Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government recognises that Social Isolation and Loneliness is a public health issue, which has been exacerbated because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between August 2021 and March 2022, £1 million was allocated by the Directorate for Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights to organisations working to tackle social isolation and loneliness. This funding has supported work including helplines, befriending, and practical support. Many of the 48 organisations funded through the Equality and Human Rights Fund (2021-2024) also make a valuable contribution to tackling social isolation.

In addition, £21 million has been spent in 2021-22 via the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, which helps to tackle priority issues including social isolation and loneliness. This fund has been continued for 2022-23 with a further £15 million.

Across the devolved benefits, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring we minimise as far as possible any burden on clients, and to ensuring we put in place the appropriate mechanisms to maximise uptake.

We have already automated several payments. Child Winter Heating Assistance is paid automatically based on entitlement to the qualifying benefits, and Carer’s Allowance Supplement payments are made automatically to carers living in Scotland and getting Carer’s Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Additionally, by the end of the year, we will award Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment and School Age Payment automatically to eligible families in receipt of Scottish Child Payment, without the need to apply.

We continue to explore further opportunities to automate social security payments.

In 2021-2022, the Scottish Government invested over £12 million to support free income maximisation, welfare and debt advice services and has allocated the same amount in 2022-2023. This overall figure includes frontline and second tier advice and debt services.

We also invest in a range of other services that provide advice and information to people on specific issues including Housing, Consumer, Additional Support for Learning, Kinship Care, NHS Patient Support and Fuel costs. In 2021-2022, we invested over £17.5 million in these services and have allocated over £20 million in 2022-2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10137 on 22 August 2022.

The figures within that answer include investment in Welfare Advice in Health Partnerships totalling £730,000 in 2021-2022 and £1.76 million in 2022-2023.

In 2021-2022, we also invested £653,467 in our national Money Support Campaign to increase awareness and take-up of sources of help for people who were struggling financially. The campaign focussed on social security benefits, debt and affordable credit.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government’s Social Enterprise Strategy was launched in 2016 and sets out a wide-ranging, ambitious and long-term programme to develop the potential of Scotland's social enterprise sector. The latest Social Enterprise Action Plan was published on 24 th March 2021 and covers the period 2021-24.

In 2021-22 we spent £7.1M in supporting social enterprise and expect to spend £6.6M in 2022-23. £15M was distributed through COVID support funds in 2021-22.

Funding is provided to third sector organisations, including social enterprises, from across Scottish Government portfolios and is not collated centrally.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We recognise the significant pressures faced by frontline social workers due to increasing workloads and staff shortages.

Social workers are primarily employed by local authorities and supporting a work-life balance is principally a matter for employers through local terms and conditions.

The Scottish Government have invested in the wellbeing of social workers including the National Wellbeing Hub, backed by £5m, and the Social Work Professional Support Service, backed by £200k, to provide a peer support service covering a range of issues: career development, promote wellbeing, and the development of a stronger professional identity.

The Scottish Government’s investment of £25m, announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget, was additional funding to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. £22m of funding was distributed, as agreed by COSLA Leaders, and will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will support and invest in the social work profession by providing national leadership, and overseeing and supporting social work in a range of areas, including: workforce planning, improvement and social work terms and conditions.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all exacerbated by COVID.

We know that social workers have faced particular stress and emotional impact from working at home during the COVID pandemic. Even though supporting the impact of that is primarily for employers, the Scottish Government has also taken action to ensure that social workers have the right support.

Enhanced wellbeing support services, backed by £5m, are in place, including the National Wellbeing Hub. The Hub includes resources specifically for social workers and to support home working. In acknowledgement of the current challenges, the Scottish Government has invested £200k in a Social Work Professional Support Service to provide a peer support service from 2021-2023. The service covers a range of issues including wellbeing and resilience.

Our ambition is to raise the status of, and ensure investment in, the social work profession. This is to be delivered through our commitment to establishing the National Care Service and National Social Work Agency.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.

The Scottish Government welcomes the Setting the Bar for Social Work in Scotland report and will consider and discuss the findings with its partners to inform and develop future social work workforce policy. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all exacerbated by COVID.

Social workers are primarily employed by local authorities and it is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their workforce and ensure they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide social services for their residents.

The Scottish Government’s investment of £25m announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget was additional funding to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23, as agreed by COSLA Leaders, and will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

Over the last five years, the Scottish Government has provided over £25m to support the training of social workers during this period, including for post-graduate bursaries and support for practice-based learning to increase the number of entrants into the profession.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will support and invest in the social work profession by providing national leadership and overseeing and supporting social work in a range of areas, including: workforce planning and social work terms and conditions.

The Scottish Government welcomed the Setting the Bar report and its findings will inform future policy decisions. Social workers make a highly skilled, unique and make a valuable contribution to supporting individuals and families across Scotland. We acknowledge the significant pressures social workers face around increasing workloads, staff shortages and the more complex needs of those they support – all of which have been exacerbated by COVID.

Social workers are primarily employed by local authorities. It is the responsibility of local authorities to plan their workforce and ensure they have the appropriate levels of staff in place to provide social services for their residents. To aid with this, the Scottish Government provided additional funding of £25m, announced as part of the 2022-23 Budget, to relieve pressure on the adult social care sector to ensure care can be delivered safely to those who need it. As agreed by COSLA Leaders, £22m of funding was distributed based on grant aided expenditure for adult social work for 2022-23. It will be used to employ additional social workers or associated social work assistants or support staff – with the clear purpose of adding to the capacity of the social work workforce to respond to the current pressures.

An additional £25m funding has been invested by the Scottish Government to support the training of social workers over the last 5 years, including post-graduate bursaries and support for practice-based learning. In addition, between 2021 – 2023, the Scottish Association of Social Work is receiving £200,000 of funding to provide a peer support service covering a range of issues, including wellbeing and resilience.

The recently published National Care Service (Scotland) Bill will establish a new National Social Work Agency, which will support the social work profession in a range of areas, including: workforce planning and social work terms and conditions.

Considering the findings of the report, the Scottish Government will continue to work with COSLA and other stakeholders to look at how social workers can be supported while they undertake their vital work across our communities.

We know people living in poverty have poorer health outcomes and this is why we are committed to addressing the underlying causes of health inequalities and increasing healthy life expectancy. There is a stark social gradient to alcohol harms and outcomes linked to poor diet with those in the most deprived areas being the most affected

Population-wide measures to transform the food environment are more likely to be effective in reducing health inequalities than measures aimed only at encouraging individuals to change their behaviours. That is why we will introduce a Bill in this Parliament that includes powers to restrict promotions of foods high in fat, sugar or salt and introduced Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol. The Scottish Government’s Alcohol Framework 2018 sets out our priorities for preventing alcohol-related harm, including our world-leading minimum unit pricing policy.

A recent study by Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems has highlighted the effectiveness of alcohol nurses in Deep End practices in Glasgow, in supporting people with alcohol problems who have complex needs. The Scottish Government will carefully consider the findings of the report which highlight the need for more research into the effectiveness of these services.