Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government published our social isolation and loneliness strategy, A Connected Scotland’ in 2018 which set out our key priorities for tackling social isolation and loneliness. Our updated delivery plan published in 2023, set out a number of actions we are taking across Government to tackle this public health issue. Two themes within the plan, that develop better access to community facilities, focus efforts on creating opportunities for people to connect and support an infrastructure that fosters connections.

Practical work we are delivering under these themes include funding Befriending Networks as a critical partner to build capacity within the befriending sector, and share learning from the developing evidence base on befriending to highlight what works to tackle social isolation and loneliness. Our £3.8m Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund supports 53 community organisations throughout Scotland that provides opportunities for people to connect.

We are also focussing on place-making and community infrastructure to foster connections by supporting Scotland’s Public Library Strategy 2021-2025. Since 2021 we have provided the Scottish Library and information Council (SLIC) with £665K. This includes £450,000 for Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF) to support creative, sustainable and innovative public library projects throughout Scotland.

We have invested £66 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults since 2021, with more than 3,300 grants made to local projects across Scotland in the first two years alone. The Fund was put in place to support those in the community with mental health and wellbeing, one of the top priorities of the Fund is social isolation and loneliness. More than 2,260 projects who have cited social isolation and loneliness as a main priority have received funding in the first two years of the Fund. This Fund provides a range of classes and activities to encourage people to re-engage with their community.

The Cladding Remediation Programme is in a pilot phase. Of the 107 pilot entries there are currently 12 entries for which we expect assessment and any mitigation or remediation required to be led by Scottish Government.It is not possible to estimate the cost of remediating a building ahead of a Single Building Assessment (SBA) being undertaken. This assessment will identify the works needed to eliminate or mitigate risks to human life that are (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by the building’s external wall cladding system. While some pilot entries have already had pilot assessments, before costs can determined these assessments will need to be refreshed to ensure that they are completed in accordance with the SBA Standard to be specified by Scottish Ministers under the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024.

We are continuing to work at pace on the Developer Remediation Contract to ensure alignment with the Housing (Cladding Remediation) Scotland Act 2024 and the Single Building Assessment (SBA) specification, which was published in June 2024. We are committed to sharing a draft with developers with a view to engaging in further discussions and we have been discussing timings with stakeholders.

Following the signing of the Developer Commitment Letter by nine developers in 2023, work has been ongoing on the development of the Developer Remediation Contract. We are continuing to work at pace on the Contract to ensure alignment with the Housing (Cladding Remediation) Scotland Act 2024 and the Single Building Assessment (SBA) specification, which was published in June 2024. We appreciate the desire from developers to receive a draft contract and we will share this as soon as we are able.

Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework and its successive delivery plans set out the means of ensuring that disabled people can travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens.

Specific programmes to support disabled people to access mobility support include, the Accessible Vehicles and Equipment scheme, under which people receiving a qualifying social security benefit can lease a vehicle or mobility equipment that meets their needs, and the Scottish Driving Assessment Service, which provides advice on people’s ability to resume, continue or begin to drive, along with any potential car modifications, following diagnosis of illness or significant event.

The Scottish Government continues to work with disabled people’s organisations and the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland to provide a focus for action.

Each GP practice’s “Global Sum” allocation is adjusted every quarter to account for changes in their registered patients lists; growing practices should receive a greater share of national funding.

The Scottish Government annually uplifts General Medical Services funding specifically to account for population growth. In 2023-24, this amounted to £8.3 million.

All capital projects are under review and a revised Scottish Government infrastructure investment plan will be published later this year. All due consideration will be given to which projects can be included within that revised plan to ensure it is affordable and deliverable, while providing the best value for money. Our emphasis for the immediate future will be on addressing backlog maintenance and essential equipment replacement.

The Scottish Government, through the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26 published in 2021, has enabled the upgrade to the Edinburgh Cancer Centre (ECC) at the Western General Hospital in NHS Lothian, which will complete this financial year.

Beyond this, given the extremely challenging financial position, all capital projects are now under review. Publication of the revised Infrastructure Investment Plan will be considered only once allocations from the new UK Government are confirmed and fully appraised by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. It is for Health Boards to ensure best use of available resources whilst prioritising patient safety and care.

Legislation sets out a wide range of permitted development rights. These allow certain types of development to be carried out without a planning application. In doing so, they help provide certainty and save the time and expense associated with applying for planning permission.

In the first phase of the Scottish Government’s review of permitted development rights, we introduced new PDR for the conversion of certain agricultural and forestry buildings to residential and flexible commercial uses (including shops, food and drink and business uses). We also increased the scale of agricultural buildings that may be built without a planning application. Rural businesses can also make use of and benefit from a range of other PDR.

Health Boards and Health & Social Care Partnerships are responsible for considering local health needs and taking population growth and infrastructure expansion into account when planning and providing for General Medical and Dental Services.

The Scottish Government annually uplifts General Medical Services funding specifically to account for population growth. In 2023/24, this amounted to £8.3 million.

The Scottish Government also introduced dental payment reform on 1 November 2023; this programme aims to better reflect the increased costs of modern dentistry, providing longer term sustainability and encouraging the dental sector to increase its existing NHS provision.

The latest statistics from Public Health Scotland show 90.9% of the population of Lothian Health Board were registered with a NHS dentist on 31 March 2024, over 833,000 adults and children: tables.xlsx (live.com)