Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is focussed on supporting as many people and businesses across Scotland who are in hardship as we can.

We are actively engaging with Local Authorities on demand for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship fund and no decision has been taken yet on a date to close the fund to new applicants.

We have been promoting this and wider support available on FindBusinessSupport.gov.scot and will communicate any timings for closing the fund on this website and through Local Authorities.

We will, of course, give potential applicants good notice when a decision has been taken to close the fund to new applications.

If there is any underspend at that juncture, we will look to repurpose this to other vital support, such as we announced on 2nd June as regards repurposing £3m from this fund to support B&B businesses who do not have a business bank account.

At this stage, the impact of COVID-19 on poverty, including coverage and targeting, of Scottish Child Payment by 2023-24 is highly speculative. We will look to prepare our models’ functionality in the context of COVID-19 to enable us to produce poverty analysis of the pandemic itself and Scottish Child Payment.

We now expect there to be more eligible children than previously estimated due to the increase in numbers applying for qualifying benefits, such as Universal Credit. The Scottish Government has prioritised the delivery of the Scottish Child Payment for under 6s in recognition of the impact that COVID-19 has had on low income families and guarantees that all those who are eligible and apply will receive their entitlement.

The Scottish Government had to engage very quickly with stakeholders to prepare the Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on moving home , published on 31 March 2020. The British Association of Removers were not directly involved. However, we are working with a wide range of stakeholders through our Home Moves in Scotland Working Group, including the British Association of Removers, to prepare for the anticipated relaxation of restrictions on home moves in phase 2 of Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis .

All new and most live recruitment campaigns for staff joining the Scottish Government were paused when the lockdown measures were introduced. However, Social Security Scotland has been able to start 202 directly employed staff into key operational roles the period 11 March 2020 to 31 May 2020.

Resourcing plans are designed to align to business need and flex with changing circumstances. Social Security Scotland’s recruitment activity in the period has met the current requirement and the Agency is working with Scottish Government People Directorate in relation to future planning.

Around 35 applications for Funeral Support Payment were denied from the date lockdown commenced in Scotland on 23 March 2020. We do not currently hold data of a sufficient quality to ascertain how many of the denied applications were due to failure to provide paperwork within a sufficient timescale.

To safeguard vulnerable people during the Covid-19 lockdown guidance for Chief Officers and Adult Protection Committees on adult support and protection has been published https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-adult-support-and-protection-guidance/ ). The Coronavirus (COVID19) Adult support and Protection Guidance provides additional guidance to the Adult Support and Protection Code of Practice in relation to the current COVID-19 outbreak and its aim is to support local decisions and the development of local guidance around safe, effective and proportionate adult support and protection activity at this time.

Our ‘Clear Your Head’ campaign https://clearyourhead.scot/ highlights the practical things people can do to help them feel better whilst continuing to stay at home, acknowledging these are worrying and uncertain times for many. Along with a range of tips on how to stay positive, the campaign website clearyourhead.scot signposts sources of help and advice including NHS Inform, and helplines including NHS24, Breathing Space, SAMH and the Samaritans.

In regard to autistic people, we know that the restrictions will have had an impact on our mental health and wellbeing, but being autistic may make it really difficult to adapt to the changes to routine, and increase levels of anxiety. That is why the Scottish Government has provided an additional £200,000 of support for Scottish Autism and the National Autistic Society.

The funding for the National Autistic Society will enable that organisation to turn many of its face to face services – for example the social groups it runs – into online services. This will help autistic people and parents and carers to keep in touch – enabling people who are facing similar challenges to support each other, even if they cannot meet each other.

The funding for Scottish Autism is for their Autism Helpline. The helpline is already a trusted source of advice and support for people who need it. Our funding will increase its capacity to help people, at a time when there is a high demand for its services.

During this time we have all been asked to stay at home but unfortunately for many people suffering domestic abuse, home is not a safe haven. Support is available 24/7 on Scotland’s Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0800 027 1234. We have also developed a COVID-19 domestic abuse emergency response to maintain delivery of vital services.

We have also provided support to third sector organisations, including an additional £1.5 million provided to Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland. In partnership with People First we have produced a Domestic Abuse Easy read guide, including what coercive and controlling behaviour is and where people can get help. These documents will be on the safer Scotland website soon.

The Scottish Government published guidance on moving home during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak on 31 March and this guidance is still in force: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-moving-home/ .

A relaxation of restrictions on home moves is anticipated in phase 2 of the recovery plan, as set out in Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis , published on 21 May. Supplementary guidance on how the first two phases of Scottish Government's route map apply to the housing market and home moves was published on 28 May: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-moving-home-supplementary/ .

The Scottish Government will issue revised guidance to replace Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on moving home before phase 2 begins.

The urgent MSP mailbox was established on 7 th April as a means of separating the most pressing of MSP queries about the pandemic from the very significant volumes of general COVID related correspondence received by the Scottish Government and by so doing attempting to shorten the standard 21 working days target for response where possible. To date, there have been over 200 items of correspondence from MSPs and it is estimated that 60% of completed cases have been answered by the COVID-19 priority mailboxes and 40% by portfolio Ministers. The majority of inquiries were received in the first month of operation. Answering many of them required input from a number of different portfolios though the majority related to Economic and Health issues. We estimate that the average number of working days it took to respond to a question that was correctly defined as urgent was seven, although some cases were further investigatory work was required took longer.

The Scottish Budget announced in February 2020, demonstrated the Scottish Governments ongoing commitment to helping those furthest from the labour market move towards and into work. In 2020-21 we are continuing to invest more than £33 million to support those who are most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of the current pandemic, which will be essential in supporting Scotland’s economic recovery.

The funding includes continued delivery of Fair Start Scotland, which has increased this year from £20m to £21.48m reflecting the maturity of the service as we move into the third year of delivery.