Chamber and committees

The outturn cost to the Scottish Government of providing each relief, including Retail, hospitality, and leisure relief in 2020-2023, are available in Table 3 of Non-domestic rates income statistics, available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/non-domestic-rates-income-statistics/.

At the December 2023 Budget, Islands and specified remote areas hospitality relief was forecast by the Scottish Fiscal Commission to cost £4 million in 2024-2025, available in Figure A.10 in Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts December 2023, at https://fiscalcommission.scot/publications/scotlands-economic-and-fiscal-forecasts-december-2023/. Updated forecasts for 2024-2025 will be released alongside the December 2024 Budget.

The Scottish Government are working to address the stigma that people affected by substance use issues face when accessing treatment, which can be particularly acute for women.

We made a combined £13.5 million available to Phoenix Futures and Aberlour Childcare Trust to develop three new rehabilitation services specifically designed to support women and their families through recovery from both alcohol and drug use.

We have also convened an expert working group to develop a good practice guide to improve the support and care that women and their infants receive during the perinatal period, which will reach across drugs and alcohol, social work and maternity and wider health services.

The Scottish Government are working to implement specific recommendations from the Drug Deaths Taskforce relating to the stigma that women very often face when accessing drug and alcohol treatment.

We are working to ensure that a gender-sensitive approach is taken across all new and developing initiatives in the National Drugs Mission, and are taking specific steps to address the particular stigma faced by women who have children.

This includes convening an expert working group to develop a good practice guide to improve the support and care that women and their infants receive during the perinatal period, which will reach across drugs and alcohol, social work and maternity and wider health services.

We are committed to ensuring that people living with respiratory conditions receive the best possible care, treatment and support. Our Respiratory Care Action Plan sets our priorities and commitments for driving improvement in the prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions such as COPD.

The funding announced in the UK Autumn Statement is welcome, however, the Scottish Government continues to face the most challenging financial situation since devolution. The new Scottish Budget will be presented to Parliament on 4 December 2024. This will detail Scottish Ministers spend proposals for the year ahead.

Our education and skills system is already adapting in response to the transition to net zero with colleges and universities acting as key anchor points for research, innovation, and training.

In 2023-24, total Scottish Government funding for Connecting Scotland and Ethical Digital Nation combined was £1.3 million. This was allocated as follows:

• Grant funding to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to develop digital training, continue support for existing clients and deliver existing projects. This funding covers support for a wide range of digital inclusion initiatives including:
  • ‘Digital Champion’ training, delivered through Mhor Collective, which equips individuals to support others in engaging safely and meaningfully online, building digital confidence within communities;
  • Offboarding support for existing Connecting Scotland users, including temporary extension of connectivity with further support for users to transition to other means of connectivity;
  • Supporting the delivery of three digital inclusion programmes - lending libraries, social housing, and place-based initiatives - helping more people to get online through access to devices, connectivity, and technical support, and providing public and third-sector organisations and their staff with support in digital inclusion provision;
• £100,000 for the Digital Participation Charter Fund to promote and recognise digital inclusion amongst organisations. Some of the projects funded include:
  • Budding Engineers (£10,000 award) to provide access to digital skills and teaching for people with additional support needs in several areas of Scotland;
  • Deaf Action (£10,000 award) to provide digital and employability support for people experiencing hearing loss across Scotland;
  • Milan Senior Welfare Organisation (£9,850 award) to provide basic digital skills and digital support for older people and their carers from the South Asian community in East Lothian and Edinburgh;
• Programme incidentals (e.g. software licences, training, stakeholder engagement, advertising and marketing);
• Staffing costs to support the ongoing management of both programmes

There is a budget of £1.8m which covers Connecting Scotland, Ethical Digital Nation and Unlocking the Value of Data programmes. To date, the following spend has been committed:

• Grant funding to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) to develop digital training, continue support for existing clients and deliver existing projects. This funding covers support for a wide range of digital inclusion initiatives including:
• ‘Digital Champion’ training, delivered through Mhor Collective, which equips individuals to support others in engaging safely and meaningfully online, building digital confidence within communities.;
• Offboarding support for existing Connecting Scotland users, including temporary extension of connectivity with further support for users to transition to other means of connectivity;
• Supporting the delivery of three digital inclusion programmes - lending libraries, social housing, and place-based initiatives - helping more people to get online through access to devices, connectivity, and technical support, and providing public and third-sector organisations and their staff with support in digital inclusion provision;
• The University of Liverpool to undertake research on a Minimum Digital Living Standard for Scotland. The findings from this research will provide the Scottish Government with detailed Scotland-specific data to identify where there is a need for targeted support for digital inclusion, and help to inform future service design;
• licenses, travel and other services
• staffing costs to support the management of the programme.

All remaining spend in this financial year will be assessed in line with the guidance set out by Ministers in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and current Scottish Government guidelines on spending controls

Against a challenging economic and financial context, the Scottish Government continues to increase funding for health and social care services.

Providing over £1.9 billion additional investment in frontline health spend since 2021-22 - ahead of trajectory to meet the £2.5 billion target by 2026-27.

Supporting a 20% increase in Primary Care investment over the same time frame – ensuring we remain on track to deliver our commitment to reach 25% by 2026-27.

Mental health remains a priority, with overall increases in spend and total investment now standing at over £1.3 billion across the Scottish Government and NHS Boards - enabling record numbers of staff in providing more varied support and services to a larger number of people than ever before.

We remain committed to making an additional £250 million available for the National Mission on Drugs over the course of the parliament, and we will continue to publish a financial breakdown in the National Mission Annual Reports.

Cancer remains a national priority, within the Scottish Government and across NHS Scotland. Our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 was published in June 2023.

We know that there is a clear relationship between alcohol consumption and increased risk of developing certain cancers, including breast cancer. Successful implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies targeted at harmful health behaviours could prevent approximately 40% of cancers.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems in partnership with Scottish Government shared information with primary care providers on the link between alcohol and some cancers in 2022-23, and maintains guidance on this on its website.

The Scottish Government has also increased the minimum unit price of alcohol to 65 pence per unit from 30 September 2024, and commissioned Public Health Scotland to carry out a review of the evidence for potential restrictions on alcohol marketing. If the evidence supports it, the Scottish Government will consult on focused proposals at a future date.