotland - Social Security Scotland statistics: publications

The DS1500 is a form produced and issued by the UK Department for Work and Pensions and serves the same purpose as BASRIS. Though it is never issued by Social Security Scotland it is accepted without the need to additionally complete a BASRIS form.

A key principle at the heart of our second Benefit Take-Up Strategy, published in October 2021, is communicating and engaging effectively. Evidence-based communication and engagement strategies are developed for each of our benefits and paid-for tailored marketing campaigns for different payments are targeted at eligible audiences at relevant times throughout the year to make sure we are reaching the right people at the right time.

Social Security Scotland is currently running a national marketing campaign to encourage disabled people and people with long-term health conditions to check if they’re eligible for Child or Adult Disability Payments. Other recent Social Security Scotland marketing campaigns have focused on Scottish Child Payment’s extension to under 16 year olds, Young Carer Grant and Funeral Support Payment.

The Carer’s Allowance Supplement is a temporary measure to increase support for unpaid carers in Scotland in receipt of Carer’s Allowance until the Scottish replacement for Carer’s Allowance is in place. We have reviewed the eligibility criteria for the Carer’s Allowance Supplement as part of the process to develop proposals for the Carer Support Payment. We intend to continue to pay Carer’s Allowance as it is currently paid until we complete the transfer of all Carer’s Allowance awards from the Department for Work and Pensions to Social Security Scotland and onto Carer Support Payment. This will require changes to the eligibility criteria to ensure that carers in receipt of Carer Support Payment can receive the Carer’s Allowance Supplement automatically in the same way as it is paid to those in Scotland in receipt of Carer’s Allowance during the case transfer period.

Scottish Government guidance on grant giving requires that all grants be completed by default. Therefore, at any one time, there can be a large amount of grants available, all at different stages of their operational cycle. Each grant fund is managed by a specific policy area within the Scottish Government. To ensure fair and transparent application processes, these funds are advertised as appropriate on the gov.scot website or other specific sites to ensure stakeholders and key specific groups are targeted for applications. The SG does not hold central information at the detailed level of individual scheme operation.

I can confirm that 28 of 32 local authorities charge citizens for technology-enabled care equipment as part of their telecare services.

The Data collated in 2022 also identified that charges range from £1.48 to £8.40 per week for telecare. An annual survey to ascertain current charging levels will be issued to local authorities, via COSLA, during the summer of 2023.